June 23rd - Day 66 (afternoon)

I found a piano on Camberwell Green - one of the streetpianos.com street pianos. Now I just need to find streetpianoplayers.com

June 23rd - Day 66 (evening)

There are 30 street pianos situtated in various public squares and parks, train stations and markets of London until July 13th. I was going through town this evening so thought a good bet for music would be the piano in Leicester Square. At first I thought that the mighty throng of people gathered around the north-west corner of the square were there for some other reason - a "standing in the north-west corner of Leicester Square and facing south-east" flash mob perhaps. But hidden in the midst of the crowd was a piano and piano player (and a guitarist and trombonist). These guys, playing boogie-woogie, Beatles and Stones, represented "Busking cancer", raising cash for Cancer Research UK. The pianos themselves come under the banner "Play me, I'm Yours" and are an artwork by artist Luke Jerram, presented for Sing London and The City of London Festival. And Sing London are a non-profit organisation set up to unite the city in song. Their site in turn led me back to the streetpianos site and the list of various events going on around various pianos, and with it the dilemma of whether I can allow myself more than one streetpiano experience. I notice, for example, that tomorrow the Camberwell piano will be surrounded by the Camberwell Complaints Chorus...

mojowellington.com

June 24th - Day 67 (afternoon)

...And so Daisy and I turned up at the appointed hour beside the Camberwell Piano (conveniently situated next to a playground) to see the Camberwell Complaints Chorus. But the buggers weren't there. Still, at least I know where to complain. We bumped into my friend Charlie on the way. Charlie, very thoughtlessly, has spent his life not learning how to play the piano and so was unable to be a substitute for the Camberwell Complaints Chorus. And Daisy, quite apart from the fact that she also hasn't bothered to learn the piano, has already featured in my quest (Day 9) and so is rendered unsuitable. I played a few notes of "Doe a deer", or whatever it's called, and Charlie kindly suggested that would count. But I knew I'd only be cheating myself if I followed his advice. Someone watching asked whether she had to pay. I don't know if she meant to listen or to play.
And then I had to take Daisy home and go out again later...

June 30th - Day 73

I marked the one-fifth-way stage of my journey by finding my camera zoom lens which, until yesterday, was still hiding in a box, post-house move. My excitement was short lived, because I'd forgotten my camera was out of battery juice until I didn't take the first photo, so it was back to the camera on my phone. I think the battery re-charger's also in a box...somewhere.

The subject of my photos were the delectable and Edwardian Underbling and Vow (and pianist) leading a good old cockney Knees-UP!! around the Soho Square street piano. The fact that I appeared to be the only person watching them who either wasn't holding a can of lager in their right hand, or wasn't from Mexico, didn't detract from my enjoyment - I even joined in...well, I moved my mouth in time with the words on over one occasion. The twenty-strong crowd, by the way, were a little more enthusiastic than this photo suggests. The man sitting in front of a kangeroo was having a well earned knees down after his knees up.
underblingandvow.co.uk

July 4th - Day 77

Hugo Simmonds Jazz Band - Millenium Bridge Street Piano. Hurrah for streetpiano, but boo for boxes, because I still can't find my camera recharger and am still relying on my phone camera. I hadn't intended photographs to be a daily part of the blog, but now I'm temporarily camera-less, I'm very sad. And I can't work out how to make the blog photos bigger without the pixels enlarging horribly. They look fine when you click on them though.

I intentionally waited for someone to walk past in the central photo, but the woman just looks like she's in the way. She stopped to watch for a few moments, which would have made a better picture, but my phone was photo-memory-full and by the time I'd found photos to delete, she'd scarpered.

myspace.com/theteddysimmondsjazzband