So that’s the end of that post, then.

<Drums fingers>

It’s a very grey, very rainy day out today. Look for yourself:

So whereas I thought it might be a day for sunbathing and swimming, it’s actually going to be a day for writing - not just the blog, but also a piece for jazz.com, and the celebrity fashion flog (that’s a ‘fake blog’, fact - or indeed etymology - fans) I write silly weekend posts for. And possibly also a day for watching CNN while I walk very quickly for 15 minutes, ie. ‘hitting the gym’.

I’m entering my final week here now - my last gig is a week tonight - and so I’m mindful of what I’ve got planned for each day before I leave. I’m also very mindful of the life that awaits me back home; not least because the freelance job which was my main source of income before I left is no more. As Scooby-Doo’s Shaggy would say: Yikes (Scoob).

Still, I’m a firm believer not in fate, but in seeing such things as chances to go in different directions; and as such, very often a Good Thing In Disguise. Fear leads one to blitz for work, and as a result: I may end up doing some work for an old employer which would involve more writing; I’ve applied for a paid blogging job on a news site; I’ve pitched the idea of a feature about my time out here to a leading women’s magazine; and the endorsement of the editor of jazz.com, a heavyweight jazz writer and critic, has given me a boost in terms of writing about the music I make, and led me to offer my freelance services to a British jazz magazine. Well, pretty much the only British jazz magazine - but a jazz magazine nonetheless (and no sniggering at the back there, please). Oh, and I’ve fortuitously just heard from a London-based jazz band who are up to their eyeballs in function gigs, and need a dep for their female singer. (Who’s also called Andrea. And no, I still don’t believe in fate. )

I’ve realised only belatedly that being out here has actually been good in terms of earning money; and given the work situation back home, wonder whether I should have taken up T’s offer of extending my stay here for another month. But I have family and friends to get back to - and two brand new members of that group in the form of my best friend’s new baby, and my sister’s impending one - and, to be truthful, two months has felt like exactly the right length of time to be here.

Obviously before I leave I’ll write a final post about my experience out here - a conclusion, as it were. But in the meantime: as I think about leaving and returning to London, I’ve realised more than ever just how much I love my life there, how much I love my friends and family, and how grateful I am at the thought of seeing them all again.

But now, to writing about Britney’s latest fashion blunder…

Tuesday 29th April.

In fact, it’s more important than the previous Very Important Date.

Mainly because it, erm, replaces it.

Yes, the date of the Oxjam gig at the EDT has now moved to the 29th of next month.

Please put it in your diaries (again!). More details coming soon…

Wednesday 30 April.

Please put it in your diaries. Especially if you live in London :-).

Finding myself a Lady Who Lunches, I’ve been thinking I should use this time to do Something Useful. Rather like those rich Manhattan women who don’t have jobs but volunteer for Worthy Causes and organise charity soirees on the Upper West Side.

And strangely enough, a reason to do just that fell into my lap last week.

I heard, via Facebook, about ‘Oxjam’ - something which Oxfam is organising in April. Basically, they’re asking people to put on live music events throughout the UK during that month, to raise money for Oxfam.

So naturally, I thought: ‘I can do that’.

And without thinking too hard or for too long (which is probably the best approach in these situations), I contacted the East Dulwich Tavern - a great local venue back home - asking them if they would be up for hosting an Oxjam gig. And they said yes. And then I contacted my singer-songwriter friend Sarah Gillespie, asking her if she would perform. And she said yes. And then I asked her if she would ask Chaz Jankel from The Blockheads if he would perform. And he said yes (as did Blockheads’ singer Derek The Draw). And then I asked my comedian/writer friend Simon Hickson if he would MC the evening. And he said yes. And so did fellow East Dulwicher and British jazz heavyweight, guitarist Dave Cliff.

It’s all coming together brilliantly, and I’m very, very excited about it all.

Yes: very.

The next week or so will be spent finalising the line-up, and creating all the publicity material. When I’m back in England, Simon and I may also trawl local shops and other business to see if we can get some prizes donated for a raffle or auction on the night.

I’ve long wanted to do something like this, marrying up my music with Doing Some Good. Sarah herself has been a big inspiration, as she’s organised several charity gigs over the past few years, and raised so much money for such good causes.

If you’re a musician in the UK reading this - or even if you’re not, and you just know some musicians - then I’d ask you to please consider doing the same, and put on a gig next month. Let me know if you do!

Of what happened in Malaysia this weekend, and why, is here.

Meanwhile, back in Britain…

I read this headline in The Guardian:

Less TV makes children healthier

Viewing related to consumption of fast food and a more sedentary lifestyle, new study shows

Erm, maybe that’s because you watch TV sitting down?

Coming soon: ‘Running related to less sedentary lifestyle’.

To all my friends, wherever you are:

“Someday

When I’m awfully low

When the world is cold

I will get a glow just thinking of you”

And I did, tonight. (Just the way I gigged tonight). Thank you xx

And thank you, too, to whoever wrote this card tonight (well, obviously it was ‘Malik’, but whoever he is):

So, there’s been an earthquake in Britain.

And a tsunami warning in Indonesia.

At first, I was slightly anxious about going to Jakarta when I finish here. But now it appears that it’s not safe to go home, either.

Perhaps I should just stay on this little island, holed up in my hotel room?

Especially when they have a baby in the middle of the night.

I just got a text from my best friend J, who gave birth to a baby girl, Evelyn, at 1am.

Huge, huge love to you both, guys. I can’t wait to meet her.

 xx

Well, nothing related to this blog, at least: I joined my friends Tom, Sean and Eddie for an edition of their podcast just before I left, and it’s now online for your listening pleasure - just click here. I’m the one talking too fast and laughing a lot. Or is that laughing too fast and talking a lot? Either way: I’m the girl.

So here I am, back at Heathrow Terminal 3. I know it well now, since meeting B in 2006 and starting a series of near-enough-quarterly jaunts over to New York. In fact, as I arrived on the ‘Heathrow Hoppa’ bus from the Sheraton this morning, I had to enter Terminal 3 at the Arrivals side - and saw the area where I very first laid eyes on him. It was sweet to see it again.

But now here I am in Departures, typing a quick missive while I wait for my flight to Kuala Lumpur to be called. And despite it being hot and stuffy, and full of people (I’m guessing those two things are connected), I love being here, because there’s something about being alone at an airport that makes me feel terribly independent and grown-up. I get the same feeling when I buy a sandwich from the buffet car of a train. It doesn’t take much to make me happy.

PS. Searching for pictures from The Terminal, I wonder whether this one is actually a little more like me. Not that I’m not wearing a suit. Nor sprawled on the floor. Nor do I look much like Catherine Zeta-Jones. But apart from that:

Because both senses of this song feel appropriate right now:

And because Madonna put one of those senses another way: