The Journey Itself Is Home

“Dearest touring family,

“As you know we will all be saying goodbye to each other very soon. However, before we say goodbye to each other we must first take the deeply emotional step of saying goodbye to my moustache. It has become a cherished member of our travelling party in the last few weeks, and having made it safely to Istanbul its purpose has been served.

“My moustache is going to wait until we arrive in Lisbon before it departs for good. For those of you who wish to say goodbye, I’m organising a little farewell evening in the bar at the hotel. So, if you’d like to buy my moustache a drink, or perhaps give it a present as a small token of your appreciation, or otherwise if you just want to all share stories with each other about how my moustache has enriched your lives since our gig in Latvia, please come on down to wherever you can get a drink once you have dropped your bags in your rooms.

“If we all pull together as friends and family, I think we can together deal with the empty feeling that will remain amongst us once my moustache is gone. Maybe we can persuade Squibbo and Cairnzy to keep their eye on the prize and let their astounding growths carry the torch, ever dreaming of one day having a fine pair of handlebars like Pyro Richard……

“One more thing….

“The memorial service for Jónas Sen’s goatee will be held on the bus to the airport tomorrow, a moment’s silence will be observed.

“And Alan Pollard will be the bookie for bets on Shaun Martin’s next facial growth.”

Damian has just announced a farewell-to-his-moustache party tomorrow. At that time everyone has a chance to say goodbye to the moustache, bring it gifts, etc.

I will, hopefully, post a picture of Damian’s moustache in the next few days…

Incidentally,this reminds me that Shostakovich wrote an opera called The Nose.

Will we eventually see The Moustache on the opera stage?

I must have thought that Turkey was Iraq. Before coming here I had imagined that most Turks have a moustache. So a couple of weeks ago I said to Damian: “We should try to blend in when in Istanbul and have a moustache.”

Damian said: “Oh yeah!”

I didn’t even dare asking Mark.

Nor Chris.

Yesterday I said to myself: Now is the time. So I began shaving.

I shaved my cheek - and thought I looked ridiculous. So I decided to trim my moustache. A mediterranean look would surely be cool.

Not so. Because of my clumsiness I only managed to create a bald spot beneath my right nostril.

I considered painting over it, but in the end I shaved it all off.

I look positively awful. I should have been born with a beard!

Damian, on the other hand, is so handsome!

Last night I went to a restaurant to meet a few friends. One of them said: “Hey, you look like seventeen!” Another said: “Hey, you look like seventy!”

I can’t wait for my beard to grow back.