i have the good fortune to have a father who knows what is what as far as dear bob dylan is concerned, and as such it is a repeatable pleasure to buy him new records for his birthday. this time i got him live in 64, and it is a corker (as you may guess i have been to kent). he is at the same time both chipper and bearable which is a hard thing to pull off. he performs some of his older stuff ("play mary had a little lamb" - heckler, "is that a protest song?" - dylan), and it is rather better than the studio versions which i have heard.

i have spent most of today pounding the pavements of southwark. sometimes i dearly wish i had better things to do.