July 12th(Sat)

Up early an get to G on time. She waits for me at the entrance to her gated community, leaving me to speculate about the vastness of the house she lives in. Good fun, good company, good driver. It's an enticing combination.

Back home to the cricket, and a lethargic Saturday, which is enlivened by Emsy's suggestion that we go watch "Mamma Mia" at the flicks.

The stage show was up there as one of the memorable nights of my life, and though the film never lives up to that it is good fun and beautifully shot in sensational locations.

Try to piece together my Abba history. Waterloo never even touched me, it was just a Eurovision winner that the hardened Zeppelin/ Purple/Barclay James Harvest aficionado simply ignored. I first really noticed them with "Take a chance on me" which genuinely annoyed me. Then one day, and I remember it clearly, I was driving to Kent to watch a cricket match and as I passed through Old Amersham I heard "Fernando" for the first time. I thought it was tremendous,but never admitted so publicly. the stream of hits continued,and I was aware of them, never antagonistic, but never a fan. Then they went away and after they'd been gone a while people said they missed them, and it became acceptable to admit to having liked their music,and as it was played a second time I genuinely did. It was still widely regarded as bubblegum though,, and we all laughed as Alan Partridge confirmed his idiocy by seeminlgy offering a reasoned critique of their music.
Then at some stage in the nineties maybe, Abba Gold came along, and the songs came back on a wave of nostalgia for the days when one in three of us were on strike and the other two were kicking shit out of each other on the terraces. And suddenly serious people were actually deconstructing the music and writing long and thoughtful pieces on the band and what they achieved. Then came the stage show of Mamma Mia, and suddenly Melvyn Bragg is producing Abba documentaries. Bjorn and Benny are close to the apex of the rock and roll hierarchy, and Agnetha is the reluctant recluse the whole world wants to rejoin the fold, the girl with the golden hair who won't say yes to the others.

Emsy and I go home humming, and thanking them for the music. Will take her to the stage show for a treat soon.

Off to N's for the evening. He has a really nice house in Flackwell, and is rattling good company. It's a very pleasant evening to the extent that everyone is startled when we look at the watch and it's 12:30 and time to call for our carriage.