Tea at Borders.

Today I am very tired and by a strange process of referencing totally unrelated bands, we have managed to write a song that sounds just like the Killers used to sound when they were good. Quite an achievement from people who previously happily have put down their middle names as things like Disco or Jiggy not more than a year ago. It will probably not sound like the Killers once it has been through the Pony Mincinator. Perhaps the Mincinator will render it shimmery and dance-floor friendly but maybe not. This band is changing.

Other news...the Fantasy Centre in Holloway Road in London closed recently. Probably killed by the recession. Bastard bloody recession. It should bloody hang for this.

The place was tiny, crammed with second hand science fiction and signed first editions of Harry Potter and Dune. The guys who ran the place could have served as the template for Black Books. Beardy one with permanent mug of tea and faded Hawkwind tee shirt. Check. Wild white haired guy with encyclopedic knowledge of the shop and boundless enthusiasm for the genre. Check. The Aspergery one with the tweed jacket with patches on the elbow, an inability to look customers in the eye and vaguely depressed demeanor. Check.

I'd been hanging out there since I was but a wee Maths nerd in -5.75s. It was the last bastion of idiosyncratic book shopping in the capital since Foyles sorted out their inane book-filing system (anyone else remember having to look for books by publisher?) and Compendium in Camden become yet another grotty shop selling cut price black pvc hot pants and knock off Green Day shirts to Danish punks. You would always be offered a nice brew and a biscuit. Whatever you wanted they would have. Probably in a totally unaccessible place but at least one of them would know where it was and go and get it for you. They'd have personal recommendations and news of where the latest literary wunderkund could harassed at first hand. It was great and its gone and all that is left are the monoliths like Amazon and Borders. No ones going to get you a cup of tea at Borders.