Indira Varma

            On Thursday morning I ran through singing and playing “We Dream and Dream”, my translation of “On fait des rêves” by Boris Vian. Tomorrow I’ll upload it to my Christian’s Translations blog to prepare it for publication. 

            I worked out the chords for the rest of the intro and most of the first verse of “Et quand bien même” (And Even If) by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I played my new Gibson Les Paul during song practice but it went out of tune to an unnatural degree. I might have to take it back to The Mother of All Guitar Shops to be set up. Either that or it needs new tuning machines, at least for the G. 

            I weighed 89.5 kilos before breakfast. 

            I had my door open because it was a warm day and I was playing a live recording of Elvis Costello’s ballet score Il Sogno. I went out on the deck to take out the garbage and my neighbour Benji came out swinging a big chain and hit the railing of the deck then looked at me menacingly. I asked if he’s mad about something and he said, “You’re disturbing me!” I told him all he has to do is ask and I’ll turn my music down. He said, “I don’t have to ask!” Then he held the chain up and back as if he was about to swing it at me and said, “I’ll take you down!” I said, “You’re threatening me with a chain?” I reminded him that for years I asked him if my music was too loud and he said, “No, no, it doesn’t bother me”. He declared I was mentally ill and told me to go back to Sweden (where I’ve never been). I told him that in Canada we ask before we threaten. Maybe it’s a Caribbean thing. I had a girlfriend who told me that in S. Kitts asking for things or saying please is not done because it feels like begging.

            Around midday I took an early bike ride downtown and stopped at Freshco on my way back. The grapes were very cheap so I bought seven bags. I also got a pack of raspberries, bananas, five-year-old cheddar, two packs of Full City Dark coffee, and a jar of salsa. 

            I got back a little before 14:00 and since I was meeting Brian Haddon at 15:00 I decided to take a short siesta. I don’t think I slept so I got up at 14:30. 

            I met Brian in front of my place and we walked to Mezzrows where we sat on the patio in the back. I had potato skins, Brian had a corned beef on rye with fries and we shared a pitcher of Creemore. We talked about graduation, the things I’ve bought for recording, external hard drives, movies, and Doctor Who. He hasn’t seen the current season because he’s turned off by the bad writing of the Christmas special. I’m enjoying it. I walked Brian to Dufferin and Queen where I waited with him for the Dufferin bus. But then he decided to take the Queen streetcar instead. We might get together in his neighbourhood if I get a haircut next month. 

            I weighed 88.35 kilos at 18:00.

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:37. 

            I compared the song practice videos of my August 19 and September 4 electric performances of “Mamadou”. I think the guitar sounds better on August 19. I compared September 14 to August 19 and I still think August 19 looks and sounds better so it’s August 19 that Ill be uploading to YouTube. All I have left to compare for this song is five electric takes of “The Post Colonial Breakdown”. 

            I dozed off at the computer for about half an hour before dinner. 

            I had a potato with gravy and two chicken drumsticks while watching season 14, episode 6 of Doctor Who. 

            On the grounds of an estate in Bath in 1813 two noblemen are arguing as one accuses the other of dishonouring his sister. The other admits to having done so several times and tells his accuser to either challenge him to a duel or shut up. The accuser tells the other that he’s more interesting than him and that he wants to be him. He grabs him and takes over his shape, leaving his body an empty shell. Inside the house a ball is underway and the Doctor and Ruby are dancing. The Doctor has given Ruby special earrings that beam the choreography into her motor system so she knows the dances. The hostess approaches them and asks who they are. Ruby introducers herself as Lady Ruby of Notting Hill. When the hostess learns that Ruby is unattached she takes her away to meet eligible men. The shape shifter approaches Ruby but she dismisses him. Ruby makes friends with Emily Beckett. The hostess sees her housekeeper scandalously making herself visible at the party and confronts her. But the housekeeper is also a shapeshifter and takes the form of the hostess. Meanwhile the Doctor sees a man alone on the balcony watching the dance floor. He goes up to talk with him and tells him he looks like he’s expecting trouble. His name is Rogue. They go outside together and find the body of the duchess. Rogue pulls a ray gun and accuses the Doctor of the murder and says he knows he’s a Chuldur or shapeshifter. Rogue is a bounty hunter and he takes the Doctor to his ship. He traps the Doctor on a platform where his feet are stuck. Rogue sets up device to transport the Doctor to the death sentence of an incinerator. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to access Rogue’s sound system to play Kylie Minogh’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”. Then he dances in one place. Rogue keeps turning it off but the Doctor keeps starting it again. The scanner reveals the Doctor is not a Chuldur and so Rogue sets him free. The Doctor says he can’t let Rogue kill anyone and so he sets up a transport to send whatever Chuldur they capture to a random, barren dimension. The Doctor and Rogue are hot for each other. They go back to the party. The Doctor tells Ruby that the Chuldurs may have picked up the TV signals from Bridgerton and gone back in time to do cosplay. The Doctor tells Rogue they need to create a scandal to lure the Chuldurs into the trap. So the Doctor and Rogue dance together, which makes the Chuldur’s want to be them. Then they leave and are chased by four Chuldurs whose plan is to take over the British empire and then cosplay the planet to death. Then Ruby is alone with her friend Emily who turns out to also be a Chulder and grabs her. The Doctor and Rogue plan on trapping the Chuldurs at the party. The Chuldurs take over the party in their true birdlike forms. They are staging a wedding and the bride is the one who was Emily who is now in the form of Ruby. The Doctor had promised her mother he would keep Ruby safe and so now he wants revenge on the one who killed Ruby. The Doctor has laid out three devices and activates them, trapping the Chuldurs in a triangle. But then the bride reveals to the Doctor that she really is Ruby. She explains that when Emily attacked her she tapped her earrings twice to access battle mode choreography. She broke Emily’s beak and just posed as Emily posing as Ruby to fool the Chuldurs. The Doctor tries to turn the platform off but it is charged and ready to transport the prisoners including Ruby. The Doctor can’t push the button but Rogue kisses the Doctor and steals it. But then Rogue jumps into the triangle and bumps Ruby out, telling the Doctor to find him, then pushes the button sending himself and the Chuldurs into exile. 

            The Duchess was played by Indira Varma, who was a member of the Musical Youth Theatre Company and later graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her film debut was in Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. She starred in the series Paranoid. She played Ellaria Sand on Game of Thrones. She played Suzie Costello in Torchwood, Zoe Luther in Luther, and Ilsa Pucci in Human Target.