Off through the new days mist...

Great night! Metallica tribute band on at the local rock club, it's not a big place but we danced and sang and roared. They were good, it was all good. I'm hoarse this morning, needed that release, my voice tunelessly opening up in a room full of people doing the same and leaping around. Then we came back and watched the Joshua fight.

Boxing's a sport I can watch if things don't get too brutal; it always reminds me of my dear Aunt. I love Joshua - what's not to love? Strong, fast, handsome, smart, made his way to glory from underdog via the Olympics. With his beautiful waist, his Africa tattoo and that smile, he's a dazzling demi-god. If I was an alien abductor looking for fine examples of earth species, I'd grab him as the epitome of male Homo Sapiens. By contrast, Aleksandr Usyk is part snake, the sort you barely notice cos it matches the nearby rocks, except for those too prominent eyes promising something unforgettable.

He took my champion to school. I felt for AJ, rattled through the first 4 rounds unable to fathom this opponent, who never seemed to get tired, never lost his edge, kept connecting, kept dodging the bigger man's reach. Though they both took some punishment, there was no point at which AJ looked comfortable, and right at the end, the snake showed there was more than lightning to its bites. AJ was on the ropes. We all knew it was done long before it was done.

Usyk won and deserved to win.


Busy but forgotten dreams last night, to be replaced by a vision this morning, clear and lucid. There was a bridge over a river where a man stood beckoning me. Once I crossed, he guided me towards a great house nearby, with a wooded hill rising behind it. I could see the figure of a woman waiting there. The man looked somewhat, I don't know, shifty/embarrassed/apologetic. Nothing else happened. But it was as vivid and real as if my eyes were open.

Bright day today.