Not-Malawi

The weather is cold. And wet. I sit at my own laptop, enjoying broadband access, and preparing to head off to a recording studio where we will use £700 microphones and the latest in music-recording software to capture two songs. Out of the window in front of me is a neat little backyard plot, bordered by two other neat little backyard plots. Into the distance stretch more neat little backyard plots and terraced Georgian houses. This is not-Malawi.

Being here has actually come quite easily. No reverse culture-shock, no surge of conflicting emotions at seeing old friends and enemies. I've been able to get straight down to work, preparing for and recording, along with the musicians of STORM '07, a 7-track CD here in Cardiff.

But I'm not fooled. This is not-Malawi, and my time is a brief interval before I get back out there. A brief interval in which so much can and must be done: buying a new laptop to replace the one Malawi took, hunting around and applying for luthiery apprenticeships, researching good poetry publications to which I can subscribe, and eventually, maybe, contribute...all the rush feels a little unnatural. Life should be day-to-day. I should have time (and warmth) in the morning to get up and check in with God. The possibility of any course of action should be directly proportional to my desire to engage in it and inversely proportional to some known opponent's desire to keep me from it, rather than governed by a set of disembodied laws.

I've enjoyed being back, particularly seeing old friends and recording this album, but I am looking forward to Malawi again...