I’m on the plane.  For two reasons  I didn’t turn to the person next to me and say “my father was a pilot and he died in a plane crash” . Firstly  It isn’t as sociable as I think it is and secondly  people don’t believe me anyway.  The plane skids into Heathrow Airport at 9am,  two hours later than scheduled.   I say goodbye to the journalist and take the train straight to my office at The Southbank Centre to meet  Jamie Byng  of Canongate Books to chat about all things Gil Scot Heron whom I spoke to while in New York.

Jamie has a  vibe about him. It’s who he is. And he connects with just about everyone here at Southbank centre. It’s a good thing cause Southbank , and particularly the artist’s in residence is a place to connect with as is he. The artists are connected to the pulse of both the city and the country, as is he. In particular  I introduce him to Martin from New Deal of the mind and Hannah of the cape farewell team.  Canongate are my publishers and Gil Scott Heron’s too. We, Jamie and I,   eat dim sum at Southbank’s PingPong  and chat for a good two hours until 3pm. 

  At 5pm I get changed  and then into  a taxi to the Bafta cinema in Piccadilly to see the first screening of Samantha Morton’s  film for television,  Unloved.