RIP Syd Barrett

there was a vague sense that somehow, miraculously, while and as he was still alive, he could have reappeared and issued another madcap sign of life, however frail or fragile. i know this notion is/was as crazy as any ... crazy old diamond. It was still somehow intriguing to know there was this reclusive legend living somewhere in Cambridge, someone who once communicated very vivid and enduring messages and who was now seemingly lost to distortion, withdrawal and enduring silence. I couldn't help being intrigued by that, and that's that. At least he was still alive, where he wanted to be, apparently, and being left alone.

Last time I was in Cambridge, not so long ago, I wanted to do a walk from Shelford through Grantchester Meadows into Cambridge, but it started to rain heavily, and I had to abandon it halfway through and get a cab into Cambridge where it continued to rain for hours. What did I expect to see or experience there? I don't know... but it was around a time when Pink Floyds first album was on heavy rotation on my headphones. Grantchester Meadows is still there though, and I should go back and do that walk now.

'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn' sounds very vivid and colourful today ...

"Alone in the clouds all blue
Lying on an eiderdown.
Yippee! You can't see me
But I can you."