Studio trip

It was tragic to have to leave all my beloved instruments behind in Hong Kong, despite I am by no means a great player, I still like to fiddle with something that makes sounds (and pretend I can actually play). The one instrument that I miss the most, ironically one that I have never been able to own, is the drum kit.

After an endless amount of Googling, Yellow Paging, emailing, asking etc etc I reached the conclusion that - there are NO practice studios near where I live. Hmm. In desperation I have been playing (or hammering) : a practice pad/ thighs/ a dobermann/ mattress etc etc.

To cut things short I was told there's a studio in the borough I live, though not close. After having searched for directions this morning I thought it was going to be luurrvley to head there. And so I did.

During my bus ride I got my hair/ scalp pulled by an Azn grandma who was sitting behind me. I was deeply traumatised and I think my actions reflected that. 'Solee' and the ride went on - suddenly with a lot of Cantonese being spoken. I thought I was hallucinating my people speaking but being a constantly sober and drug-free person, that possibility was rather low. So I must have had my hair/ scalp grasped by some distant relatives.

Walking to the studio was basically passing through a cemetery, tonnes of warehouses, tonnes of factories and as I got closer to the studio the signs started to evolve from being written in English to Arabic. Englishly, the sky was grey and the trees stripped. I thought I was in 'This Is English 2k12'.

Got to the studio.
'Oh so you are only here for the drums, right?' Northern studio-keeper asked upon my arrival.
'Yep.'
'Uhh, you don't look like you've got your cymbals with you.' he noticed as he was glancing at me.
'Nope?'
'Oh you know we don't provide or hire cymbals?'
'......No?'
Then I started explaining how in Hong Kong all the studios have cymbals on the drum kits.

'Ah never mind, I can lend you mine! Normally if the drummers forget their cymbals they have to grab ones from the old, broken pile *points towards the pile that looks like it's made up of corroded metallic discs*'
He then handed a bunch of cymbals to me. I think I must have carried them in a very awkward manner cause within 1 minute he decided he would show me how to transport cymbals 'the proper way'.
'You just stack them together and tuck them under your arms!'

Then I was shown to the actual room and left with the cymbals.
I stared at those metallic circular things people called 'cymbals'. Wait. How do they. Go. On the. Hardware. How?
So I asked my Northern pal for help.
'Ahhhh I wouldn't help you if you were ugly.' he said as he was screwing the crash.
That moment I said a prayer thanking my parents under my breath.

Bang bang bang. I messed up the hi-hats. Dang. As usual.
After I was done I detached the cymbals from the hardware and handed them back to Northern guy. He asked 'When do you normally practise then?' Answer. 'Oh, that's great! I can fit you in between the gaps and charge you less, as long as you don't become fat and ugly.'
I suppose I'll have to watch my weight then? Anyway, he did charge me a discounted price for today. I realised after I left. Lol.

Left I turned and waaaait. I think I left something. Miraculously I did and it was my phone charger (cause I forgot to charge my phone in the morning and I needed it for the songs and blah blah blah). Annoyingly I had to return to meet Mr Northerner and he already retrieved it before I did.

If I had known the studios in England don't provide cymbals I would have put on my Christmas wish list 'a set of cymbals'. Or maybe even 'a proper full kit'. Have to wait 362 days now. Dammit.