Always know where the door is.

Advice for life which someone was kind enough to impart to me many years ago. Whether it’s a job, a relationship, a boring party or awful pub – always work out how you can escape. I thought of this when I went to Wigmore Hall to see Joshua Redman – virtuoso saxophonist whose version of Tears in Heaven is simply sublime. This was what I was expecting. Instead, I was tortured with the very worst sort of tuneless, indulgent jazz that I imagine the CIA use to extract confessions from terror suspects. It was unbearable, so I was immediately planning my escape. Unfortunately, the first solo went on for half an hour, by which time I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. When he finally paused, I “answered” my phone and said “Okay. I’m coming right now” to a non-existent caller and very quickly found the door.