The Hudson family has been so gracious in letting me take up their guest room for an extended period while in London. It's been great. It has saved me heaps of money. I get to sleep in peace and privacy, neither of which you see much of at hostels. Everybody in this family does some kind of art, mostly music, some drawing, some dance, whatever. They are a charming gang of VonTrappesque people. It's a nice bit of stability and normalcy, and has left me better able to focus on my work, or just take a day off and recharge.

So I was delighted to be able to pay them back in some small way today, and perform a magic show for their youngest son (age 9) and several of his buddies, with the rest of the family looking on.

Magic for kids is my comfort zone in performing. It's where I started in the art, and I've got 20 years under my belt. Still, I didn't pack for doing a kid show and most of my magic for that age group is back at home. And also, all boys, all nerds, all 9 years old, that's a really really tough audience. Still, I think they had a good time. About halfway through the show, I finally had to disenfranchise one rather literal minded boy with a running gag, but I didn't harm him. The show went about as well as one can go for that demographic, and then we did a magic 101 class after, which went very well, arguably better than the show itself.

Anyway, no street performing that day. But a day well spent. And there was cake. Happy birthday, Weyland. And thank you, Hudsons. Your generosity and kindness are making my project a lot easier to handle.