Got home an hour and forty minutes later than planned.

Insert expletives here.

North/South divide (posted a few days late because the internet where I was staying had an absolute mare)

Dear all,

Well a few gigs to report on since my last entry. First up was a return to Newcastle for a Good Friday gig at the Cumberland Arms which started a little slowly thanks to an early start courtesy of the day but filled up rapidly and turned into a cracking night. Next up we were in Barnsley for the Acoustic Roots festival which wasn’t bad apart from a drunk couple in the evening who failed to comprehend the idea that no-one else gave a **** about the fact they were drunk and when she asked ‘I’m on holiday why shouldn’t I drink a lot?’ the temptation was almost overwhelming to say ‘because it makes you behave like this in public you ****…’ Still everyone else was nice and the Shee, as ever, were superb. Special mention also to Lisa the taxi driver who was one of the funniest and friendliest people ever encountered on tour!

So after a brief reunion with British rail, I was back in the car to head down to Winchester to see my girlfriend again after her travels, which has been lovely, but we were back in gigging action on Wednesday at Dorking Folk Club which was a bit quiet but very enjoyable and tonight we’re at the Anvil Theatre in Basingstoke which has sold rather well I gather but still a few left if anyone fancies it. We’re also in Torrington, Leciester, Stafford, Hartpury, Bury and Warwick before the month’s out so if anyone fancies seeing us it would be marvellous to see you! Please do check with venues before travelling though as I believe most have sold pretty well so wouldn’t want anyone to make a wasted journey.

Now one thing that has often got on my proverbials is the North-South debate. It gets on my whatnots because basically, who gives a flying conbobulation? I mean let’s face it, every part of every country in the world has nice people and loathsome people. When Southerners go on about the South being so much nicer and prettier and that there are no nice places in the North…they can fornicate off because Durham, York and the like are every bit as pretty as Bath, Winchester and the like. Also, yes certain places like Bradford and Middlesbrough are not exactly to my taste but how about Ashford or Luton eh? Plus to dismiss the wonderful, vibrant and friendly atmospheres of Newcastle, Liverpool etc is snobbish rubbish. But it’s not all their fault…Northerners can be just as bad with their dismissal of all Southerners as ‘North haters’ or unfriendly people. And this nonsense of ‘the further North you go the friendlier it gets’ can be dismissed by the aforementioned not so great places in the North. So what it basically all boils down to is…places are places, some are nice, some aren’t, some people are nice, some aren’t. Deal with it.