Dear all,
It’s been a busy old time just lately and much fun had. First up was a gig in Stourbridge, a place I’ve played a few times and this was a lovely gig at Stourbridge Folk Club at Katie Fitzgerald’s before a trip down to Somerset for a gig at Montacute Village Hall which was another nice night and always a pleasure to see the Cooney family. Then came a bit of excellent route planning on my part as my next gig was up in Gloucestershire on the way back to Stafford, I mean how sensible was that? Except of course, things come in and instead I drove up to Stafford to play at a wedding at 1 o’clock and then back down to Wotton under Edge for a gig at Under The Arts. What a bloody fantastic gig this was as well – a really lovely audience and a full room and I enjoyed it very much indeed. A hectic weekend was rounded off by a stonking 2 and a half hours straight set at the Bell in Bath, an incomparable music pub with a magic atmosphere. God bless it!
So then came 4 gigs, a rehearsal and a visit to the grandparents in the space of a week! First came the grandparents in Church Stretton which is always a pleasure and it was good to tell them of my New Zealand exploits. Shrewsbury was next for a gig at Acoustic Folkus which was a really nice gig and great to see my old German teacher Mrs Richards! It’s a curious thing when an old teacher comes to see you play, it’s happened to me a few times now. You know that you’re now allowed to use their first name but it somehow feels wrong. So thank you for coming..er..Lucette. Yep, feels wrong.
And so it continued. I’ve just realised the first paragraph of this covered rather a lot of gigs but I inexplicably allotted an entire paragraph to just Shrewsbury. Kind of weird. Ah well, next up was a trip to the Northeast which of course I always enjoy. First up was a cracking night at Ashington Folk Club and the usual wonderful hospitality of the hosts which involved quite a bit of wine. Friday came a gig in Newcastle at Ouseburn Farm which was again very nice and great to see some old chums in my former home, one of my favourite cities on the planet. God bless it!
Then yesterday I was rehearsing with UFQ which is filling me with excitement more and more every time and our tour in May promises to be a belter! Gigs are listed on my gigs page (funny that…) and there’s a preview video of the new lineup here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsE7m0SjI7U.
See that was an even shorter paragraph wasn’t it. Anyway a mini-rant for this week – middle lane drivers. I do not understand how people are so confused by the lane system on British motorways. It is perfectly simple – keep to the left lane unless you are overtaking. Not the middle, not the right, but the left. You know left, opposite to right. That’s left. LEFT! Yet time and again some clueless twerp will be driving at 60 mph (always seems to be 60) but what people seem unable to grasp is the speed is not the relevant thing – unless you are overtaking you keep left. Very simple. That’s the first thing but the amusing thing here is when you have to do the ridiculous move from left to middle to right lane to overtake the prat in the middle lane (for the record I don’t do more than 70mph…anymore) it is rather fun to point left so they can see you do it. Some realise you’re right and just move. What’s funnier is some tosspot sometimes then decides to dramatically speed up to 80 and overtakes shouting abuse. You then encounter them a little later once again doing 60 in the middle lane as you pass them. That is my definition of a tosser.