Sunny Shropshire

Last night we played a show in a picturesque town in Shropshire called Ellesmere. We set off early to avoid the usual Friday afternoon motorway carnage, and by mostly sticking to the old A5  we arrived in very good time. It was incredibly hot in the van as the sun shone in through the windcreen all the way there. We had time to get the picnic chairs out and sit and eat a takeaway before loading in, but I was still parched until we'd set up and tested everything. I then set up the kettle and made cups of tea until every thirst was quenched. (It took three mugs for me).

We hit a familiar snag on this show. The lack of, or ineffectiveness of publicity. Basically, the paying public know what they like, and like what they know. Advertisers reckon that the average person needs to see an advert eight times before it registers with them. Unfortunately, the promotors efforts to advertise Nicki fell on mostly deaf ears and blind eyes, hence the low turnout. Not to be discouraged, Nicki turned in a blindingly good performance and won the crowd over.

When the show had finished I was relegated to tea making duties and packing away the cables. Once the van was loaded we said our farewells. Nick, Bob and Tracy drove to Ludlow and Chris, Cozy and myself back home. However, we hadn't enough diesel to get that far, so we very carefully drove down to Shrewsbury and then managed to find a 24 hour Tesco, where we put as much fuel in as we could afford. We had a wander around the store looking for food ( I can't eat when it's too hot, but I was hungry when we got off stage) and then we drove home.

We arrived home and got to bed at about four. Exactly twenty four hours later we have to be up and out and on our way to the next show in Ludlow, where we play in the morning and again in the afternoon. I hope there's a good turnout.