I entered the postcode into GOOGLE (oh praise him, oh praise him!) and put the phone on the dashboard. If he get lost, it's his fault. I was having 140 winks! Don't know why I was so tired. I'd slept okay, I think. Maybe it's just the riggers of the tour catching up on me? Am I getting too old to be doing this sort of thing anymore?
Big questions!!!
Anyway, I was awake to be second guessed directions again, in time for arrival at The plaza.
It's a lovely old venue, one of years past and you can feel the nostalgia at every point. You know those old cinemas or theatres you see in Humphrey Bogart or 50's movies?
No?
Okay forget it!!
Here's a picture anyway.
Not recent times.
And just because I love the inside so much, here's a picture. Do you get what I mean about some places that ooze a feeling of a long forgotten time?
Anyway, I saw the opportunity to run some power and signal cables while they ummed and ah'd about what to do with rigging.
Unlike last year and the time before that, this was a relatively fast build up. Clayton and I were off for lunch for 3:30, miracle given how long it's been on other tours!
I was in no mood for company so I made my excuse and fucked off away from him. No offense to him, just didn't want to be tagged along and forcing conversation about the state of the textile industry in the third world.. or something.
I did find a Barclays and my pay cheque was put in like a mother fucker!
I did try and hook up with a few friends up here, but none were available. Anything to avoid what I don't like about being up this way (nothing to do with place itself I'll add) and friendly faces helped the last time. This was not to be today.
So I found the 'Spoons and therefore the band, ate and drank beer until it was time to go to meeting.
They're getting shorter these days which can only mean we are getting more streamlined. A few lighting issues, which Andy had a come back for, always has, were addressed and it was down to sound check. Again, a quick one with no hassle.
I saw a golden opportunity to do some washing, the hardest part of being on tour. The woman in the venue insisted that she helped me. Like, I don't know how to operate a washing machine?!? Okay, I agreed.
She only went and put it on a 3 hour wash!!! So by the interval when I was hoping to put it to dry, it was still going.
This upset micaela, a typical Italian for want of a better term, very hot headed ( some say passionate) and quick to be vocal about things that upset her. No amount of explaining to her that it wasn't me that set it to a 3 hour wash made any difference to her telling me how it has fucked her day royally up!
You see as well as balancing swords and other shit off a knife, off her face (and I mean literally! Not "fuck she was off her fucking face maaaaaan!") she's also responsible for the washing and drying of all costumes every day. I sympathised with her and told her "to do what she gotta do!"
This entailed stopping the machine mid cycle and me carrying around a suitcase of wet clothes for a day.. Maybe.
But my clothes were clean as fuck! So at least I has clean but albeit wet clothes. I would have to display them around the travelodge room (which I was sharing with Andy and Clayton) in an attempt to dry them.
It should be mentioned that we did very well here last year, a storming show with a very good ticket sales.
Last year!!!
That's all I'll say.
The pull down was also pretty quick and we were out by 11:00 for the looooong drive back to London.
Haze and I spoke of UFOs and aliens on the way home. He told me some of his own experiences in Wales. I then told him about what's referred to as the welsh triangle.
Which kind of coincides with his stories as they would have been around the same time.
Much like the many many stories you hear of mid western towns in USA, miles from anywhere where mullets, a bigoted religious ethic and cuntry music (I deliberately spelt that wrong) rule the day, it leaves one thinking,
"Why do aliens find interest in redneck and backwater Hicksville?!?"
I love Wales and their Hicks!
I didn't get in to bed until gone 4:30 am, I was on van duty after I dropped haze, professor and a bunch of others off. Sleep eluded me because I knew I was gonna have to be up in 3 hours, and then again in another 2 to put a ticket on the van.
Oh the joys of being a nice guy!
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