Wild Weekend

It was a horribly wet weekend in Windermere but our tent, Matilda (so called because it looks like that robot from Robot Wars), kept us dry. Unfortunately I forgot my earplugs so I couldn't stand the sound of the raindrops on the roof. It was like Chinese water torture and I thought I would go mad if I had to listen to it all night. So I crept into the house and slept on the floor of the room where my mum and dad were sleeping. Vince was able to sleep through the noise the git!

Before that though we had a grand party, ate lots of food, drank lots, had some musical enertainment on guitar, bazouki and fiddle (as long as no one was watching) and several people read some poems. I wore a dress that was much admired, bought from Monsoon sale two years ago. I'd just had my hair cut too so I was looking rather hot even if I do say so myself!

The highlight of the evening for me was my dad read a poem. It was the first poem he had ever written. He was inspired by his love of cars, his purchase of a Mini and the band Rammstein. This was an absolutely amazing thing because he kept it a total secret. My dad is a very quiet man, all friends meeting him for the first time are warned not to take it personally if he doesn't speak to them, conversation with him can be difficult. So that he wrote a poem AND then read it out in front of a room full of people was absolutely amazing. Go dad!

Vince also challenged us to write a poem one word at a time going round the room in a circle. This is the resulting poem, suggestions for a title please:

Twas angst words said despaired foresight man
but upside-down frogspawn blow job please
heron standing slithering shit arsehole rogered
salubrious kalapidgeonist* Voldemort Vince


*no idea if that's the right spelling but apparently means you like bums

The next morning we all appeared bleary eyed and ate breakfast on the terrace - croissants, veggie sausages, beans, mushrooms, scrambled egg, and for the meat eaters Ruth (Journal of a Wise Woman) did a hot trade in bacon butties from the back of her camper van Florence, who sadly died shortly afterwards requiring vehicle rescue.

I am still recovering from the lack of sleep, I'm half asleep at work today, but it was a bloody good weekend!

Saturday Sun

James and Rebecca

Peter in the foreground with mug

Stuart singing





By 9am it was HOT in the tent. Vince and James both felt really rough with wisky heads. The gash on Vince's shin looked nasty. The nice people whose paddock we were camping in let us use a little toilet and sink that was in a little utility room and they even brought us some bread, houmous, fruit, tea, coffee, rooibos tea and some orange juice. I thought this was incredibly nice.





Vince and I sat about chatting to folk in the morning while James and Rebecca snuck off to the hotel where aunt was staying to have showers. Cheaters! We went for lunch in a nearby Harvester pub, our first proper food since lunch at KFC at Oxford services the day before.



Then we headed back for soundcheck in the church. I had my book with me to stave off boredom and also got up and wandered around frequently as my bum went numb from sitting down so long last year. Pews are not comfortable.



One set of performers from the Friday night were joined by the rest of their band Eve and the Garden. I had wondered why I recognised the drummer and realised it was the parish priest! The band were really good and hadn't really heard of Nick Drake until the vicar got involved last year (he had been in the job 10 days!) They do sort of folksy celtic rock stuff and the Paul the vicar seems to have a large array of different congas, bongos and djembes.

Vince and James performed Three Hours for the second time as it went down so well last year. Next year they're hoping to play it with Paul the vicar on drums. James played a song of his own, Closed, which went down brilliantly and he sold quite a few of the CDs he took with him. You should be able to check out James and Vince's performance on You Tube so please check it out.

Back to the campfire again but a slightly more restrained affair this evening. I think people didn't want to pack up their tents with a hangover.

I Was Made to Love Camping

Hayley Jane and Vince
Rebecca and Nya

Unfortunately the only pictures I have are round the camp fire on the Saturday night as I forgot my camera for the rest of the weekend!

We set off from Croydon and got stuck in a traffic jam as people had slowed down to look at an accident on the other carriageway of the M40. Boo! I think I left my cool Fossil watch that my uncle got me for my 16th birthday on the table at Oxford services. I have rung their lost property but it hasn't turned up. Ultra boo!

We get to Tanworth and have 30 minutes to put up our tent. We've never done it before. We're both hot and tired. We both get in an arse with the tent and each other. Vince accidentally hits me on the chin with a bit of the tent when he is shaking it out. I cry. We make up.

We take longer than half an hour. James and Rebecca have gone in search of supermarket for food which we don't have time to eat. We get the to the village hall and fortunately things are delayed.

James and Vince decide to go on first to perform At the Chime of a City Clock. The sound man Peter Rice was at university with Nick Drake. He doesn't have the levels right so you can only just hear Vince's bass. James then did a song of his own (sorry James I can't remember which one you did). They go down a storm.

The evening progresses nicely with lots of lovely singers. People generally do one Nick cover and a cover by someone similar (like John Martyn, Tim Buckley, Fairport Convention, Jackson C Frank etc) or a song of their own.

Back to the campfire for more singing, merriment, drinking. Vince gets very drunk on whisky and falls into chairs and takes a chunk out of his shin.

The Toyota TARDIS

Or how to fit two tents, sleeping bag, rucksacks, a double duvet and pillows and three guitars all in cases into a Yaris with four people sat in it.

1. Put large rucksacks and tents in boot. This is now full.

2. Put duvet in special plastic bag that can have the air sucked out of it using a vacuum cleaner. Put this and the pillows in the middle of the back seat.

3. The person in the front passenger seat must have a guitar in a soft case between their legs.

4. The person with the most leg room in the back must also have a guitar in a soft case between their legs.

5. The bass guitar in a hard case goes across both passengers in the back. The person with the guitar between their legs gets the neck end.

6. If it is very hot have the windows wide open and drive fast so the people under the guitars in the back don't die.

Place to Be

Every yearsince 2003 there has been an annual Nick Drake gathering in Tanworth-in-Arden, the sleepy Warwickshire village where Nick grew up and is now buried.

Last year was the first time that Vince, me, our friends James and Rebecca and some of his family had gone to this gathering and we had a bloody great time. It was a bit of a farce getting down there from Scotland as we were told our train was cancelled due to Virgin staff being on strike, only to have to leg it to a different platform to get on a train to Birmingham. It was hot and everybody was trying to get on our train as theirs had been cancelled.

We made it in the end though. On the Friday evening there is a more informal concert in the village hall and on the Saturday is the concert "proper" in the church. For such a small village the church is HUGE!

Last year we stayed in a B&B in Solihull, this year we're camping in Tanworth itself, hence the reason why I want it to be good weather, but not too hot, at the weekend. I'm not looking forward to trying to take all our camping essentials on the train!

This time we're going via James and Rebecca's in Surrey so Vince and James can practice the songs they're playing. As you can imagine they don't get to do that very often due to the miles involved! If you click on the link above you'll see some photos of James and Vince, as well as other performers, in the gallery section.

So, if you want to come along then please do. It's good place to meet some great musicians playing beautiful music in a scenic place. Plus it's FREE (apart from the drinks)! Mine's a cider thanks....

Weather Witch

Picture from bbc.co.uk

My mum (Gill) think's that I am a weather witch.

When at Ehenside School I made it snow and we were off for a whole week! At Whitehaven School we had been off for a couple of days due to snow, I wanted to have one more day off but mum reckoned the school would be open again. We tuned into Radio Cumbria and sure enough Whitehaven School was still closed, due to the grounds being very icey.

We stayed in Tower House in March this year for a weekend. We had the place until Monday morning but Vince and I couldn't get the time of work. I wished that we got snowed in so we couldn't leave as we had plenty of food and fuel. I managed to get it to snow but unfortunately by the evening, when my parents were giving us a lift back, the snow had melted.

In my blog Flamin' June I wished for cooler weather as I couldn't stand the heat. The Bishop of Carlisle can blame the gays all he likes but unfortunately I might be to blame for all the rain.

I have tried to wish it to be better weather but it isn't working. Maybe I am just a bad weather witch. Or maybe even more specifically a precipitation witch!

I am however now worried that I have overdone it. I wasn't specific enough in my wish for it to be not as hot as it was. I can't get the rain to stop! I need it to because I want to go camping in Warwickshire (see next post)!

So calling all good weather witches - please make it sunny on 4th, 5th and 6th August in Warwickshire but not too hot please! I don't want to die in my tent or get sunburn.