Hit the road
Published on Fri 25 Jan 2013
Knowing that we were going away for 12 nights this morning, we spent all of last night waiting for a Chinese meal to be delivered, trying to call the restaurant because they brought the wrong thing, taking the meal back to the restaurant because they'd left the phone off the hook and eating Chinese. That meant that this morning was busier than we thought it might be, because we had to pack, gather supplies and scrape 3 inches of snow off the car. Which for some reason I decided to do with no coat or gloves on. A 15 minute drive round Cambridge trying to find somewhere to check the tyres now that they've closed Sainsbury's later and we were on the road only an hour later than planned. We'd allowed 5 hours for a 110 minute drive so it wasn't too big a worry. We even had time to stop at the services 10 minutes north of town for me to get a substandard KFC (the chicken was too freshly cooked for my liking, and the coke machine was broken or empty or something). Annie began her effort to eat nothing but burritos for the entire trip.
The snow was getting noticeably thicker as we headed west, but it didn't affect the length of the journey as much as the combination of our satnav's habit of announcing turns either miles in advance or at the very last minute and the road system in Birmingham city centre.
Eventually we pulled into the loading bay of Birmingham Symphony Hall, and after a bit of confusion about whether we could park there, we unloaded onto a trolley (and how I wish everywhere had trolleys) and began to negotiate the labyrinth of ramps and corridors to the foyer where we were playing. It's an impressive building, and apparently one of the top 5 concert halls in the world. The foyer, which feels like a cross between a conference centre and a shopping mall was also very swish. Here's the view from the window:
I was a good set - complete opposite of last week in terms of audience noise. It was a bit disconcerting being able to hear so well. Ironic in a concert hall.
When we were done, hundreds of admirers queuing up for an audience with Annie so I kept an eye on the gear and talked to a guy about melodicas for 20 mins. Though it was interesting. He'd done a 2 hour solo melodica show once. I said, no offence but I'm glad I didn't see it. I keep running out of breath while playing the melodica. Someone should come up with one that allows you to both suck and blow. Like Coldplay.
Talking of sucking, here's what the set list is written on the back of.
After we watched the other act, Louise Petit, who was good, we carefully walked out onto Broad St, site of several "special" nights in my mid to late 20s, including the legendary office party where our 3 person company spent more than the 25 person company and found a Mexican restaurant which not surprisingly outclassed the one at the services in the A14.
We stopped at a Tesco for supplies on the way to the hotel (I'd forgotten my toothbrush and neither of us packed toothpaste - the cupboard in the bathroom is full of toothpaste from trips like this). Annie bought me a spiderman Impenetrable Web slinger from a vending machine that I couldn't get into for ages.
Goodness knows how children manage it. It's pretty good though.
We were booked into a Travelodge that turned out to be above a KFC and a Subway, with a car park that was 2 inches deep in ice. Unloading took a long time. It smelt a lot like a Subway and there was only one member of staff (I guess it makes sense seeing how cheap the rooms are) and we had to wait for ages to check in, wondering if there was actually anyone there. Annie even rang the hotel, but the phone next to us just rang. She turned up in the end though.
I don't remember touring involving this much carrying stuff around. I suppose I've never brought a keyboard before. I'll either end up a lot stronger or a couple of inches shorter.
