Just going back to Crumb for a minute. Jacky just reminded me that on 13th Sept. 1993 (my b'day) we were playing 'Death and the Maiden' // Black Angels in Sydney (that's a prog we played often; indeed we recorded it). Just before the concert she had received a phone call to say that my dad had died. Thankfully, she didn't tell me till afterwards. How on earth did I manage to forget that little event when cataloguing the BA stories???

Much as I like Canterbury, do I want to spend the night there, unplanned and potentially in my car (albeit with a view of the glorious cathedral)? I don't think so. The writing was on the wall I suppose. We were making our way gently towards the wonderful Uni of Kent; purveyors of doctorates to the great and good (and not so!). It was a rare moment in this hellish winter that has followed the not too clever summer - the sky was clear and blue, the sun practically warm causing us to peel off one or two of the outer layers; then, there in front of us, a bizarre, post- apocalyptic sight. It was the blackest sheet of cloud you've ever seen which had draped a 'curtain' of sleet/snow/hailstones across the Kentish countryside. Sounds somewhat over-dramatic I know but we were actually scared as the car carried us relentlessly into the unknown. Almost instantly we went from the bright clarity of the drive thus far to an eerie darkness where visibility was down to a few metres. The outside temp. went from +5 to -3 in a matter of seconds.We went from being Toad of Toad Hall to being Dennis Quaid in a scene from 'The Day After Tomorrow'.

The show must go on of course and many brave people battled hard to make the concert a success (Jacky's sister, Janet and her husband Tony who live in C, got in the car and proceeded to slip-slide down their street straight into a taxi that had found itself stranded sideways in the middle of the road. Within seconds another car got in on the act and pirhouetted into them. This car turned out to be carrying 4 people also bound for our concert, so in that moment we lost 6 audience members!!!); we had a lovely time there, as always but then...... The scene that greeted us as we left was frankly comical. there were abandoned vehicles everywhere, just left where they ended up. Taxis were parked up and down the road, refusing to go any further, their charges left to fend for themselves; at one point, a young man came running up the middle of the road waving his arm hysterically shouting," don't try to go any further. You cannot go down there, you don't stand a chance....... !!!!!" It took us half an hour to complete the 3 min winter olympic preview course and get off the campus. Another 20 mins took us to the M2 and a welcome return to sanity. Were we in Whistler or Thomsk ?? No. We were in the 'Garden of England' !!!!

ps No-one was hurt in the making of this blog!

Our residency at the RSAMD is really beginning to take shape now. We just had our most successful trip to date. The students there are starting to understand and love this chamber-music lark. Also managed to fill the hall with Prok 2/Bart 6 on Friday lunchtime which was most heartening. Wed night some of us hit the Wee Curry House (not for the first time!!) hmmmm... excellent. It was -7degrees and snowing so I simply had to have the chilli, coriander, ginger King Prawn dish. Isn't life a ... Next night Me and J went to the cinema and saw The Road. Bloomin' 'eck! Brilliant film but not if you have kids a few hundred miles away. Extremely harrowing. The entire packet of Revels went very quickly.

After our lunchtime on Fri we had a very scary encounter with a somewhat deranged and horribly aggressive taxi-driver but still managed to make the 2.30 train to Kendal where we played that night (Courtney Pine and co were in the next hall/dressing room) at the Brewery Arts Centre. Lovely little place actually and good crowd. We were halfway through the second piece when Jacky's stand began to slowly tilt forward eventually causing her music to fall to the floor. We kept playing for a short time but when it was obvious that no-one from the audience was about to get involved we stopped and Daniel rectified the situation. I suggested to the audience that this had been a clear case of 'brewer's droop' ..... not sure how well that went down but i'm afraid I found it irresistible.

Had a fun Thai meal; then whilst waiting for the cab, bumped into some rather worse-for-wear local lads and lasses clutching bottles of rose. They were complaining that there was nothing for them to do but drink and that because of their appearance everyone was on their case. We suggested that they looked perfectly normal and should have spent at least part of their evening down at a different brewery listening to Beethoven and stuff ...... not sure there'll be much change next Friday though. Nice kids .

Like an idiot I managed to catch the end of Jaws2, Fish Called Wanda and White Mischief before collapsing at some unearthly hour. Got the first train home and found ourselves next to two trainspotters on their way to Royston. They had this extraordinary file full of mind-boggling diagrams of the national grid etc. At one point they nearly knocked each other out in a desperate attempt to be the first to see a particular signal-box that we were about to pass...... Now I love trains and all but ..... mind you, if they were to attend one of our rehearsals they might well think the same of me (just different anoraks really!!).