Brodsky Quartet

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!