Another mistakenly unpublished - from April 2010!

May 3rd. Today we head North. Well, we think we're going north....in terms of Sweden of course...hardly. Someone told us that if you flip Sweden over you get to Milano! Anyway we're in Umea (Umayo) where there's a big festival going on. Great fun..sure; unless you're looking for a hotel room. Our management left it a bit late booking so we end up in a motel-like joint on the outskirts of town. Still the concert was nice and taken by Swedish Radio

Next day was a quick get=out and head another 3hrs north. Surely now we're actually north!!??...hmmm.....sorry, no, it's only Lulea. The reporter I spoke to from the local paper made me laugh. 'You're here at just the wrong time. We have a beautiful archipelago here but the ice has melted too much to drive over, however there's still too much to be able to take a boat!!' Interesting situation.

Now here, the hotel makes up for the crumby motel. Next door is one of the best restaurants in all of Sweden and opposite there's a mega fishing shop....brill !(excuse the pun)

Can't resist a chat with the guy in the fishing shop who doesn't disappoint in being hugely entertaining to chat with. Turns out it's still mostly ice-fishing at that time of year; not really my scene. One bizarre thing he told me was that at his favourite, nearby river, he had been hooking spring salmon for 10yrs before he actually managed to land one!! They're so fresh, strong and crazed that's it's almost impossible to get them in. He said it's not uncommon to see people running full-belt down the bank or in some cases even swimming after their quarry!!! We're much more civilised in Donegal I told him, emerald green with envy.

Next day, up at the crack of dawn as usual to fly back to the big smoke for an afternoon gig. Stockholm is a most enchanting place and the hall there is simply stunning. The sort of acoustic you dream about. Now despite advertising it at the wrong time on the wrong day we manage to sell-out. After the show, Mats, our lovely manager takes us to a spiffing eating place where we were invited to order whatever we pleased except that we were going to start with herring-Swedish-style. What arrived was a dish from heaven. Served in 5 different ways and accompanied by a most exraordinary beer.....one of the culinary highlights of my life.

In March we went Zurich-Stockholm, seems only right that in May we go Stockholm-Zurich. A brief train-ride brings us to glorious Lucerne. Every time I go there I feel like I've entered a story-book. It is so beautiful. Another afternoon gig (not a bad thing at all...love 'em ). We still find time for a delicious lunch overlooking the river.....idyllic.

After the concert we have a taxi waiting at the stage door to whisk us off, back to Zurich Airport for the evening Easy home. Everything worked like clockwork. The taxi was great, check-in, trouble-free; waved good-bye to Daniel, who was off somewhere else and even had time for a beer and (would you believe it) curry at the gate.....amazing. Our flight was at 9.30pm and at 9.10pm a little sign illuminated above the gate. We struggled to read it at first but soon realised the full import of it's content.....CANCELLED. Nothing was said, no-one from the airline appeared....the ash had finally got us.