Excalibur
19-09-2013, 07:56 PM
Grab a cuppa, this may take nearly as long to type as it did to take place, and nearly as long to read. :D
Friday:
Fit in a rush job for a regular customer, and get a haircut. ( I think my hairstyle impressed Darren quite a lot. The "Mad Professor " look, he called it. :D )
Saturday:
Tidy up odds and ends in the Day job, and load up for a party in Harrogate. The journey to that one alternated between Motorway and goat tracks, so a tad tiring. Return home early on Sunday morning, and grab four hours sleep. Not enough, I fear. :(
Sunday:
After taking the Sat Nav out of Thunderbird 2, I load up Thunderbird 1* and head East. Pick up some chap in a bright black and orange footy shirt that isn't good to look at this early on a Sunday morning, and then head South. Fill the car with diesel, and me with coffee. Arrive at BPM to find they've moved the show as far away as is possible from the car parks just to be helpful. Whoopee. :mad: Spend the next few hours harassing some exhibitors, saying hello to anyone I met and recognised, and a few I didn't. Visited the bar, and foolishly offered to buy a Company Director a drink. If I'd thought the price of his pint was exorbitant, I wasn't pepared for the cost of a few squashed apples! :eek: £4.59 a bottle!! When I had uttered the customary Yorkshire greeting of "HOW MUCH????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and checked that I hadn't actually bought the whole bar a drink, I reluctantly waved goodbye to a tenner, and sat down to recover from the shock. Wandered round the show again, listened to the speaker demo, loved the sound of everything that Darren hated, and was physically assaulted by the Bose rig when it roared into life a few yards away. After checking that my internal organs hadn't been rearranged by it, I resumed my perambulations, and wisely availed myself of the ADJ Pizzafest. More of that later. I was urged to visit the arena to listen to Alison Limerick, and turned up to find some bloke giving a joanna ( and my ears ) some abuse. When he'd finished about twenty minutes of the same riff, it was time for Ms Limerick, who turned up on stage with the highly amusing inoperative microphone. Highlight of the event, really. :D She was offered one that was switched on, and was brilliant. When she'd finished, and we saw some bloke setting up some turntables, we made our excuses and left, with the intention of going to the hotel. Oh dear. :o:o:o
My expensive Sat Nav insisted that we were miles away from our intended destination, even though John's phone said it was only a Hop, skip and jump away. Suffice to say, John's phone Andy's phone, and my phone were all correct, but the Sat nav which I stupidly followed was wrong. When the inevitable phone call from Andy came in en route, and the paroxysms of laughter had subsided at his end, we ended up at the hotel shortly after. As could have been predicted, by this time, I was not a happy bunny, and the observation was made as we made our grand entrance to the hotel: " Look at the face on that" ! Entirely accurate.
So, a hurried freshen up later, we were gathered in the bar, ready for our expedition to Brum. Those of us who had partaken of Pizza were still suitably replete, as were those who had the hotel carvery. Those who had had neither were "peckish". Taxis were procured, and we headed confidently towards Reflex, as is our custom. Oh calamity!!!! :eek::eek::mad::mad::confused::confused: Some of our number who were wearing trainers were refused entry!!! Our entreaties fell on deaf ears, so we adopted a fall back position of a nearby pub serving some lovely real ale. Sadly, we were ejected from there at closing time, so ended up negotiating a really attractive entrance fee ( i.e. free! ) to an Australian themed bar, Walkabout. My but it was loud. Again, I took pity on a forlorn little soul, and tried to buy him a pint of John Smiths. Another costly mistake. After trying six pumps and promising to put a new barrel on, we had to admit defeat, and the lad settled for a Guinness. Having settled into the quietest ( still deafening ) corner, we eventually admitted defeat, and despite the visual delights afforded by the nearby stage ( and some of our numbers using it ) we got a taxi back to the Sheldon, for a well earned sleep.
Monday:
I somehow managed to beat the alarm, shower, shave and be dressed for breakfast well before the 8 o’clock start time, and was joined by the other three reprobates, Deltic, Flatliners, and Twinspin. After partaking of a substantial breakfast, it was back into the car for a ten minute jaunt to the railway station to drop Andy off. Ten minutes? Ten minutes? Nearer an hour. Grrrrrrr. The nreturn journey only took a quarter of the time, so I grabbed a few passengers from the Sheldon, and returned to the show, to say cheerio to some folk, and buy some odds and ends. All too soon, it was time to return home, so first stop was to drop John off in ‘ull, and then head to York, where I was to help Andy with a Fancy Dress Karaoke. After going into town to pick up our costumes, I arrived at the Barracks about ten minutes before Andy, and we got signed without hindrance.
Typically, we were so early that the keys weren’t there yet, so as soon as they arrived, we got the kit in, and set it up. For anyone who hasn’t seen Andy’s kit in the flesh, it’s a lesson in efficiency. Suffice to say I’m now insanely jealous. We got all set up, the soundcheck was spot on, and after having a lovely curry from the stunning hot buffet, we got into costume. I may publish the piccies in the gallery, who knows?
Then the fun began. The kit which Andy had praised to the hilt when he used the time before decided to bite back. The karaoke radio mikes refused to work reliably, in fact one firmly refused to work at all, and the reliable Sennheiser wasn’t its usual reliable self. Cue some rapid swapping of kit, lots of frustration, and raised blood pressure. To add to this, the Karaoke drive decided not to show all the tracks when searching, so after a couple of work rounds, I was required to find some tracks on the Ipad, and play them while Andy connected a backup drive, which worked just fine. By this time, we had a cabled SM58 in use, and The Senny if I remember right. At this point, a deep calm descended on us, and the rest of the night was an absolute delight. So much so that we cheerfully played on for an extra half hour. The guests loved the evening totally, and were full of praise for Andy. ( Rightly so ). We packed up the kit, signed out, said cheerio, and arrived home.
Tuesday
Slept.
From finishing on Saturday a.m. to the alarm going off on Tuesday morning, I reckon I had about four hours sleep per night. I’m getting too old for this lark.
Friday:
Fit in a rush job for a regular customer, and get a haircut. ( I think my hairstyle impressed Darren quite a lot. The "Mad Professor " look, he called it. :D )
Saturday:
Tidy up odds and ends in the Day job, and load up for a party in Harrogate. The journey to that one alternated between Motorway and goat tracks, so a tad tiring. Return home early on Sunday morning, and grab four hours sleep. Not enough, I fear. :(
Sunday:
After taking the Sat Nav out of Thunderbird 2, I load up Thunderbird 1* and head East. Pick up some chap in a bright black and orange footy shirt that isn't good to look at this early on a Sunday morning, and then head South. Fill the car with diesel, and me with coffee. Arrive at BPM to find they've moved the show as far away as is possible from the car parks just to be helpful. Whoopee. :mad: Spend the next few hours harassing some exhibitors, saying hello to anyone I met and recognised, and a few I didn't. Visited the bar, and foolishly offered to buy a Company Director a drink. If I'd thought the price of his pint was exorbitant, I wasn't pepared for the cost of a few squashed apples! :eek: £4.59 a bottle!! When I had uttered the customary Yorkshire greeting of "HOW MUCH????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and checked that I hadn't actually bought the whole bar a drink, I reluctantly waved goodbye to a tenner, and sat down to recover from the shock. Wandered round the show again, listened to the speaker demo, loved the sound of everything that Darren hated, and was physically assaulted by the Bose rig when it roared into life a few yards away. After checking that my internal organs hadn't been rearranged by it, I resumed my perambulations, and wisely availed myself of the ADJ Pizzafest. More of that later. I was urged to visit the arena to listen to Alison Limerick, and turned up to find some bloke giving a joanna ( and my ears ) some abuse. When he'd finished about twenty minutes of the same riff, it was time for Ms Limerick, who turned up on stage with the highly amusing inoperative microphone. Highlight of the event, really. :D She was offered one that was switched on, and was brilliant. When she'd finished, and we saw some bloke setting up some turntables, we made our excuses and left, with the intention of going to the hotel. Oh dear. :o:o:o
My expensive Sat Nav insisted that we were miles away from our intended destination, even though John's phone said it was only a Hop, skip and jump away. Suffice to say, John's phone Andy's phone, and my phone were all correct, but the Sat nav which I stupidly followed was wrong. When the inevitable phone call from Andy came in en route, and the paroxysms of laughter had subsided at his end, we ended up at the hotel shortly after. As could have been predicted, by this time, I was not a happy bunny, and the observation was made as we made our grand entrance to the hotel: " Look at the face on that" ! Entirely accurate.
So, a hurried freshen up later, we were gathered in the bar, ready for our expedition to Brum. Those of us who had partaken of Pizza were still suitably replete, as were those who had the hotel carvery. Those who had had neither were "peckish". Taxis were procured, and we headed confidently towards Reflex, as is our custom. Oh calamity!!!! :eek::eek::mad::mad::confused::confused: Some of our number who were wearing trainers were refused entry!!! Our entreaties fell on deaf ears, so we adopted a fall back position of a nearby pub serving some lovely real ale. Sadly, we were ejected from there at closing time, so ended up negotiating a really attractive entrance fee ( i.e. free! ) to an Australian themed bar, Walkabout. My but it was loud. Again, I took pity on a forlorn little soul, and tried to buy him a pint of John Smiths. Another costly mistake. After trying six pumps and promising to put a new barrel on, we had to admit defeat, and the lad settled for a Guinness. Having settled into the quietest ( still deafening ) corner, we eventually admitted defeat, and despite the visual delights afforded by the nearby stage ( and some of our numbers using it ) we got a taxi back to the Sheldon, for a well earned sleep.
Monday:
I somehow managed to beat the alarm, shower, shave and be dressed for breakfast well before the 8 o’clock start time, and was joined by the other three reprobates, Deltic, Flatliners, and Twinspin. After partaking of a substantial breakfast, it was back into the car for a ten minute jaunt to the railway station to drop Andy off. Ten minutes? Ten minutes? Nearer an hour. Grrrrrrr. The nreturn journey only took a quarter of the time, so I grabbed a few passengers from the Sheldon, and returned to the show, to say cheerio to some folk, and buy some odds and ends. All too soon, it was time to return home, so first stop was to drop John off in ‘ull, and then head to York, where I was to help Andy with a Fancy Dress Karaoke. After going into town to pick up our costumes, I arrived at the Barracks about ten minutes before Andy, and we got signed without hindrance.
Typically, we were so early that the keys weren’t there yet, so as soon as they arrived, we got the kit in, and set it up. For anyone who hasn’t seen Andy’s kit in the flesh, it’s a lesson in efficiency. Suffice to say I’m now insanely jealous. We got all set up, the soundcheck was spot on, and after having a lovely curry from the stunning hot buffet, we got into costume. I may publish the piccies in the gallery, who knows?
Then the fun began. The kit which Andy had praised to the hilt when he used the time before decided to bite back. The karaoke radio mikes refused to work reliably, in fact one firmly refused to work at all, and the reliable Sennheiser wasn’t its usual reliable self. Cue some rapid swapping of kit, lots of frustration, and raised blood pressure. To add to this, the Karaoke drive decided not to show all the tracks when searching, so after a couple of work rounds, I was required to find some tracks on the Ipad, and play them while Andy connected a backup drive, which worked just fine. By this time, we had a cabled SM58 in use, and The Senny if I remember right. At this point, a deep calm descended on us, and the rest of the night was an absolute delight. So much so that we cheerfully played on for an extra half hour. The guests loved the evening totally, and were full of praise for Andy. ( Rightly so ). We packed up the kit, signed out, said cheerio, and arrived home.
Tuesday
Slept.
From finishing on Saturday a.m. to the alarm going off on Tuesday morning, I reckon I had about four hours sleep per night. I’m getting too old for this lark.