October 9th: Bournemouth Opera House
Bournemouth. Famous for … hang on, I’ll think of something …
… No … cant think of anything, sorry Bournemouth.
First thing of the day I have to deal with is parking. We have to reverse the bus down an alleyway at the back of the venue, which is full of cars when we arrive. Takes a while to find all the owners and convince them how much damamge we’d do to their cars if we tried to squeeze the bus down the side of them.
The Opera House itself is strange. We’re the last show in the building before it’s closed for renovation. This means half of the building is shiney and new, and the other half is old and run down. Guess which bit we’re in.
Nothing really to report about the gig, everything runs quite smoothly.
There are no showers at the venue, so we’ve got a couple of hotel rooms booked for everyone to go get showered after the show. This is where the problem begins.
The night porter at the hotel is, I think, Russian. He speaks very little English.
When we pull up in the bus at about 1am, he’s a little concerned to see us all pile off and won’t actually let us into the hotel. We’re trying to explain to him that we’ve got two rooms booked, but he’s telling us that he’s fully booked and has no rooms. This goes back and forward for a while, me trying to explain to him that yes, he is fully booked, but two of the rooms are actually ours.
After a while, he changes his plan of attack. Agreeing that we have two rooms booked, he now wont let us in because he thinks we’re trying to all fit into two rooms for the night, to sleep. After a while of trying to explain that it’s just to use the showers I lose my temper and tell everyone to get back on the bus. I’ve given up. We head to the nearest decent service station to use showers there instead. Probably would have been better just doing that in the first place.
Oct 10th: Northampton Soundhaus
It’s all bit grim in Northampton. The gig’s in a bit of an industrial estate, not much around. The trouble with buses is that you cant poop in the toilets, so when there’s an overwhelming urge to empty your bowels in the morning, you need to find somewhere to make your delivery. I wander around for a while, cheeks tightly clenched, until I find a café. A great relief.
Back at the bus I wake up the band and take them off to BBC Northampton for an interview and live acoustic session. About an hour later when we get back to the bus, I find the crew; all looking a bit flustered, all looking for a toilet. I point them in the direction of the café.
In the afternoon I go shopping, and in the process decide to get myself a new camera. Nice little Nikon L3. I got £40 off it by putting the guy in the shop on the guest list, which is nice.
Al the backline guy. Just been told he got the all clear from the clap clinic 
JUNGLE KING! Dont ask, it’s a long story. 
Purle Haze! Sorry, couldnt think of a better tag line for this pic.
The gig tonite is absolutely mental. The band are on top form, and the crowd respond in equal measure. First crowd surfer of the tour tonight. Hopefully a sign of things to come.
Oct 11th: Day Off
I wake up this morning and we’re back on the farm for our day off. In the kitchen, Henry is making breakfast for everyone. Bacon, eggs, beans and toast. Plus lovely fresh coffee. Nice.
Breakfast!
It’s pissing with rain today, so there’s nothing really to do, but it doesn’t really matter. Not spending a day off in a hotel room somewhere makes everyone feel good. A little home comfort. So, we laze about, watching the rain … and the horses in the rain … and the daft dog who seems to like the rain. The evening is topped off with a huge feast of take away food, nice wine, and cheesy movies on the TV.
