Friday
Wimbledon
Cheerful early morning knock at door (8am)
Plasterer, buckets, dust sheets, Radio One, whistling, work, bosh, bosh, bosh…
He leaves suddenly at ten thirty, job done as far as he can, return & finish Monday…
Call drummer for ETA
Usual sort of one or two hour delays
Call Mary
Concider pub & paper
But routine shattered by departure
Mary arrives
See the plaster and the garden
Rick finally arrives
Car chock-a-block
Kingston by pass
Heathrow band demo
A3
M25
We chase the sun down the M3
A303
Watery sunshine
Question mark shaped woods, brown, black
The new innocuous Kate Bush album
Crows, starlings
Yhaal House vegetable roti
Stonehenge, the Bell at Winterbourne Stoke, the Eagle is closed
Newcott Chef just as they are closing, cup of tea, pints of cider (Strongbow and Blackthorn)
Thousands on a raft for the drummer
Large fancy goldfish
Sun spectra
plane condensation trails in shape of a fish
Exeter rush hour, M6, A30
Car lights, city shimmers with sodium on our horizon
Jubilee Terrace
Waggy shiny black dog
Robin Sara Mary stay at house to come down later
Drummer & I go on to Redwing
Martin pulling up as we arrive!
Take everything off cars, haul into pub
Set up in the familiar bijou-ness that is the Redwing
Mr.Moir very subdued (still recovering from last weekend?!)
Sound check
Change t-shirt
Blind Dog, Magoo, Julie, Bryony, Jim, Lady Di…
Meaning of Life and rest of first show
Mary, Sara, Robin arrive, Bing
Wiggy Stardust
“We’re gonna take a five minute break. So, we’ll see you in half an hour”
Carpark, Fresh air
Second set
Sara’s spot
All the usuals
The smell of brown leather
Put stuff away, carry it out, load the vehicles
Walk with Mary to Jubilee Terrace
More fresh air, beer, port, party
Ukulele music, Weller music
Mary, the Captain & Bing slumber upstairs in the guest bedrooms
I sleep with dog on floor in conservatory
Saturday
Lympstone
Read the Exmouth Journal and the pamphlet-like Lympstone Journal
Narnia, MRSA, new house building
Mary takes to the bath, I take to the Saddlers for a livener
Fresh air
Thence to the post office
Guardian
Red Wing
Mr.Moir writing out the quiz and telling parrot jokes
Mary arrives and we go to boat shelter
Tide way out
Grey water, seabirds, beached boats, grey-brown mud, shingle mixed with the mud
She stands on harbour wall, large black shawl covering her head, cold breeze protection
It’s a Lyme Regis cob film image
I’m on the mud, a hundred yards out looking back at her up there, still have the dry clay mud on my shoes two days later
Catch the train to XMF
I say I’d like a ticket from Lympston Village to Exmouth
and then a return from Exmouth to Dawlish
Train man thinks about it
At Exmouth he says just get a ticket from Exmouth to Dawlish
(at least in Devon he didn’t think I meant Dulwich)
Fish’n’chips at Capels
Haddock, chips, mushy peas, pickled onion, egg and gerkin
Visit Oxfam shop: buy Rutles and first CSN on vynal
Go to the prom
Mary on beach
Me in the Beach (and the Grove)
Walk back to station via dock-side
Horrible road furniture- 70’s street lamps
Catch train to St.Davids
No wait for train to Dawlish
Train goes through fields and then breaks out onto estuary side at Starcross
High tide, piers, jetties, grey sky and water
Admire the view of XMF from the otherside
The new coloured buildings around the dock certainly enhance XMF’s appearance
Red Rock
Alight at Dawlish
Marine station
Big victorian rivets on footbridge
Jeyes Fluid strongly in the air
Brewery Bar, order car
Car takes us to Two Farthings for five pounds
Rick asleep on sofa
Bing in Kitchen
Slight rehearsal in living room
I travel with Martin
Mary travels with Rick
Bing stays at the homestead
Drive through the woods to the main road
Arrive at the car park in XMF
The Barrell is adjacent
Rick/ Mary arrive
The load in the gear, set it up litany
Concern over new noise level limiter (cuts off juice if music too loud)
Sound check- no trouble!
Usual suspects drift in
Put on brown suit and green turban
First set: much as last night but no Rockaway Beach
Rick & I try hard to switch the device
Interval: go out to Pound Street for usual fresh air
Second set
Sara’s section
Mary joins us all for Happy Together
Mary does Regrets (in Dm and not Am) and Reachout ( in C not A or Bb)
End of show
Beer!
Speak to the pub’ manager and he is very pleased
Can’t believe how loud other bands must be to trip the cut-out
Take off suit and put on Levis and blue suede cuban heel Beatle boots
Walk back to Blind Dog and Rachel’s
More beer, fresh air, G six string devil, harp and ukulele music
Martin leaves relatively early and drives home to Dawlish
Five AM (?) get cab to Jubilee Terrace
Get a bed tonight…
Sunday
Lympstone
Cab into XMF and meet Robin, Sara, Blind Dog and the drummer in Franklins
Venue for first ever FW gig in this illustrious town
Plaice goujons, Budweiser, smoked salmon and scrambled egg on toast
Walk round to Blind Dog/ Rachel’s house
Fresh air
Load up Rick’s car
Leave at about three
Drive north-eastward into the darkening countryside, golden sun behind us
Stop on A303 for chocolate, Red Bull and junk food
Arrive in Tooting about seven
Go to Yhaal House: special biriany and vegetarian chef’s special plus bottle of Necto