It’s… the 43rd FIRE
And I’m really looking forward to this one.. The 43rd one we’ve done by my calculations.. Not been at that venue for a while but it’s a cracking venue. I’m playing a set as Johnnie has had to pull out.. I’ll be doing a brazil / samba / tripped out beats type thing which I’m really looking forward to.

I’ve been left to my own devices this weekend. Eirene stayed at her dads for a few more days.

Missing them all massively now. It’s the longest I’ve ever been away from them for 10 years. I have however had a rather good weekend. I got loads of work done on Saturday after going out to a gig on Friday night at the little wonder. Hi quality hardcore punk. Not normally my cup of tea / not the sort of thing I’d listen to but it’s ace to see live. The energy and atmosphere was outstanding. The next day I managed to do a load of work that I had followed by the main event of the weekend – watching the Ashes.

After a couple of hours or so, we headed off to Leeds to go to a friends birthday BBQ near Headingley. Managed to catch the end of a game of cricket (Kirkstall I think). And had a nice time with a bunch of nice peeps.

Ended up having a couple at the milepost and eventually wandered home to play Big Beach Sports cricket on the wii. Upon waking, went to a friends house to watch the Ashes the we played a game of t20 on an ‘abandoned’ (but still well maintained) pitch. Pads and balls and bats, beers and cheers and cricket along with a LW radio so we could hear The Ashes.. which we won! It’ll be one of those ‘where we’re you when we last won The Ashes?’ – playing a great game of cricket with a squad of lovely people.

It feels that the holiday that just was is now a dim and distant memory. Great time was had by all. After an epic drive down to Wales, getting snagged in Bala Festival traffic, getting caught up in a surreal situation where a road block and flapping policemen wound shed loads of traffic down country lanes resulting in me traffic directing in the middle of no where, we arrived at about 10:30pm in the gorgeous village of St Dogmeals.

The micro comminuty between the White Heart pub and St. Dogmeals Abbey plays has played host to a Shakespeare production every year for the past 23. This year the company produced Antony and Cleaopatera to a stunningly high standard. Our good friend Henry was in it who invited us down to see the performance. Set in the ruins of this glorious abbey the cast acted the traditional play to a near full house. The costumes were a bit of a suprise – away from the traditional, instead, period 1940′s costume gave the whole slant of the story a new twist without deviating from the plot. Flawless acting of the highest calibre, complimented with brilliant original score – with old friend Dan playing trumpet (guitar and percussion).

Our boys had never seen a traditional production and although they didn’t follow the verbiage, the plot was avidly consumed. Sophie fell asleep and snored loudly though. A harsh critic at age 3.

It was quite a sad departure from the idyllic settings of and gracious hospitality of the community between the pub and the abbey. I was glad I could lend a hand with the night and morning de rig that took place. We’ll miss popping over the road to the traditional watermill bakery for our bread each morning and I’ll miss the mill pond with it’s coracle. One of my holiday highlights was having a go in this most primitive of transports. Much fun. Not quite as much fun as Henry attempting it badly and falling into the pond. Photos to follow!

After St Dogmeals we headed to Poppit Sands for a bit and hit a glorious belt of fantastic weather. The place is as nice as it’s name implies.

Following Wales we went to Dublin for a bit and chilled at Eirene’s dads. Thanks ever so much for the continued hospitality Ed!

Interesting weekend. Road tested Clover (A campervan) to make sure she was ship shape for an up-coming longer away mission. She’s fine. Invented a new rain / shelter system using a huge chunk of tarpaulin that we’ve got. Shanty Camping.

We were over in Markington near Ripon for a ‘festival’. Quite fun. Ace campsite (just behind the Yorkshire Hussar Inn, in Markington).

We got the very last pitch on the campsite – so lucky to get the one we did right behind the outdoor stage in a great spot overlooking the kids play park which meant we could sit and watch the kids from the comfort of our nomadic back yard.

The music was OK. Apart from perhaps one or two songs, it was exclusively a covers showcase of 50’s – 90’s North American music. Lots of blues, rock, a bit of country and some Motown. Rob Donnelly was one of the key contributors.

A whole roast pig, well worth the wait was served with all the trimmings – this was worth going for on its own.

We turned in comparatively early and got up to enjoy a superb morning in the sun where I cooked some top fried fayre in the van and listened t’ cricket on the LW radio. This blended into a lovely afternoon of sitting, reading and chilling. Hope to stick a few photos up on flickr later.