Swiss time line

FRIDAY 24th NOVEMBER

4 a.m. My alarm just gone off. Bugger. Shouldn't have gone out last night.

5 a.m. Gary and myself are on our way to Richard's where we're meeting the rest of the band. From there we go to Luton airport and from there we go to Switzerland, for a show tonight in Fribourg. No, I don't know where it is either.

6.30-ish We're all checked in and ready to rock. Or to fall asleep. Or both. Squirrel's bass and my guitar have been checked into Outsize Baggage. More about that later.

7.35 a.m. Take off. Goodnight.

9 a.m. Land at Basel Airport. Or rather-

10 a.m. Land at Basel Airport. They're an hour ahead of us.

10.30 a.m. Leave the airport through the wrong exit. We're in France. We want to be in Switzerland. Help!

10.35 a.m. Leave the airport through the correct exit. Meet Anja and Roman who are looking after us whilst we're here. Have they got a job on their hands or what?!?

11 a.m. Check in at the Hotel Ibis. I've got room 204. Turn the T.V. on- the weather man's wearing a military uniform. Excellent.

11.15 a.m Sleep. Easily.

12.30 p.m. My alarm's just gone off. Bugger.

12.45 p.m. Leave for venue. Fall asleep on the way- wake up near a place called Wankdorf. Panic. Fall asleep again- wake up as Gary says 'look at that church in the field. First the sheep, then forgiveness'. Panic again, then (perhaps unsurprisingly) can't get back to sleep.

2.15 p.m. Arrive at the Forum in Fribourg, except that here it's spelt Frebourg. Oh well.

2.30 p.m. Meet the people from Swatch watches- it's their event that we're playing at. There's 2000 guests which means we're playing in a very big hall. Should be good.

3-ish Sound check. I've got a Fender Twin Reverb combo to play through which should sound great, but doesn't. May need an overhaul (the amp that is not me). Pity.

4.30 p.m. Go into town to find some food and look around. It's a splendid little town where no restaurants open until 6 p.m.- we're on at 7.30. Curses. Go for a drink instead. Not all bad news then.

6 p.m. Meal at restaurant at the venue. Swatch man gives us all watches. Hurrah!

7.45 p.m. First set. Dancing starts in our opening number, by the third the dancefloor's full and in 'Flip Flop and Fly' Michael dances on stage with someone he later describes to me as a 'mad oriental female'. The set ends with a near riot.

9.15 p.m. Second set. More mayhem. Encore with 'Jailhouse Rock' to audience scenes reminicent of those in 'A Hard Day's Night'. Excellent. Back in the dressing room they've given us low alcohol lager. And fruit salad. Healthy, but not necessarily what we were hoping for.

10.30 p.m. Go to put my guitar away but can't find it. Panic. Find it's already in it's case. Very helpful people the Swiss!

SATURDAY 25th NOVEMBER

12.30 a.m. Arrive back at hotel. Sleep. Easily.

7 a.m. My alarm's just gone off. Bugger.

7.30 a.m. Breakfast. Piped dance music nearly induces dementia, particularly amongst members of the horn section.

8.15 a.m. Leave for the airport.

8.30 a.m. Arrive at the airport. Check in (Gary- 'oh no, they don't let you take guns on planes anymore'). Squirrel's bass and my guitar have been checked into Outsize Baggage. More about that later.

10.05 a.m. Take off. Can't sleep. Bugger.

11-ish Talk to Gary about our upcoming recording session, and about the time he was in a plane and one of the engines caught fire. Prefer the first part of the conversation.

11.45 a.m. Land at Luton Airport. Or rather-

10.45 a.m. Land at Luton Airport. Remember the time difference?

11.30 a.m. Collect baggage. Guitar case looks open. Or broken.

11.31 a.m. It's broken. Start swearing.

11.33 a.m. Complain. Fill in form. Continue swearing, then calm down (a bit).

11.45 a.m. Leave airport. It's POURING down with rain, and some bastard's put a bloody great hole in my guitar case. Not good, frankly. Resume swearing. Welcome home.

P.S. Someone's put a few clips from this gig on youtube- I've a horrible feeling that they think we're the real Blues Brothers! I haven't worked out how to put a hyperlink (I think that's what they're called- you know, the bit that you click on to go to another web-site) on here yet but if you put something like BLUES BROTHERS IN FRIBOURG into the 'search' bit of www.youtube.com then you should find us. Excellent!