We are back in London after an eventful little sojourn into the country, Nowhereville in Devon to be precise, a quite scenic town on the west coast. To be honest I still have no idea what the place was called. Starts with an 'I', thats all I know, and after our night there it's pretty much all I want to remember either!

OK it wasn't that bad, but hey some experiences test character. This was one of them.

Deciding to break up the schedule of eight almost back to back gigs in London, we opted in for the SunWest Music Festival, not knowing much about it. We knew it wasn't Glastonbury, but hey we were hoping for Splashy Fen. We got Chavs-by-the-sea instead. (Note: For those who dont know what a 'chav' is, find a UK connection and ask. Hehe we learnt the lingo baby!)

So picture the scene: Sun's out, beers free, and theres hundreds of pasty overweight Poms everywhere. If you are thinking red flab everywhere and smelling vomit you are pretty much bang on. Hey, but we make the most of situations in this band, and about a hundred laughs later the boys eventually took to the stage and once again stole the show.

Ya know ya got something when an innebriated bunch of working class Pommies give you the thumbs up, which they duly did. Not having one South African in the audience was a new experience, and its a tribute to the guys that we sold 10 CDs and had numerous requests to play again the region soon. Our response?? We'll see. Translation: Nnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeevvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrr

As for our accomodation, well to save costs we opted to rough it a bit and stay in a backpackers. Two of us were in boarding school, so hey we've been through worse right? Hehe not so sure. It would have been super cool if not for the fact that the town was buzzing and the backpackers didn't have any extra beds...save for the spare two in our 6 sleeper dorm. So a middle aged Polish dude and a balding Pommie were quite startled to find their four new South African roomates when we crashed through the door halfway through what was until that point a peaceful afternoon.

Since we couldnt remember their names, Emelio nicknamed our two new roommates Inky and Binky. Hey - apart from the snoring and otherwise scary proximity to strange males, it was a decent enough night's rest.

Except for one of us.

Unfortunately not all was well in the world of fun and games. Ben picked up some quite serious food poisoning, and owing to our accomodation struggled through a difficult night. We're hoping he'll be fit for our final gig tomorrow night at the Halfmoon, which is gonna be massive!!!

Today was a travelling and rest day, so not much to report.

As for moments of the day, well I could list hundreds, but here's a few:

1. Ben

On the drive out to Devon, it wasn't immediately noticed that Ben wasn't his usual stylish (ok semi-stylish) self. When we hit the rest stop, however, the extent of the horror was revealed. Bright boardshorts clashing with an olive green jacket thing and barefeet.

'O look' piped up Rorz. 'Here comes Hobo Baggins'

2. Ben

Yep, it's you again our under-the-weather mate. Shaun, the man who helped set the tour up for us on this side, was driving us through to Devon in a Landy he borrowed from a mate. Anyway so Ben is upfront in the passenger seat. Shaun asks him at an intersection to let him know when it is clear on the left

A second later, 'all clear' announces Ben

Three seconds later, a stationwagon roars past. Yep from the left.

Thank God for Shaun that he's learnt very quickly that we don't ever under any circumstances listen to Ben ;-) joking big guy, we do. sometimes. just to break things up.

3. Ben

You beginning to see a pattern here?

As we all clamboured into bed after returning from the gig, doing our best not to wake Inky and Binky, a solitary voice emerged from the top bunk belonging to Ben. Emelio and I were in the other top bunks, and Rory was at ground level next to Binky and fairly close to Inky.

'Rory', whistled Ben from the silence,'you are going to get taken tonight!'

Luckily he wasn't...we think. Binky was quite nimble on his feet so you never quite know do you...

4. Rory

And finally, one for Rors.

Driving home, tired, drained cramped etc etc, we arrived on a fairly recent accident scene. Some old biddy had shunted some other car, and was just sitting in what remained of her runaround, staring forlongly out the window, clearly in shock.

Gasps of sympathy from team RER???

Not a chance

"Old people should get their own lane", was Rory's verdict.


For those of you in London, we'll see you at the Halfmoon tomorrow. For those back home we'll see u on Thurs!

Ciao for now

Chris