Well. That was quite extraordinary.

I was going to write about this before I went but things kind of got away from me. You know. Nerves. Terror. Emails. Phone calls - that sort of thing. I'd decided to put my harp in a wheely suitcase to take to London. Came the day and the suitcase was 2 inches too short, and the only one I could borrow was huge so it got stuffed into a bag instead along with a few other bits and pieces. Jon arrived on Thursday and kept me from running away.

Friday morning..goodbye Whizzy, be good, Nancy will look after you see you Sunday. Ed and Angie drove Jon and myself and a million bags to the station(well five anyway) where we caught a train to London.

Arriving at Marylebone, I was surprised to find a heap of Cropredyites,filming a bit of The Dodge Brothers who are playing at Fairport's Cropredy Convention this summer. So we said 'hello' and 'how are you' and went to find the car that would take us to the hotel to leave our bags, before another car came to take us to the rehearsal studios where the rest of my Fairport were waiting for me to appear.. I was only a bit late..

After the usual 'haven't seen you for ages' and 'what you been up to thens' we had a quick run through of the 4 songs I was going to do with them. One song, Satisfied Mind, was one that we may not even have done together, but it was the kind of thing we had played before we were even called Fairport and it showed off the autoharp rather nicely, and as I was singing it as well it wasn't too much of a problem.. then out with the recorder and a quick blast of Time Will Show the Wiser, One Sure Thing and Jack O'Diamonds and that was my rehearsal over and done. Jon and I then went to have a cup of coffee and something to eat, until we were sure I wouldn't be needed again, then we were taken back to the hotel.
Nothing much was happening so we set off on a tube to Hertfordshire to meet Big Little Stephanie for a meal, then back to her houseboat and then back to the hotel. Old Street in the City of London is quite a scary place at night and as neither of us could work out where we were, internal compasses definitely not working, we got a taxi to take us back to the hotel. There is such a lot of concrete in that area.. and not much greenery. Then back to the rooms to fall asleep.

Right. More later