Cricket

A few moments here in Scotland to get some thoughts down about the last few weeks. To be honest it’s a blur, concerts just bleed into each other and my brain is unable to pin point each day. The crowds have been great and we have had good times together on faltering journeys across the current landscape. Great to be over in Ireland again, playing Dublin as well as Belfast. I thought the Bush Hall in London was a nice new venue and Nige showed up and played piano on the second night as if we hadn’t left each others side for the last 12 months which is how long it had been since we last played together.The two nights of DVD filming in Milton Keynes were a little stressful, but I think we got it in the can as they say. I managed to loose my wallet and passport in separate incidents coming back from Ireland, which didn’t help matters. Still haven’t recovered the passport which had my USA visa in it so don’t know how that’s going to go down with the Embassy! I think I ignored the cameras enough to make the shows feel like the norm, but I haven’t seen any of the footage at this point. It was great, after all these years, to play with Mike Haughton again. It will take some time to sort the whole thing out but we hope to have the DVD out at some point next year. At Milton Keynes we passed the 226th show in the year beginning Nov 22 03, when we launched ‘Whoever it was’. To be honest I cant see that ever happening again as this has been the craziest schedule I have ever undertaken in one single year. We have just played two nights here in Glasgow and Fraserburgh and tonight move down to play Newcastle. On a different note I just wanted to say how dismayed I am by the fact that we (England) have a cricket team about to play matches in Zimbabwe. I’m not really having a go at the players, more the folk that plan these things and a government that remains mute on the matter. We make a protest about BBC and other journalists, who are not allowed into the country, but when that’s changed by a stand off then off we go. If we can make a stand about our well paid journalists, then why can’t we make a stand for those innocents rotting in jails, those without food because of corruption, those murdered by the evil regime there because they stand against the dreadful human rights abuses etc. How can a government that will take us into the war in Iraq not have something to say about this? How does this make those dissidents feel as they sit in some cell, knowing that we kick up a fuss about our journalists but then come into play sport that gives cred points to a dictator? Shame on us.