September 2010
Dear All,
LATEST 1: The Autumn season is
starting soon with lots of concerts and festivals all over the UK! Please do check the gig list for more
details on tickets, programmes, directions etc..
LATEST 2: Keith Donnelly
and I have enjoyed playing Cropredy together for the first time this month,
following our
Fairport Convention Wintour support appearances. Although we can't believe
it's 6 months already since the tour finished, we both feel privileged to have been part of such an adventure
and would like to thank everybody for their support and positive feedback
throughout the tour, Fairport and the team included! Our album "Dark Horses",
which we recorded
for the occasion, has been fantastically received from Kent to Inverness and
we would like to thank everyone who bought a copy. There are more gigs
coming up for "Dark Horses" this year so watch this space!
LATEST 3: I now have
an agent in Holland (Hans Jacobs) who is
organising concerts for me, not only there but also in Germany and Belgium. If you are
interested in booking me in any of these countries, please go to the "Links"
page to get his contact details. Thank you!
LATEST 4: Keith and I are also
represented by Ray Downes who is currently working on
organising an Australian Tour for us
next Spring. Fingers crossed!!
LATEST 5:
Well, after working my socks off for the last 6 months, I managed
to find 5 days in a row in April to go on holiday to Spain... it
seemed like a good idea at the time and I was really looking forward to it!
To be fair, it started pretty well as when we arrived in beautiful Nerja, we
were told that we had been upgraded (at no extra charge) to a large
apartment rather than the small studio we had booked online: we now had 2
balconies, sunshine pouring into the flat everyday and we were only minutes
away from the bustling squares, restaurants... We enjoyed our stay there for
4 days until it was time to go home on the Thursday... well, so we
thought (1)! On our way to the airport, we heard people mention that
all UK airports had been closed because of a volcanic eruption in Iceland.
We thought it was a joke and never really believed it until we walked in
Malaga airport and had a look at the screens there: CANCELLED/CANCELADO was
all we could see! Then the marathon started... we queued for 9 hours to find
out that there was nothing anybody could do for us (dixit Ryanair)... at
this point, I don't need to describe the frustration felt by every single
one of us on hearing that! While Martin decided to retrieve our luggage
(which had been checked-in 9 hours earlier despite all flights being
suspended... pass!!) I decided to make myself useful by booking a hotel
close to the airport just in case things were getting better soon... Nobody
knew anything and no-one could have imagined how long the whole thing was
going to last. It was nice to have somewhere to regroup on that night, have
something to eat and weigh our options for the next few days as it soon
became apparent that we weren't going anywhere that weekend... after ringing
the UK and cancelling the two concerts I was meant to do, we decided to go
back to Nerja for 3 nights (much cheaper and nicer than Malaga to stay) as
we had managed to rebook our flight to Liverpool for the Monday...
well, so we thought (2)! So here we go again, took a bus to go back
to the main station in town (had to wait over an hour for it) and then
another one to go back to Nerja. This one stopped every 5 minutes so it took
about 90 minutes to cover 35 miles... anyway, here we were at last, back in
Nerja, found our accommodation very easily and went for the nicest tapas
restaurant you could find, opposite our hostel! Things were looking up...
well, so we thought (3)! On the Saturday and the Sunday, the rain
NEVER stopped falling in absolute buckets so not only were we stranded, but
we were also, well, stranded!!! I know it seems funny in retrospect (it
always does) but we were still waiting to find out whether our flight was
going to take off or not the next day so it would have been nice to make the
most of the weather if it had been with us but clearly it wasn't. So there
we were, sitting in our favourite tapas place on the Sunday night when I got
a text from my friend Pam in England telling me that all flights to the UK
were now cancelled until Wednesday 1pm... We tried to re-book our flight yet
again but couldn't fly back to Liverpool from Malaga until Wednesday 28th!
We felt we had to do something and that we couldn't wait like this any
longer so decided that on the Monday, we would rent a car (if we could find
one, that is, as everybody else around us was trying to do the same!) and
drive as far up North as we could. We went to the Europcar rental place in
Nerja on the Monday morning (lucky that there was one there) and managed to
get a car straight away! But we could only drive within Spain as it would
have cost us 2,000 euros to drive abroad... As we had managed to book a
flight from Montpellier (South of France) -where my parents live- to Leeds
airport for Friday 23rd, we decided we would drive to Barcelona Sants train
station, give the car back there and jump on a train to Montpellier the next
day (Tuesday)...well, so we thought (4)! The drive from Nerja
to Barcelona went really well, the sun was glorious (typical when you are
stuck in a car) and the landscape stunning. We eventually arrived in
Barcelona after 995km and 12 hours on the road. During that time, my Mum
(AKA Jessica Fletcher) and my auntie (AKA Tata Bulldozer) had managed to go
online and find us a hotel in Barcelona for the night, not too far from the
station with car parking available and 24h reception as we got there at 1am.
Team work! So we drove to the hotel (I had had the genius idea to upload all
the maps of Southern Europe onto my SatNav and to take it with me...) parked
the car and went to bed, absolutely exhausted... The next day, we drove to
the station, gave the car back and while I was in the queue at the Europcar
office, Martin went to the ticket information booth to buy 2 single tickets
to Montpellier...but came back empty-handed 2 minutes later as he was told
that there was a strike in France and that we wouldn't go any further than
the border! So we bought 2 tickets to the border (Cerbere), thinking that at
least we were getting closer to Montpellier. Every yard gained seemed to be
a victory! (psychologically at least) We left Barcelona station just after
1pm and arrived in Cerbere just before 4.30pm. Needless to say that the
train was absolutely packed with people from all over the world so we had to
sit on our bags. We heard loads of different stories on the way...There was
this couple from Russia who had given themselves 5 days to go back home and
had to make an amazing detour because the ferries in Norway and Finland were
on strike too... and this other couple who had come all the way from Dubai,
got stranded God knows where and were now in the South of France,
desperately trying to get back to the UK in time for their own wedding on
the Saturday!! They had been told that the insurance wouldn't pay for their
wedding if they couldn't make it... Our trouble amounted to nothing compared
to theirs! Anyway, in Cerbere we learnt that the strike was over and that
things were gradually going back to normal so it really looked like things
were looking up this time... well, so we thought (5)! After
showing our passports to the border police (apparently we were the first
train they had seen for a while, the strike had been going on for 4 or 5
days), we started queuing yet again to catch a train first to
Perpignan then change to Montpellier. Just as I was about to reach for my
purse to get some money out, I realised that my handbag was opened and my
purse was gone.. panic struck, I looked everywhere on the floor, people
around me were looking too, to no avail. Among all the
confusion at the station, I had been pickpocketed. It took me
a while to regain enough self-control to start ringing all the
relevant numbers to cancel all my credit and debit cards! The police had
gone and I couldn't make a statement on the spot. Luckily for us, Martin had
a credit card with him which means that we could still get our tickets to
Montpellier. I dare not think what would have happened if he hadn't been
with me then and throughout the whole saga!... Bless his
cotton socks ;-)) So I made all the phone calls I needed to make while we
were on the train to Perpignan until of course we went through a tunnel and
I lost the connection with the person at the other end... and then my phone
battery died... argh!!! Anyway, there was nothing more I could do so I
started to relax a bit. We eventually arrived in Perpignan where our
connecting train was waiting for us and off we went again. We were told we
would be in Montpellier just before 8pm... well, so we thought (6)!
As our train left the station, the staff onboard told us that there
were 5 fires between Perpignan and Montpellier and that we would be delayed
along the way but didn't know by how long... oh well, the way things had
been going so far, we were just quite happy to have a seat on a train
clearly not going anywhere fast! After about an hour's delay, we eventually
reached Montpellier station just after 9pm. My mum had been waiting for us
all this time, having been kept up to date via text... We stayed at my
parents' for 3 days, indulging in food (thank you, Papounet!) and sleep
(thank you, Maman and Papounet for the newly decorated bedroom!) Friday
morning came too soon but we had to go so after a quick lunch, we left early
to the airport... just in case. The flight was early and we landed 45
minutes early in Leeds. Our luggage came out first and we were back in
Darlington at 5.30pm! Just in time to pick the PA up and drive to St Francis
Church Hall in Acklam where I had a gig on the night. Nobody really thought
we would make it on time but we did and the gig went ahead. I have to say it
was nice to get back to some kind of normality after all this. The end of
the saga came eventually on the Saturday when we went all the way back to
Liverpool to pick my car up, 9 days later than planned. Holidays? Rest? Who
needs them? ;-))
*I would like to thank Tony Leonard for his understanding re the Friday
night gig in Loftus and Jez Lowe for stepping in at such short notice for
the Saturday night concert in Sutton.
For more information on any of these, keep checking the regularly updated
gig list and info pages.
Many thanks for your interest and support!
Love,
Flossie xx
|
Jacques Brel / Edith Piaf Show: more gigs coming up in 2010...
After the
success of the Lowdham concert on Sunday 21st June, I'm pleased to announce that
there will be another show on the 28th of July 2010
in Scotland and one at the Ashover Parish Hall on the 24th of September 2010! Watch this space for more info! |
 |
That's it for the latest news so far!
I look forward to seeing you again soon, along the music road!
Please keep checking the gig list for concerts in your area, as it is updated on a regular basis.
Thanks for your support all year round!
Love to you all,
Flossie xx
Mambo Music
111d Stanhope Road South
Darlington DL3 7SF (UK)
Tel: 01325 369029
[Last updated: July 2010]