Horsebridge

What a lovely evening. We all went and got chips from the best chip shop in Whitstable and took them to the beach to gobble up at sunset. There were the pinprick lights of Southend across the water; there was the vinegar and the pickled onions in our bags of chips, and there we were, talking music-fan small talk until it was gig time. There were Rowen and Ludek, and the entire Brother Tobias Clan (read his blog if you want a gentle Muttley-style laugh every posting-day http://brothertobias.blogspot.com/).
It was all-ages, all-smiles; Neil and Tim had done a grand job as promoters. I enjoyed my set so much I almost talked more than I played, once I discovered that people would laugh at my terrible jokes. Tim came up and joined me to play and sing Freight Train: how flattering to have discovered that he actually knew all the words from days gone by! He has a lovely mellow voice and should do a lot more singing. Martin joined me to play Autumn Love, Heaven Avenue and Loverman. Then it was ransack the rider time, fruit, nuts, coke (the drinky sort), and then time for Martin's set.
He was really funny and there was a perfect group of comedy audience members including a man whose mobile phone clattered loudly out of his pocket on to the wooden floor three times, and a child in the front row who slept through the entire set, waking at the end, to be delighted by Martin playing Postman Pat to him.
It was a good-natured, jolly gig that was a real pleasure to play, and I loved Whitstable itself, which seemed like a manageable Brighton.
This morning, I woke early to a game of table-tennis with a Youth Leader in Faversham, a Vegetarian Chilli at Luton Airport, and saying a sad Goodbye and Good Luck to Tom from the studio, who came to pick up the Rhodes to take to Brighton, before heading off back to Yorkshire and then New York. What a lovely and unexpected surprise- he has given me his drum kit. I will get hold of a set of brushes and learn how to be a rockabilly drummer, just you wait and see!
Thank you Tom for a brilliant working relationship, four years of patience and learning from each other, I wish you the very, very best of luck in New York with the beautiful Lisa. I know you will do well although of course I shall miss you hugely!

Finally, a joke to end Sunday afternoon:
What do you call a Hollywood actress who loves a cup of coffee?
Caffeine Zeta Jones.