0 The (Nearly) Invincible Ants of Central Italy

When I last toured Italy I had the fortune of stopping and parking my van for a week without needing to drive it anywhere.

I was located in Central Italy and able to use a car to drive into the towns and cities for shows where the lanes were too small and steep to get the van there.

All in all this was a great time to be touring and the only downpoint of sorts was that the static placement of the tour van ment I found myself housing some uninvited guests.

Black ants with Red Heads began appearing daily.

At first I thought little of the sighting (often while driving) of Black ants with Red heads appearing on the windshield and around the dashboard.

But After a while it became completely common place for 5 – 10 of these guys to take a wander while I sped down the highway.

Even after I left Italy and continued into Austria the sightings remained. Infact they stayed visible even upon my return to the UK.

As the winter came and went I thought that would be the end but alas not.

I don’t know what it was that saw them off but eventually after pretty much a year they seem to have moved on.

OR HAVE THEY!!!!!!……….

What may be there to greet me when I wake up one day.

0 Utilising the Dead Space

This tour van is not the biggest. But it helps to have had some handy work done to help store the Piano/Keyboard out of the way.

Grateful to Nick of http://www.mango-engineering.co.uk/ for his work done to meet the pre tour deadline.

And yes that is Elvis below.

0 Old Van/New Van

After nearly a decade on the road it is time to say goodbye to ‘Betsy’ my Citroen van (on the right) and transient home. She has taken me from Scotland to Poland and many places in-between.

And with great pleasure I welcome my new musical wagon to the world. (On the Left) Udo is his name (yes this one is a he). A Mercedes Sprinter hopefully in good enough condition to last me a few more years.

My first tour is underway and thus far (touch wood) A to B to C has worked out well.

My thanks to Josh for his help to find and work on the new wheels.

 

0 Tour Van Saga Update!!!

Betsy is back!!!

She has spent a couple of days hanging out with the German Mechanics and they managed to see that she is back to form in time to enable me to continue the tour.

This means that with joyful glee I can play the final show of mainland Europe this Sunday in Tiel – Netherlands.

From there I will return to the UK and play my first show of the UK tour in Bournemouth on Tuesday.

Fingers crossed I have no more problems and my musical quest can continue.

Thanks to all the folks for the well wishes and to the lovely people in Berlin who guided me round this wonderful City.

I will have to return to play next time 🙂

0 DAMN!!!! My tour van has broken down!!! :(

I am gutted to say that last night my tour Van took a turn for the worse and broke down in Berlin. 😦

Creeky noises and leaking liquids is not a good sign.

Today I got a diagnosis of possibly Friday or Monday for her to be road worthy.

The cost to repair is high and what I’m spending will take a long time to make back.

But you win some and lose some and I’ve had my fair share of good luck in recent times. Also all that said I am healthy and alive and weirdly happy to be off the road for a couple of days and in a city that has so much to offer and discover.

Also I’m overjoyed with how this tour has been received that as I type I’m 100% aiming to return to Europe next year.

My show for tomorrow in Amsterdam is cancelled and dependent on how the mechanical situation goes possibly Sunday in Tiel (But I hope not).

More updates as soon as I have them.