(I am trying to break things up a wee bit - and believe me, I haven't put half of it in! So, the second half of Mexico - go on, get another cuppa)

So, new year's day, may have some trouble getting down to Tuxtla so that we could get our flight the next day to Oaxaca (wa-ha-kah). Oops, nope, not in this third world country! Got to the bus station and a bus literally pulled up as we asked when the next bus was! So, off we were to Tuxtla, capital of Chiapas and the place where the Sumidero Canyon awaited!

Again, this was another amazing journey...it was great to see villagers just hanging out, sitting under trees and stuff. These people are normally so industrious, so it was great to see what they did on a day off. The landscape too was tremendous, of course it was green and mountainous and reminded me of my beloved Scotland, only bigger...MUCH BIGGER.

Also, I took time to listen to some music on this journey. Now, what a treat it was to be driving through the Chiapas mountains listening to Eddi Reader singing Burns, back to back with my own new record (uncool I know) but I got quite emotional. I wanted to let all these Mexicans hear Eddi's Burns CD...maybe next time.

Anyway, we got to our hotel room...ideal for the 'travelling foursome' we could all get into the same room, a massive one with four double beds in two apartments and an en-suite bathroom, all a block and a half from the Zocalo for £14. THATS £3.50 - EACH.

but, we didn't want to hang about in our massive suite. We wanted to go sailing and so we did, on a speed boat down this massive canyon in the middle of Mexico. We saw eagles, alligators, magnificent sheer cliffs, waterfalls, cactus. And, for new year's day, we had a wee beer on the river...amazing.

The cab driver who took us to the Canyon was a beautiful Mexican called Manuel, of course, he tried so hard to speak English and he was excellent at it. Another beautiful Mexican to add to our fast-growing list of  beautiful Mexicans. He told us that the waterfall in Agua Azul (which we'd been to on the tour) was the one from the Arnie movie - terminator. He also told us about himself, his country and his family. He charged us pennies to take us up there and promised to come back for us at 5pm. By the time he returned, he had practiced more English and corrected himself on the movie - it was predator. What a lovely special man. Mark gave him a miniature of malt and he was so deeply touched by it...just perfect.

Oaxaca City

So, next morning we were off to Oaxaca (wa-ha-kah). We took a flight here too because a bus would have taken 19 hours...sorry, too long...too much to do...

Oaxaca City was different to Chiapas/San Cristobal. This was more like a colonial Spanish town. Ocht, it was magnificent. Beautiful old buildings, very vibrant and AGAIN more beautiful people. Thanks to Mark and Jules, we ended up with the most fantastic room in our hotel (the same hotel Louis Theroux was staying in). I offered M & J our super cool room but their response was '...well, its your birthday'. I was a bit embarrassed because my birthday is surely the longest in history, however, I soon got over it when I waltzed around our palatial room towards one of the balconies that looked onto the Zocalo...heaven...

In Oaxaca, we met the most wonderful people. On our first night, we worked out the best thing to do with the folks who wanted a peso. Rather than give them money as we had been doing, we gave them the food we had on the table and stuff - this was especially good when we went out one night and bought a pizza each - Mexican pizza, of course. anyway, when it came there was mountains of the stuff which, of course we couldn't eat so we gave it out on the street on the way home...we were like the pied pipers. Also, we got the kids wee gifts of paper and pencils. This idea was spurned on by our first night in Oaxaca...

There were two buskers singing nearby our table and I spoke to them and invited them to join us for a beer. This was so-o-o exciting for me - two young guys who had a beer and talked to the beautiful wee girls that were selling to us. As it turned out, the buskers - one of whom fell head-over-heels in love with Amanda - sat with us for hours and talked to the three little girls who were sitting with us around our table. When Uriel (amanda's chico) sat with us, he took out song sheets and the wee girls were desperate to sit and read the words on the page. Kids under 12 go to school in Mexico - that's all, unless your family is rich.

This was definitely not the case with these wee girls - their riches were not of a material nature. They finished school in the afternoon and were herded into trucks and driven from their villages into the city centre to sell their wares and then they were collected at 1am to return to their villages. God, its such a hard life. However, these wee girls and their friends and families gave us such fun in our time in Oaxaca. On that first night, we were all singing and laughing when Jules, Amanda and I all felt wee bottoms burrowing into our knees and that was it, our wee pals were set for the night. Drawing, reading, eating. They were beautiful. When we met them on our last night, my wee pal couldn't hug me enough.

I treated myself to a guitar in Oaxaca too. A nylon strung, hand-made acoustic guitar. I bought it in the market from the guy who made it - it cost me £75!!! A hand-made guitar for seventy five quid - amazing! When I got it home, I noticed that there were still wood shavings inside of it - perfect. I don't know if I will use it, but I will try - maybe Johnny will.

Puerto Escondido

From Oaxaca city, we went to Puerto Escondido (the beach) on a bus. My neighbour, whom you may remember is Mexican, couldn't speak more highly of the buses. Its great, go over night, you can stretch out and sleep, they play movies...well, here's the news - I have never had a more uncomfortable journey on a bus in my whole life...

Still, at the end of it was the beach on the pacific ocean - again, I had died and gone to paradise...

This was the chill out part of the trip, beach, books and beer. Mind you, for the first time in my life, I did not read a complete book in the time I was away...which was a bummer cos Jake Cogan got me the Alchemist as a gift...I will read it soon though.

Anyway, the reason I didn't read anything was because I was too scared to miss anything. You know, we got into our room - Mark & Jules had a kind of adjoining room and on our balcony, along with the fridge, the mouse and the lizards was a hammock - how bad can it be. It was so hot at this beach, all we could do was lie under an umbrella all day and look at stuff...like eh, the surfers, the waves, the ocean, the amazing sunsets and of course, the PELICANS just diving in to get some dinner...ah, it was just magnificent, fabulous, incredible, amazing...everyday the truth of my dream got better and better!

We only took a few days on the beach and on the first night, Mark came with beer and as the sun set on this amazing ocean, he told us he had booked a fishing boat for the following morning - at 7am(mental guy, loves to fish!). The guy who owned the boat said that if there were four people going, it would cost more for petrol and so, we bought the most expensive thing on our trip...a four hour boat ride in the pacific ocean for £15 each...I am so glad we did it or I would never have seen such amazing sights.

We got up and 6.30am to go down and meet the boat...a tiny wee thing that seemed to crack more with each wave! And we were off...into the horizon. The sun was just rising and the waves were fierce. I felt like Hemmingway's 'Old Man' on the sea! Still, we went out further until I eventually couldn't see any shore line. A wee bit scary since the boat was so wee. Anyway, on the way out, I kept seeing these beige things peeking out of the water...what was it? Well, it was only big bloody massive turtles...loads of them! Birds sitting on their backs and just hanging about in the water. The guy who took us out pointed out the birds up ahead and said that that's where the fish were. Mark saw fish jumping, only, it wasn't fish...we sailed out to where the birds and the jumping fish were and we were surrounded by HUNDREDS, not some, not twenty, but HUNDREDS of DOLPHINS. They were jumping around the boat, swimming along side us, under us, over us...it was a sight to behold...we were all like 'oh my god, there's another one, and 'there's one there' and 'look, another one' and the guy who's boat it was was silently thinking 'bloody tourists'!! Honestly though, this was a sight to behold - like nothing I have ever seen. We saw this in several places on that trip.

In Puerto Escondido, we finally got the 'Y tu Mama Tambien' treatment. you know that way when you're sitting on the beach, your feet are in the sand and your having dinner! We had gone on a boat trip along a fresh water lagoon. Again, so much amazing wildlife - pelicans, iguanas, egrets - all just hanging about. When we got to the end of the lagoon there it was, a wee shack just like the movie. Only the people who were working in it actually lived there and offered you soup or fish from their kitchen. Also, the lagoon and the ocean were separated by a small strip of sand - this part of the ocean was too dangerous to swim in, but to stand with your feet in the ocean and be fifteen feet away from a fresh water lagoon was amazing...we swam in the lagoon and paddled in the very strong ocean...and smiled...

Mark and Jules last night was mental and magic. We were in a bar and this big motor bike thundered by - hey guys. Well, I was on this guy's bike with him in a flash - we all swore that his name was Rick, but subsequent e-mails claim that he is Joe. Anyway, JoeRick took us to this amazing wee bar where there was live music. Now, we were all pretty bombed - lots of farewell tequilas and stuff, so, when I discovered I'd lost the passports, there was a little hysteria...but then we found them about an hour later in the toilet - where I'd left them. Not so smart of me eh? Anyway, as well as that, Jules got talking to one of the guys in the band and...what am I saying - we were foreigners, everyone got talking to us out of genuine interest. Anyway, next thing you know, I was up singing with the band. Now this was amazing. The whole place quieted and turned to watch me sing Jesus Bird. The band all joined in with their bass, guitars, congas and some vocals - honestly, it was special. Then I tried my hand at one of Eddi's Burn's tunes, again it was greeted with the utmost respect. This is a night I want to keep in my pocket forever - special.

Zihuatenejo

Next day Mark & Jules were off and Mand and I were off to the beach at Zihuatenejo...the place where Andy met Red in the Shawshank Redemption. Only, it wasn't quite, because the first two voices we heard were those of American tourists. No problem, but indicative of what the place was like...I wanted people, I wanted cities, I wanted vibrant life, I wanted MEXICO...I'd been laid back enough in Puerto Escondido...

So, we stayed there for a night, which was wonderful and we saw incredible beaches. But, we also saw the down side of it too...Ixtapa... Wall to Wall hotels on the beach, infact, we couldn't even see the beach for hotels which were full of 'all expenses' paid visitors. No problem with that, but can we just be aware that we are in Mexico please...this beach belongs to Mexicans?

A funny thing did happen in Zihuatenejo that I must impart...we were taking a walk along the beach and came across a couple of guys playing football...looked like a couple Mexicans and a couple of Americans...but nope, just as we reached them we heard - 'come on, let's see if you can beat us...Mexico versus Scotland' in a broad Glaswegian accent. How mental was that?

Guadalajara

Anyway, then we were off to Amanda's dream place - Guadalajara. This had been a dream since she used to sing the song 'Guadalajara' in school - and often broke into the chorus at any given moment in Mexico!

Well, we found our hotel...it was like Acorn Antiques meets The Shining. Our host (Lolita) showed us our room. Yep, a massive room looking onto the Zocalo...Guadalajara was going to be okay - and it was. Again, the people were exquisite.

In fact in one wee shop, we met a girl who couldn't wait to talk to us in English - Brenda . Her grandmother was British and she died when Brenda was seven so she thought that her English was no good - eh, excuse me? My Spanish should be so bad. Anyway, we got talking to Brenda, who was so beautiful to us and, when I asked her where in Britain her grandmother was from she said SCOTLAND - wow. She's doing a wee bit of research to find out where from and maybe we could look up her history  - how cool would that be?

That night we went to find some vegi food...Amanda had a REAL vegi burger...ie, a bread roll with aubergine, courgette and onion! On the way back we asked the bus driver if he could drop us near Plaza de los Mariachis (Guadalajara  is the home of Mariachis) ...well, not only could he drop us near it, he would turn of his light and take us to the bloody place. Amanda was surrounded by the most beautiful Mariachis, all dressed up in their magnificent garb, all singing a beautiful rendition of Guadalajara to her...her face was incredible...she looked how I felt - subliminally happy!

There was more music in Guadalajara! One night I had pinpointed a place that our book suggested we go for live music. I showed it to the cabbie...nae bother-o, we were off. However, the place we were going was closed. No fear though, our cabbie drove round the whole city to try to find us another place - honestly, these people were in danger of damaging us with kindness!

So, we found a place...it was a little like walking into Twin Peaks ( you know the telly programme ). A big retro-style, almost Parisian looking, big music venue with beautiful chairs, good stage, good gear, about 12 waiters, probably held about 200 people AND WE WERE THE ONLY TWO IN THERE!

However, the show still went on - as soon as we turned up, Alejandro started playing, he was great, except that he wanted Mand or I to sing with him...So there I was, up singing 'you've gotta friend' at HIS request, turning the audience of two into an audience of ONE - Amanda. Still the waiters padded it out a little...! What a laugh we had...Alejandro wasn't too happy though - 'you are a professional singer?' he asked, almost accusingly...neither of us was asked to sing again!

Ajijic

This was a wee place outside of Guadalajara. I'd kind of like to ignore it, but there were a couple of funny incidents I should impart. I thought of this place as an American Suburb...mainly because I met Susan who told me, in the broadest west coast Californian accent...'oh you're from Scattland, well, I used to be English too, but I left when I was twelve' - eh!?

Tequila

On our last day in Guadalajara, the rain came...hmm...not as easy to get a rain jacket in Mexico as it is in Scotland...! However we went in search on one and, when we finally managed to get one - we got two! Matching Jackets!!!

Anyway, we went for a wee coffee in a wee place that had been there since the 50's - unchanged. This was pretty spectacular, there were two women inside shouting out to us that we must come in because the coffee is wonderful (at least, they were saying it in Spanish, so I'm assuming that's what they were saying!)

We also saw some amazing murals on the wall at the palace building - this country is mad for its art...not only that, it seems to support its artists 100%.

So then we were off to a town called tequila - any ideas what they make there? This was funny because Amanda thought it would be a wee one horse town...no way man...there were about 30 different tequila distilleries and thousands of agave plants. It was great because all these distilleries were doing big business insofar as tours and stuff were concerned, but not as much business as the wee shops around about. Almost as soon as we had stepped off the bus there was a wee guy trying to sell us tequila - he was about eleven years old!

We had tasted a great tequila - its like whisky, there are lots of different types - Herradura, which was an expensive one that we'd enjoyed. So, it was off into a wee shop, got the woman to siphon a litre out of her massive plastic bottle into a wee plastic bottle and then we were off - all at a cost of £5! Thing is, we saw a bottle of it in Glasgow recently - £32! God bless capitalism eh?

We had lunch in tequila too...well, that was a laugh. Into the restaurant, ordered two tequilas and two beers - then they gave us a huge glass of margaritas - all tequila was 'on the house'! No wonder the people we met were totally bombed! A couple of telecoms workers were dressed up as agave workers - this was in the middle of the afternoon! - singing and pretending to be farming agave.

Well, don't these people have any self-respect? Who cares, because when they finally worked their way over to our table, I was into that outfit in a minute - good bye self-respect!

So, after all that tequila we took the bus back to Guadalajara. Now, you know how we have central reservations on the motor way here? well, they have it there too. The only thing is, these are used - by people on horses getting from a-b! No Kidding. Amanda actually say a guy on his push bike in the middle of the highway, pulling his horse behind him!!!

Anyway, back to Guad to say a sad goodbye to Acorn Antiques and Lolita. Then we were heading back 'home' to Mexico City and Hotel Canada.

Now, I told you about the buses! Well, no probs because we had booked a super-cool-groovy-comfy-overnight-expensive bus to take us back to MC. Just the one's Xotchil talked about reclining seats, movie, tea and coffee at the back - and the most uncomfortable journey of my life! Horrific.

But, no problem, we were home and dry right? Eh, wrong!

Mexico City (again)

Now Amanda had done quite a bit of shopping - in fact she bought a 3 foot statue to bring home! And, it says that between 7am and 11pm, travellers with luggage shouldn't go on the tube. 'Acht, no problem for us', thought Amanda 'we've been here before and its not that bad'. Yep, we had been there before - during the Christmas holidays when the City was actually quiet(!). It was 6.30 am and we thought us with our statue, our back packs and our extra bag of pressies would be fine - oh how wrong we were! Its kind of impossible to explain, but just imagine the doors of the underground closing with two people, feet still on the platform, pushing with all their might to get the rest of their body onto the train - I don't think they made it and am sure that when they got to the next station, his feet were either still in the tunnel or still hanging out!

Anyway, Mand and I were outta there quicker than you could say - 'help, ma Boab, my feet are sticking out'! (in Spanish of course - 'help ma Boab-o')

The city was very different now that it was up and running in the normal way - no holidays, even less tourists - and oh, so, mental! I absolutely loved the life it breathed. Like I said, there are about 25 million people in this place! But it was wonderful, what a vibrant place. And even in the midst of all this chaos, we still found the most incredible warmth from the people there.

And then we had to leave Mexico - I was so sad to leave this beautiful place, not just the city, but the whole country. I have said it so many times, but these people had little, or nothing to show off or brag about, but they had so, so much - no fancy cars, but deep routed respect for each other. I think that its something we in a 'civilised' country seem to forget about - and so I was sad to leave the ethos.

Not as sad though as I was when we missed our connection from Frankfurt to Glasgow - ! Eh, how the hell did that happen? We'd just travelled around a supposed third world country, people bending over backwards to help us, only to arrive in Germany and be told that our flight had gone, 'it left ninety seconds ago' - NINETY SECONDS? Can't you just open the effin door and let us on, we've been travelling for 12 hours - 'nope sorry, you'll have to re-book, and that will cost you £100 please'.

Argh! no compassion, no inclination to help, nothing! Welcome to the first world - always happy to help! Well, always happy to help those we can be bothered helping, especially those with money!

But, I didn't want to (and don't want to) dwell on that because I didn't want to taint the time I'd just had...there's all the other stuff - the real stuff, like Frida Khalo's and Leon Trotsky's (his clothes were still hanging in the closet) houses and the Diego Rivera murals in the government building, the other warm and beautiful people we met everywhere we went, the majestic looking man riding alongside the road on his horse waving to us like he was a king, the constant live music - everywhere, the smells, the incredible poverty (these people have so little and yet, so much) and the amazing buildings in this amazing country...

...its just that I don't know how to do it justice, nor how to translate it so that you can see, share and enjoy the sheer pleasure and completeness I felt whilst on this trip - it really was the trip of a life-time. I had dreamed about it for so long and it exceeded all of my hopes and expectations...who cares about corny, I AM blessed - and grateful.

February

Well, let me briefly look at the end of January...of course the first thing I did when I got home was to go and get my keys from my Mexican
Neighbour...well, I was there for about three hours going over the trip...kind of like my home-and-lets-go-shopping-trip. It was supposed to be
for one hour - I spent the whole day doing it - god, I hate shopping!

I don't know if it was because I forced the point but it felt like everyone was really into hearing about Mexico, so I really spent the rest of January talking about. I did the Radio Scotland show with Janice Forsythe and when she asked me any questions, my response was of course...'Mexico...'.

As well as having Janice's show, Billy Sloan invited me in for a live session - this was great fun. Billy is such a fan of Scottish music and is so supportive of stuff that he likes and thinks is good. It was Johnny, Alby and I. He really loves the new album, which of course, makes my ego larger and my face very smiley! A good, long session with six songs and a live chat.

Early in February, we had a two night stop in East Kilbride Arts Centre, a great venue with great staff and a great crowd - well usually! That is to say that, yep, venue and crowd were great, but oh dear, the sound was a real nightmare! The sound guy had just broken his leg in a five-aside football game at 5pm that night! And so they had to bring in a replacement to set the gear up - George. He was great and all, except I think that the usual guy had hijacked the PA system, or at least, had his own way of wiring it up...this is all technical stuff but, suffice to say that if you are singing or playing, either on your own, or with others, its imperative that you hear each other and, if there's a big hall in front of you, then all the sound goes out that way and not onto the stage, therefore you need to have stage monitors so that you can hear everything! Got that? Phew!

Anyway, it was all tantrettes and tiaras in the interval, Poor Old Ben, the opening act were all to pot cos they couldn't hear anything, Johnny was only smiling a wee bit, wee Stuart was, well, talking just as much as usual and Alby was taking on the world -  I just sat like the picture of virtue, not swearing, not raging, not getting mad at David (the poor manager) and not getting mad at the venue! Hmmm....when I grow up, I wanna be just like me!

But, we'll leave that for now, except to say that I think we all thought we could fix it at the break and, when we realised there was nothing to be done, we just went out and played! Nowt else for it. Funnily enough, it was a great set.

Although, what am I talking about 'funnily enough....great set' How could it not be, like I said the 'classic line up' were back together. Johnny is slowly but surely mending the bridges which lead to full health, which is magic. And, Wee Stuart and Alby are just great, always...

Next night, by the time I got to the gig, Johnny had been there helping the guy fix the sound. And, even, better, I had asked the almighty James Dean to come along and help with the sound and stuff (another god-like guy who is always more than willing to help). So, with George, Johnny AND James, we had three sound guys - just like buses eh?

It was a great night. Ian & Karen had come up from Newcastle with six others specially for the gig - now that's dedication - or madness...jury's still out...!

After the show, a wee crowd of us ended up back at my sister's house drinking champagne till the wee small hours - still working through the birthday fizz - magic!

I saw a great movie this weekend - Big Fish...anyone seen it? Just for the record, I think that Ewan McGregor is one of the world's worst at accents...a wee bit like Mr Connery! However, in this movie, I thought he really nailed it. I just love Tim Burton and this movie was, in my humble opinion, one of his best. I love the over the top, real old fashioned sentimentality...ahh, makes you happy to be alive.

Then, next think you know, its valentine's day...roses? champagne? wee card? Nope, gotta get the house organised for painting... housework... changing guitar strings - hey, I really know how to live - and it would appear that life really is for living(stone), cos that night, I had a show in Howden Park Centre...great venue, great folk and great fun.

I think for me, the best thing about it was the fact that I get to play with Johnny again - I don't want to go on too much and am aware that in almost every paragraph I have mentioned that he is a great, warm, humble, wonderful player and so I don't want to repeat my self - but, he is a great, warm, humble, wonderful player - so there...!

And so, now, I have a purple living room - very Harry Potter, very warm and very nice. Mind you, when you haven't painted for about nine years, anything fresh will look good, right?...painted by Amanda's cousin - Panda! She doesn't know his real name, only that thats what he's always been called - !

Then it was off down south for a few wee dates...Johnny didn't feel comfortable travelling all that way in the car...still watching out for his health. So, Yvonne Rogers (David's wife) came with me...I think we laughed from the moment she got in the car - a wee bit mental, I am happy to say.

The drive down to Wales was absolutely stunning - what a gorgeous country! As I said at the gig, it is beautiful, just like Scotland, except the houses are bigger! The gig itself was a strange one. Usually the guys (Andrew and Jim) put the shows on in the big hall but tonight, we were in the dining room because there was an anglers' dinner on in the big hall - an anglers dinner? Wonder what the entree was? But our wee room was very strange...I think the people who normally come were stunned into silence - or was it just the sound of the PA coming from the other room? Seriously though, we had to be finished by a certain time or the PA from next door would have drowned out my dulcet suicidal-song tones. Suffice to say, I sang quickly. It was great fun though, always good to play to a new audience these folk were very receptive - a nice Friday night!

Saturday night was Chichester, not only did I get to see the wonderful Mark Ringwood and his wife Sue, I also got to see Sarah, the person who sent me all the gadget-y stuff for my Mexico trip. PLUS, Yvonne was having a conversation with Brian (CLAS founder so he tells me - Carol Laula Appreciation Society) and he was saying how he'd just managed to get a hold of a couple of CL 12" singles from e-bay...he'd just managed to outbid someone - that someone being David - Yvonne's David - oops...

The gig itself was tremendous - it was the same when I played in Chichester last year with Eliza Gilkyson (who's coming back this year by-the-way). This show turned into being on of the best I've ever played - no reason why, it was just a cracker...great sound guy (simon) and a great audience and the proverbial pins dropping everywhere.

Afterwards we went back to Mark and Sue's house and had such a laugh...you know that way when you don't say anything and its the funniest thing you every heard? Well all that was great, and then next day, Mark asked me to record a wee sound bite for his radio show and, you know that way when you say something and its the un-funniest thing you ever heard! Oh dear, don't give up your day job Laula! Still, got to see one of the funniest things I ever say - Mark on his trike! Photo???

Anyway, then it was off to Uley - not on the trike I hasten to add. This is a beautiful wee place just outside of Gloucester - a gorgeous wee village and the guest house was...interesting. We got there and the house smelled as though she was just cooking dinner - very nice and warm and homely. Then, when we were shown our rooms, the lady was talking all about the breakfast menu and stuff...okay, Carol, not very interesting stuff...however, when we got to the gig (more about that in a minute), the guy who was looking after us - Gordon - asked us about our guest house. 'Fine' I said, 'warm and cosy and clean'. Then Gordon piped up - 'hmm...smelled as though they'd just finished dinner and I bet you heard all about the breakfast menu?' Well, what a laugh. I guess they use that place all the time...

Now, the Prima Arts Centre - what a beautiful place. I think its a big old church with a mezzanine floor put in so that there's a big room, high ceiling and big windows - this being the performance space - just incredible. There was a great turn out - which was wonderful when you consider that no-one had heard of Carol Laula - except for those people who had travelled down from LIVERPOOL to see the show - Liverpool for god's sake. It might sound mental, but my god, do I appreciate it!

The room itself was just so perfect. The PA just lifted my voice, but there was no need. The acoustics of the room are such, that I'll be my voice is still echoing there. I just loved the show. The people who came along were so warm and appreciative and I was in one of those close-your-eyes-and-sing modes - heaven! Funny though, cos I was really nervous before the show, but I guess that gives me the extra edge - or something! Either way, it was one of those nights where I realise once again that I love my job and I am more than fortunate to be able to earn my living this way - ahhh!

And that was it - February over, well it is a short month (so, if that's the case why is the diary so long? I hear you ask).

But, just one more thing - honest - in order to help raise funds for my brother and sister-in-law who are doing a hike in the Himalayas in order to raise funds for Maggie's Centre - in painting preparation, I chucked out a lot of stuff - we had a car-boot sale. What a fun day out - people were telling us that we had to get there early, say around 6am - eh? 6am? I thought that this was supposed to be fun!

We got to a wee car park around 8am and before we were even out of the car, people were surrounding us looking for 'vinyl' or 'bakelite phones' - fair enough, these were good items, but I was amazed as the day went on, at the absolute shite that people will buy - honestly, even broken things, 'just incase' - incase of what? Incase there's an earthquake and you need a butler wine holder whose hand is broken off and therefore renders it useless because it was his hands that were holding the wine up in the first place! Un-bloody-believable! I think that we all just like a bargain and that's how we managed to raise £19.95 to put towards the cause - ! Still, it was absolutely magic fun. We had great banter with people who came by to browse - one wee lady went away and bought us each a pair of woolly socks because it was so cold. Thank you for restoring my faith in humanity...!

Anyway, sorry again for being so lax with the diary - but honestly, I haven't been sitting around drinking champagne, just, well, actually, now that I come to mention it, I HAVE been sitting around drinking champagne - now aint life a bitch!

Have a bubbly March

Carol