adrienne's Tour Diary

Woke up at Colin's in our own room. The sun was shining. Martin made toast and poured the OJ and we hit the road by 9. The spider bite that I got on my stomach at the beginning of the tour is finally fading--I suspect a spider from our old apartment in Oakland hitched a ride in my suitcase.
It was a 6 hour drive, with stops at two service turn-offs, one that we had visited on the way to Newcastle and another one that was even better, where we bought French sandwiches from an Australian man and marveled at how the food court included KFC and McDonalds but didn't reek of either place. It was odorless.
Dan and CG navigated but discovered that the map I have from 10 years ago is a little out of date with the naming of roads. When we got to Colchester there were exits off the roundabouts for "Go Bananas" and "Gnome Magic," but the Arts Centre was off a different route. After a few loops around the "oldest recorded town in Britain" Dan called Stafford and he guided us to the venue, a Victorian church that has been desecrated and is now an arts venue, though the graveyard seems to still be intact. Chris and Neil handled the sound check, and Dan and I walked around the town, visiting the castle. At 7 pm we enjoyed bread and cheese and some delicious vegetarian chili and rice, plus Cobra beer in tall cans. Before the *Teevo went on we got on the internet in the centre's office to check if our Scandinavian dates had come through. Dan talked to Torkel, and he's going to call/text on Thursday with an update.
*Teevo were excellent as were Beatglider--the bill couldn't have been more perfect. And the crowd was great as well. I wish we had a venue like the Colchester Arts Centre--it's so cool to hang out in and the people who work there are so friendly. Plus, as I've realized is a nice perk in the touring life, the bathrooms are nice as well and there are couches to sit on backstage.
After our set we piled into the van with Staff and Alex, leaving our gear in the venue. Staff guided us back to his flat and we drank Stella and chatted on the couches for awhile. I realized suddenly that I was very sleepy, so I took out my contact lenses. Somehow, by putting on glasses I seemed to feel sober. I decided to stop drinking. Staff gave CW a bottle of absinthe and CW disappeared into the bedroom. We didn't see him again for the rest of the night.