Erfurt, Germany

Au revoir Paris. A little over an hour in the Legacy with a lunch of grilled chicken caesar salad, cold cuts and a gift Susi brought from London, two boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Most of the band are far too conscientious of their diets to take more than a look and a sniff. Danny and I on the other hand tore into a few of them and let me tell you, they were great. Our plane landed at the Erfurt Flughafen where we were met on the tarmac by Alex, Siggie and Ike, part of the team of drivers doing the European tour with us. While team one is meeting us in the city we've arrived, team two who we left in the city just departed, drives to meet us in the city we're going to the following day and so on. We went directly to the Erfurt Massehale where we soundchecked, practiced a few Hawaiian tunes, got dressed and played for 8,500 good Erfurters. Trouper of the day awards go to Matt who is suffering a cold and feels lousy and Dave Wright who was suffering a hangover and feels much the same.

Before the echo of the last notes of Shangri-La died away we were en route back to the flughafen and boarding the Legacy. Gin and tonics in place and another gift from Susi, shepherd's pie, beans and peas for a snack. Shepherd's pie is a casserole of ground beef, carrots, peas and gravy covered with a layer of mashed potatoes baked piping hot and slathered with HP sauce. As noted in an earlier entry, the best way to get this bunch to shut up is a good meal and it doesn't have to be fancy.

We checked in to the hotel in Frankfurt to find there was no internet access, high speed or otherwise, which caused a few muzoids and middle managerial types to develop nervous ticks and mild hypertension. A nightcap at the hotel bar calmed some frayed nerve endings. Danny and I ended up in Guy's room for a couple of cups of tea and a listen to a few cuts from a new album by The Engineers, a young Brit band with great melodies, playing and production. Very seductive stuff, just the thing I've been needing in my playlist and I'll pick up a copy when I'm in London next.

So long,

Richard