Thursday 15th Victoria – Steveston
Back out on the road again, and guess what the Ferries are running late again…I sat and waited for two hours, at least gave me time to tidy my van again, complete with bed, and sleeping bag, and trail mix.
I decided to learn the new song that I had written for Jowi Taylor a week earlier on the same ferry….I decided to sing the song for the first time at Dave MCarthurs club.
Steveston is my favourite place on the whole of the Lower Mainland.It was a busy fishing port, and has managed to fight off the concrete vandals who can destroy communities in the name of progress.
The gig was in a place called the Britannia Shipyards, where
there were a collection of old wooden buildings that had been preserved and
given a new lease of life.
The gig was in The Chinese Bunkhouse, a fantastic building that had all the charm and character of an 19th century barn.
The audience were wonderful, I was surprised as well to see that some friends from Victoria who happened to be over on the mainland decided to come and see me.Tim and Cecelia are such great people, and they were joined by their eldest daughter, Kate and her husband Nando.
I sang the song about CONTACT _Con-39E8782E56 \c \s \l Jowi Taylor’s incredible six-string nation project, and the people loved it…I was so pleased the song worked, sometimes you just don’t know how the songs will go down, but everyone seemed to like it, and more importantly loved the story about the six-string nation.
I sold a few cd’s and then packed away, got soaked in the pouring rain [didn’t stop for the whole weekend] and went back to Dave and Rita’s house.
What a lovely couple and I was made so welcome, we had a good chat about New Zealand, where Dave is from, and Scotland where Rita is from.
I had a great nights sleep!
Friday 17th Steveston-Enderby-Vancouver
Got up early, and had breakfast with Dave, and then we played some songs together around the breakfast table, Dave is a great singer and collector of songs.
The rain was going strong, as I navigated my way out of Steveston to Highway 1.I don’t mind the drive, but today was going to a long one. I slipped up on this tour, a combination of reasons, but when I tour BC in June next year I will stay out for 3 weeks and do the whole province at a more relaxed pace.
Today I was to drive 6 hours to a tiny spot called Ashton Creek, 10 km outside of Enderby, a slightly bigger tiny town.The drive was pretty spectacular through Hope and the country and western haven of Merritt.
Through kamloops and Armstrong, I could go on but I’m sure you get the idea.I stopped for something to eat at a truckers stop in Hope, and had the best darn oatmeal this side of Salmon Arm, a real cool place with a counter that you could sit up to.Everyone was real friendly.
I finally got to Lorenzos café and I was not disappointed.The place is a magical room, with the most wonderful collection of stuff all over the walls.A real place of music, a great pa as well.Loz was the perfect host, and I had a good meal.The crowd was sparse but appreciative, as I was of them!
Again, due to a bizarre and frankly weird sense of duty I decided to drive back to Vancouver, a jaunty ride of another 6 hours through rain that could pierce aluminum. I coach the boys in their soccer team, and I wanted to be at the game on Saturday morning. I finally made it to the ferry terminal at 6.50am, and got the 7 am ferry to Victoria.Unfortunately the soccer team lost.nuff said.
Saturday 19th Vancouver –Victoria-Chemanius-Victoria
As I said the game was a big downer, I just have never been able to simply go, ah well, we lost but we sure did enjoy ourselves, or, it’s the taking part that counts, not the winning, whoever said that, please never try and point it out to me after we have lost, because I do care about winning every game, I just do.
Went back to bed after the game, partly tiredness , partly disappointed about the score and performance.
Drove up Island to Chemainius, about an hour and a quarter from Victoria, for my show. I was going to do the show with my wonderful drummer friend CONTACT _Con-39E8782E3EA \c \s \l Kelby MacNayr, and my youngest son Fintan.The Dancing Bean is a quality restaurant [Fin said the pork was to die for] and fab music venue. I had a real good time with the boys, the pa was a little odd at first, but after some gentle heckling I managed to sort it out.
Sang a bunch of new songs, and then drove home with cakes and apple pie. End of a not so perfect day!
