You couldn't write this :-)

Saw this poster advertising the theme of the West Oxford Community Association festival which was to take place last Sat, but was cancelled when West Oxford disappeared under water :-)) Meantime it's still raining in Oxford, we went to see some of the floods today. Good news the Watermans Arms survived. Strange there are no ducks about, we think it's because they've been washed to Wapping :-) We're off to Geneva shortly, hoorah !

Meantime, back in Sunningwell-by-the-lake, Blighty

OK, enough recapping for now........back to the present, where it is seriously flooded around west Oxford, and still lashing it down. Nevertheless, our pals Mike & Vanessa brilliantly as ever dodged the rain and organised the Sunningwell Festival 2007 http://www.mikewoodward.co.uk/, an outdoor stage by the pond with concerts and events. This year they secured "Show of Hands" no less, a world class band and last night to be found playing in a pond in Sunningwell. Gig was great. Steve Knightly is sort of English folk's Bruce Sprinsteen, it dawned on us:-)) Thanks Mike and Vanessa. The photo is of Show of Hands on the pond at Sunningwell http://www.showofhands.co.uk/

Miranda Sykes http://www.mirandasykes.com/ is a great singer/songwriter in her own right, we previously saw her in Firebrand a couple of times. Singing bassplayer blimey ! ;-)

2nd successive evening spent sitting on butt on floor, Wed we saw the whole of Verdi's Macbeth by the Glyndebourne Opera at the Proms :-) No complaints though, just strange how these things group together !

Chattanooga choo-choo

Chattanooga, Kentucky Nov 2006, here's the famous train at the famous station, which is now a museum and hotel - you can stay overnight aboard some of the carriages which are now converted for the purpose.....we had 'dinner in the diner'. Doug obviously taking the Kentucky look too seriously by far :-))

Here's a shot of the hotel carriages.

Breeders Cup in Kentucky

Here's Susan at the Breeders Cup in Louisville, Kentucky - we did well to get tickets, but man & motivation prevailed, plan involving food stamps and Krogers (long story) in fact we had great seats in the end........and Susan found a 55:1 winner.....another vintage day (two days in fact) :-)) This was Nov 2006.....Churchill downs, best horses in the world all on one racecard, and we actually won some dosh for a change :-) It was a cold day BTW.....

Copenhagen

Yes this recap is a bit chaotic, but hey........ we are by a fountain in the Tivoli gardens. This was in Aug last year. Copenhagen is bigger than we imagined, still have sore feet from all that walking.
........please send comfy shoes :-)

Despite the sign we liked the beverages :-)

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark

Here we are in Copenhagen, where we had a great time notable, inter alia, for getting to see Alfred Brendel at the Tivoli no less :-) Shortly after this picture was taken, Doug was stung by a wasp on the ear :-) The Little Mermaid was a bit touristy, but you have to really..........

Icebar

Stockholm, inculding the original Icebar where the whole bar is made of ice (inc glasses) and you get togged up to withstand the -5 deg ambience.....cool :-) hehehe............still recapping :-)

The bar is not open because it is closed

Sort of makes sense......I think ? Only in Stockholm though :-)

Leave yer nukes outside

A welcome sign in Printers alley, Nashville :-)

Karma

We met Robert & Lesa in Nashville, after a kind (if weird) stranger who ran an adult entertainment company (!) picked up our tab for a meal.........karma wouldn't let us keep the favour so we decided to pay for the meal of the next strangers who sat down at the table....just happened to be Robert & Lesa from Atlanta :-) We have kept in touch and met up again in Atlanta in January. Robert runs a golf business consultancy...they are nice people. That's karma.

Beer Boots Bands & Burgers

Nashville was a fantastic surprise, superb musicians and bands playing in bars and honkytonks on Broadway - here we are in Robert's Western World, one the world's most surprisingly sorted bars 4 sure. Bands like Travis Mann http://www.travismann.com/ and musicians like Rich Gilbert www.myspace.com/richgilbertmusic also bands like Jypsi http://www.jypsi.net/ Brazilbilly http://www.brazilbilly.com/ ........we had a great time in Nashville in Nov & NYE 2006 ..........still recapping :-)

Have Piano Will Travel

April 2007 - We were on top of a butte in Sedona, AZ a tranquil and solitary place to watch the sunset..............Susan could hear a piano.........but surely not ........oh yes it was..........look closely it really is a piano busker in a pickup, now there's something you don't see everyday :-)

Been a long time no posts - but now we're back

Hmmm....no excuses, just got way behind keeping the blog up to date.....so we skipped a whole year and will have to recap now it's back and Doug remembered the password :-)

But not now...............ohh alright here's Doug in Memphis at STAX (what's left of it)

Coincidentally, we met Steve Cropper at Ronnie Scotts earlier in the year, he's a nice guy.