Woodford Day...Something by Paul

This morning we mooched at the quiet and shady Committee Bar with Jigzag’s Liz Frencham, John Thompson and Nicole Murray from Cloudstreet (and this year Nicole is musical director for the fire event, and we can’t wait to see what she does!), Dougie (who was very much the worse for wear after a 5am session finish and many Guinnesses) and the indescribably erudite Sandy McCutcheon. It was a fantastic, funny, eclectic discussion, most of which I dare not repeat here, but let me just say I’ll never listen to a sax solo, or watch Bindi Irwin on TV in quite the same way again. Sadly, in some fit of rabid gesticulation, I managed to marinate myself in the better part of a pint of the Black Nectar, much to the amusement of all. For the first few moments it was actually quite refreshing, but then the stickiness hit. Still, I thought about walking around sucking on my shirt for the rest of the day, but alas had to go shower when I started to ming like an Irishman's favourite felt drinking hat.

The gigs have gone just wonderfully.


It’s always difficult to know just what to play, as the audience’s tastes seem to vary with the time of day, the temperature, who else is on etc. Today, we decided to do a set of just original material, mostly songs and the tunes the girls have written. After the gig in the chai tent with no fans, blazing heat and Sarah getting a mild case of heat stroke afterwards, we wanted to take things a little easier. Of course it was the usual different story when we were up there (we just can’t help ourselves it seems). Everyone seems a little mellower today, so we finished up with the trad a cappella song, The Yorkshire Couple, which we don’t often do. It was great to hear all the singing and laughing. Best comment afterwards was someone telling us that Sarah’s new song, Drink Up Me Boys, had made him cry. In a good way, of course.

The heat is still incredible, though not as relentless as a few years about where it topped 40 degrees every day. This year, it’s more the humidity. I’m only surviving because I soak my Krama (A Cambodian Khmer scarf giving to me for Christmas by my friend Kevin) in ice water then drape it over my neck. And to think, on the first day, people would ask ‘why are you wearing a scarf, numpty?” Hahah. Dust is pretty bad though, and I can kind of feel it beginning to lodge in my nose and sinuses. Good job I’m not a singer!

We've been taking so many photos (most of them too rude and terrible for general consumption), but I'll wait until I'm back on my iMac at home before I post them. There are already some up on Facebook though. Use 'Paul Brandon', 'Sarah Calderwood' & 'Bridget Masters' to search the tags (Mannie doesn't have a Facebook account as he thinks it's the work of the divil) and hopefully, I'll collect the whole lot on Picasa really soon.

Right, more icey Krama goodness, more doughnuts, more Guinness...

Cold Showers today: 3
Byron Bay Doughnuts: 1
Langos (Hungarian fried snap bread with gulash): 1
Waking Time: 5am (Mean bin men!)
Fallen over a guy rope: 0 (!)
Spilled Guinnesses: 1
Clean underwear Left: 1 Pair