Tour Diary – London, UK (Nov 5, 2010)

Margo and I left a day earlier than the rest of the band to do some radio in London. It’s always exciting going to Europe, it’s never exciting getting on the plane to make the journey: unending line-ups, long delays, cramped spaces, bad food, bad movies, bad air and testy waiters and waitresses-in-the-sky. But all-in-all Margo and I had a painless passage. The rest of the band was not so fortunate. Their flight was moved up two hours (who ever heard of a flight being moved up) and no one received the email that the airline said that it sent out. Fortunately the flight was delayed by an hour and they arrived at the airport a couple of hours before the flight was originally scheduled to leave because of the piles of equipment that they had to check in. So they made the flight and had just enough time to pay the $1750 excess baggage fee. Oil Companies, phone companies and airlines….I’d like to see a poll that ranks the most hated industries in the eyes of your average consumer.  While the rest of the band was dealing with their headaches Margo and I were facing a few of our own. The BBC, where most of our interviews were to take place, was beset by unscheduled strikes and our day of interviews went down the drain. So Margo and I spent the day wandering around the West End. It rained all day, apparently it was a “wet” rain, the type of rain that I’ve rarely experienced outside of London. It’s more like an extremely intense mist. One steps outside and thinks, “this isn’t so bad” and then after walking a couple of blocks it’s like you’ve just done a couple of laps in a swimming pool. There’s no point in using an umbrella, there are no drops, there is no gravity, the water just envelopes you. Despite being shutout by the union and soaked by the weather it was still a pleasure to be back in London. This is such a great city. It vibrates with energy. It is ancient and powerful, an entity unto itself. I love being here.