Campervan booked into Alphard hospital

 Guy has kindly been researching places that specialise in Toyota Alphards so that it can get a thorough service prior to the big day. 

So today, we drove in convoy down to the charming little village of Droxford near Southampton to a tiny garage who do indeed specialise in Toyota Alphards. We will pick it up in a weeks time, when it will have been fitted with a new set of spark plugs, a new cam belt and some other bits of mechanical things that mean absolutely nothing to me. Unless something bleeds, I have no idea how to try and fix it. Biggest bonus from today was that we discovered that it does have a spare wheel, the location of which had eluded us for the past two years.

"Everything Was Forever" album tour done, next tour really is the "Germinal CCXXIV" roadtrip

Well, that was fun! Despite a cancelled night in Bristol, the sad passing of Cold Ethyl (Deb), an argument in the mosh pit in Manchester and a bout of food-poisoning, the rest of the time was typically Sea Power epic.

First time visits to Southampton and Sheffield. Sheffield was particularly memorable as I had bought tickets for the daughter of my "Best Woman"  and her boyfriend and it was their first time seeing Sea Power live. They both loved it. In Bristol I met up with an old ambulance colleague and we ended up in "The Bag of Nails" - a pub with at least 14 feline residents - which made up for the cancellation. Seriously, any cat loving fans need to check this place out when the band reschedule.

Another thing I wanted to do during this tour was spread the word about the "Germinal CCXXIV" road trip, and I think I probably spoke to at least 30 different people about it, with me in various states of drunkenness or sweaty exhaustion. I made a particular point of mentioning it to anyone wearing that T-shirt. In hindsight, I probably should have made little flyers, but hindsight is a wonderful thing and organisation has never been my strongpoint. Also, I forgot to ask manager David about that template idea!

I did my usual checking out of cathedrals, ruined abbeys and whatnot during the days, with Sheffield once again taking the prize for my favourite, partly because they opened the gift shop early especially for me to buy a guidebook, and also because they have a Black Jesus alter screen in one of the side chapels rather than the usual blond-haired, blue-eyed version.

Big shout out to the wonderful support bands "Penelope Isles" (Lily & Jack Wolter and your two band-mates whose names I can't remember - my bad) and "Pale Blue Eyes" (Lucy & Matt Board and Aubrey Simpson) who all feel like old mates now. Look forward to seeing both bands at Oslo in Hackney - just not at the same time!

The Alphard is going in for a super-service next month, and I'm also getting another Sea Power themed tattoo by the incomparable and ever-patient Manni K who has done most of the work on my arms. I'm not sure which I'm more worried about!! Talking of Sea Power tattoos, another shout out to the woman in Birmingham who let me take a photo of her arm which had a brilliant tat of the BSP EP1 cover. I might have to steal that one too, and I have just the place for it....

Finally, a hello to all the old and new friends I met during the last two weeks - in absolutely no particular order - Nanette & Lee, Paola & Van the Man, Cath & Nick, Simon, Katie, Roy, Sarita & Charlie, Nellie, Sally & Simon, Lauri, Julia & Louis, Christoph, James and Brandon who came over from Ireland, Laurie & Steve, Richard, Judith & Peter, Paul, Andrea, Kev, Becky, Rob, Joe (and Jonny, George, Bob and the rest of your gang!), Laura & Robbie, Gary & Dave, Andy, Mark, Matt and everyone else whose name I can't remember or didn't catch. Cath suggested I put a more detailed itinerary of my trip on the blog so if anyone wants to try can catch me on the way around Britain or photo-bomb my place name pics. This probably involves way more work than I'm capable of doing but watch this space ... I won't make any promises just yet.

"Have you done any planning yet?"

 I am the World's worst procrastinator, but after being asked that question a number of times recently, I figured I'd better pull my finger out and get busy. First thing I did was spend all afternoon cutting out little paper labels and pritt-sticking them to the newly acquired map I got with my Caravan & Motorhome Club membership pack. Good fun in one respect, but totally useless in terms of real planning, as I've already marked (almost) all the 116 places in my A2Z (Moist Covert, anyone?)

FFS!

The following day, I finally started planning properly, working out the "skeleton" of the trip. This meant booking ferries as a number of people had warned me that these end up being almost impossible to bag if you just turn up on the day. I was initially somewhat terrified by the size of Scotland, the multitude of places on the Scottish Isles and the amount of time I've given myself to complete this epic saga, and because of this, I've crammed too much driving into the first stages and left myself with time to spare at the Southern end. Maybe it would have made more sense to work backwards, I don't know. What it also might mean is that as I near the end, tiredness and general road-weariness will mean I will more than likely start to slow down.

Another thing I always wanted was to see if I could get hold of the "Germinal" template and get a magnetic panel printed for the sides of the campervan. I've contacted the band manager who is a lovely man called David and hopefully he will be able to assist me with this. 

More good news - my husband Guy has managed to secure some unpaid leave this summer, and will be joining me (along with Morgan, our Kelpie) for the Orkney & Shetland Islands, and then at the other end of the country for the Scilly Isles and the South coast of Cornwall.

So, back to planning. WIll be seeing Sea Power this month in Southampton, Birmingham, London, Bristol, Sheffield, Glasgow and Manchester, the city of my birth. I'll be spreading the word about my 2022 Germinal CCXXIV Road Trip for sure!

Time Flies

So, almost two years since my last entry. Rather a lot has changed, including the name of the band. Like most fans, I've taken this news in my stride and wasn't surprised at all by the back-lash shown by many keyboard warriors (and some fans in the audience at Stockton who didn't clap after "Waving Flags" for example). I'm no longer gainfully employed either, having lost a capability hearing and consequently my job in August 2021. That wasn't too traumatic in the end - failing to get a job because one of the interviewers thought that I "didn't understand the nature of the diverse population of London" was, though, especially when I think that I was probably working in a secure psychiatric unit in South London before she started primary school and despite working front line in the ambulance service for 2 decades, I like to think I know a fair amount about my home city's diverse population. Still, it's all change, and I prefer to embrace change rather than fight it (unless we are talking politics - I don't think I will ever embrace the changes forced upon us by this current bunch of moral-vacant self-serving horrors currently residing in Downing Street). 

 Anyway, back to my Sea Power Germinal CCXXIV road trip. I have a provisional start date! Assuming nothing awful happens in terms of COVID-19 mutations, I plan to head off on Monday 20th June, leaving London heading in an easterly direction, working my way around the British Isles in an anti-clockwise direction, and returning the week of the next End of the Road 2022, before heading back up north for Krankenhaus 2022. All journeys to take place in the trusted Alphard, which had its first festival outing last year at End of the Road, where we met up with loyal and new Sea Power fans alike. Talking of new Sea Power things, their latest album was released last week on the 18th February - a lovely early birthday present for me. I'm absolutely loving it and it was definitely worth the wait. At the time of ordering, I went a bit mad as usual, ordering every format imaginable, and they have been arriving in dribs and drabs. So far I have the boxset, the signed "lanyard" cd (at least I think it's that version) and the "indies only" blue vinyl.

More versions to come. Sad news is that I left one of my most treasured old BSP T in the hotel I stayed in when they played York in October 2021. So if anyone sees the light green "Bravery Already Exists" in a charity shop in or around York, give me the heads up!

Like almost everything, it's postponed.

Yep, my trip, like the entire world, has had to be postponed. Hopefully, I will be able to do it all as planned next year instead of this year.

So I'll postpone this blog till this time next year too.

Till we meet again BSP fans xx

H5N1 Killed a Wild Swan

Well, who'd have thought a pandemic would threaten the entire planet, other than BSP?

"H5N1 Killed a wild swan,
It was a kind of omen
Of everything to come.
I can't believe it's happening
And that it's happening now.
I can't believe it's happening,
It's coming true somehow."

The first verse from "Canvey Island", a song that if I'm honest is probably my all time favourite song of theirs, from album #3, the Mercury Prize nominated Do You Like Rock Music. Substitute COVID19 for H5N1 and that's the situation we are all in at the moment. The idea of setting off on the 1st of June looks like it might not happen, and trying not to think about it is absolutely impossible what with the intense media coverage and the governments somewhat inadequate response and constant fibbing.

I guess we will all have to wait and see how this all pans out.

Camper-van ... rent or buy

I initially thought I'd be able to bang this journey out in about six weeks during the summer months, and that I'd do the trip in a camper-van so I could stop where I wanted (within reason) and not have to either pay out for b'n'b's or have to erect a tent every night. Then I realised, after doing a preliminary route plan that it would take me a lot longer than six weeks. I also did a little search of rental camper-vans and quickly realised it would cost me a fortune, as I'd be lucky to find anything half decent for less than £75 a day.

It had been my intention to take early retirement at the end of spring 2020, and use the "lump sum" from my pension pot to finance the journey, but the combination of a back injury and pressure from husband, friends and my Union rep put a halt to this idea. After almost 21 years in the Ambulance Service, I felt physically and emotionally drained. I'm currently hoping for "redeployment" and being granted 3 months unpaid leave to do the epic trip. I've yet to hear back from either.

But back to the question of transport. My husband Guy is pretty knowledgeable  about cars - I'd say that cars are his number one hobby judging by the amount of car related TV shows he watches, and that he gets a monthly car magazine to read in bed (although I have no idea which one, I just refer to them as his car porn). Whenever we are out together and he spots an interesting car, I have to ask "what colour?" Anyway, wanting to show a bit more interest in my crazy idea and knowing I didn't have a clue, he took it upon himself to sort out a camper van for me. He quickly decided on which make after seeing our friends rather lovely Toyota Alphard conversion. After joining the "Alphard Appreciation Society" (well, something like that) on a well known social media site, he found a couple of suitable vehicles for sale at a reasonable price. The first one was sold by the time he rang, so he went after the next one in earnest.

The following Saturday, we leave the house before 6am and drive down to Falmouth in Cornwall with every intention of coming back the same day the proud owners of a Toyota Alphard. Chrissy, the woman who sold it to us was quite amazing really. Having had a very close call with a potentially fatal tumour, she had decided to sell her house as well as her Alphard, buy a much bigger mobile home and head out over-land to Singapore. Her generosity knew no bounds as she threw in a huge number of extras including a drive-away awning, everything you'd want to prepare a nutritious meal bar food, fairy lights and a camping toilet. We parted like old friends and made our way back to north London feeling very lucky indeed.

The last problem was where to put it until we were ready to tax and insure it. After showing it off to the friends who have an Alphard and to our neighbours who have heard all about my plan to travel the entire coastline, we took it to Reading where Guy's Mum lives. Luckily, the in-laws have allowed me to park it in front of their garage which is almost totally hidden from view from the rest of the house, so no one would know it was there.

List of places

So, one of the first things I got around to doing was to make a list of all the places on the Germinal CCXXIV mug and T-shirt, and then find them on a map. The listing bit was easy, and my page on "Rate Your Music" (or Sonemic as I believe to be known as now) was where it first appeared;  The list of places on the BSP "Germinal CCXXIV" T-Shirt should take you to the page.

When I said it was easy, in reality it was pretty damn difficult and time consuming and it took me days to find them all. Even now I'm not sure about one or two - some of them are names of more than a single place (for example, there are two "Holy Island"'s and two beaches known as "Hell's Mouth", and there are a number of places you can find "Phoenix Caisson"'s which were concrete harbours built during WW2). Other places were fiendishly difficult to pin down ("The Road", "The Neck" and "The Scalp" were particularly tricky, and I often discovered them by accident rather than after exhaustive internet searches - I eventually found a small stretch of beach in North Devon called "The Neck" when we were staying with some friends at Anderton House in Goodleigh, and I was studying an Ordnance Survey map under a sheet of glass on one of the tables).

For months I was sure that there were two fake place names. "Spliff Island" was the most obvious, and "Moist Covert" yielded some very strange suggestions on Google. One night as I was re-reading "Do It For Your Mum", the excellent memoir of BSP's early years by Hamilton and Scott's older brother Roy. Chapter three is titled "Nettle monger on the approaches to Spliff Island" *bingo* All I needed to do now was find the campsite in Hopeman, head down to the beach and look for a rocky outcrop and make an educated guess at which one looks comfortable enough to have a joint on.

Another place name that really confused me was "The Cob". For ages, I just assumed whoever compiled the list had made a spelling error, or when the list went off to the printers, they made the error and what it was meant to say was "The Cobb"; the Cobb being the breakwater made famous by "The French Lieutenant's Woman" with the iconic picture of Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons having a snog in a storm. Turns out there IS a road bridge known as the Cob in Wales which takes you from Porthmadog to Portmeirion. There is even a shop (which I'm hoping is still there) called Cob Records. I only found this out when doing a bit of route planning, but these little discoveries please me no end.

While planning the trip, I discovered that you can only take a boat trip out to "The Royal Sovereign" during the month of August. The Royal Sovereign is a huge lighthouse  out in the English Channel that can be seen all along the coast from Eastbourne to Hastings. Prior to 1971, the light came from a light vessel that had been there since 1875. I spent a very miserable few years as a boarder at a Prep School in Eastbourne, and would often stare out the window and look at the light coming from the Royal Sovereign. Doing a boat trip to get close would be fantastic, but much to my dismay, Trinity House, the company who run many of Britain's lighthouses have announced that they are going to decommission and dismantle the lighthouse this spring. I felt really quite sad about this news, as by the time I finally get Germinal CCXXIV on the road, it will be no more.

The only place I'll never be able to visit (unless I have a huge Lottery win) is "Rockall". It's a rock somewhat dubiously claimed by the British Government that is 290 odd miles out in the Atlantic off the coast of Scotland. There are intrepid types offering a boat trip out there, but it costs a packet.

As for the rest, well, they should all be all be either visitable or in the case of some of the most inaccessible, at least visible from the nearest bit of coast or from going on a boat trip.

I do love a good list.

How it all started

In the spring of 2016, British Sea Power introduced two pieces of merchandise that gave me a somewhat bonkers idea. A T-shirt (more about BSP and T-shirts later) and a Mug (ditto) titled "BSP Germinal CCXXIV" listed 116 British coastal place names, and the moment I saw them, I thought "Road Trip!"

According to BSP HQ, at least one of the places was fictional, and at least one of them is pretty much impossible for mere mortals like me to ever visit, but as for the other 114, well, for a BSP obsessive like myself, what better challenge is there than to visit them all. Obviously not in order, as a few people asked, they clearly have no idea how far Bass Rock is from The Armed Knight, or just how long it would take to go from Wolf Rock to Vidlin Voe and then back to Zennor Head!

So this is the unfolding story of the preparations for, and hopefully if it all goes according to plan, an account of my BSP influenced trip around the Great British Coast.