Blog: The Curse Of The Green Dragon

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Last night Mr S Hewitt and I were due to perform Moon Horse in Croydon. It was our first show for a couple of months so I was a bit worried about it, but I had a couple of Lines Revision Sessions and a practice of the songs and it all seemed to be okay. Everything, I thought, would be fine.

Little did I know that this night would be a night of [very minor but still] DISASTER!

Things got off to a troublesome start when I got on the TUBE to find there were HUGE delays on the Victoria Line due to someone under a train in Stockwell, so that it ended up taking nearly half an hour longer than expected just to get from Euston to Victoria. When I eventually arrived the tube station was SO RAMMED that we couldn't even get OUT. I'm used to stations getting overcrowded so you couldn't get IN, but I don't think I've ever experienced this before.

In the end staff opened an entrance as an exit and we poured out, only to find CHAOS. Someone ELSE had been hit by a train, this time near Norbury, so LOADS of things were delayed and/or cancelled, in addition to what seems to be the EVERYDAY CHAOS that is SouthEastern Trains. Everywhere I looked were jolly little electronic signs saying "Only four carriages instead of eight today, sorry!" as if HALVING the available space AT RUSH HOUR was somehow CHARMING, even when things WEREN'T in total disarray. Thus when I managed to find a train going my way and RAN to the platform with everybody else I found that the QUEUE to get IN was about five deep the whole length of the train.

There was NO WAY i was getting on, and ended up waiting around until it just so happened that a clutch of delayed trains were leaving from nearby platforms at roughly the same time, and we eventually sailed out of Victoria with SPACE... only to take on ANGRY PASSENGERS at Clapham. There was SHOUTING and that thing where someone REFUSES to move down the carriage, as if their comfort is more important than five or six other people being able to get ON and get HOME.

I was thus RELIEVED when I finally arrived in East Croydon, thinking our troubles were over... only to get a text from Steve saying he'd just had his card eaten by a cash machine!

In the end we DID get to the pub, and all was fine... until I found myself sat talking to Mr T Eveleigh, wondering why my vision was suddenly going BLURRY, as if i was watching a 3D film or something. I turned my head and realised it was my glasses BREAKING - the NOSE bit had fallen off, and a huge SEARCH ensued. "Found it!" i said, holding it aloft... then dropping it again. This time the whole pub joined in, moving tables, turning on lights, and Mr Mark Strange eventually found it using his LAPTOP as a HUGE TORCH. It turned out to be beyond repair, but my glasses still worked without, so the show could go on.

And the show itself was FINE. As Steve said later, we usually do it really well when we're WORRIED and/or AFEARED as then we're CONCENTRATING. It's only when we feel safe and start to MUCK ABOUT that things go AWRY, and indeed this happened about 40 minutes in when certain people relaxed and once again started making REMARKS, about getting the Mars Men a ROYAL YACHT, amongst other things. i just got excited!

It was all LOVELY tho, as was the rest of the evening, sat with pals old and new and even some CHILDREN this time, both of whom REALLY enjoyed it. I also gave Steve his first INKLINGS about my idea for NEXT year's show - he seemed a bit STUNNED by it, but then he HAS got a Major Sporting Event That He Can't Really Talk About to be getting on with, so I'm sure otherwise he would have been dancing for JOY at the GRATE NEW IDEA.

The journey home passed without incident, and I finally got to bed very happy to be back in the MOON HORSE SADDLE, ready for a ROCKING last few gigs. Watch out, The Midlands, we're coming your way in February!

posted 18/1/2012 by MJ Hibbett

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Comments:

"but I had a couple of Lines...and it all seemed to be okay." Proper rock star. :)
posted 18/1/2012 by pete

If only Ian was there - he could have returned the favour from when both arms fell off his glasses and you kindly retrieved them. Bet you didn't travel all the way back from London to Cardiff with your glasses stuck to your face with a bit of chewing gum though!
posted 19/1/2012 by Mrs Hodgkiss

If you missed it you can watch it here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/19831233
posted 20/1/2012 by Tim Eveleigh

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