MagnaCarta

Linda Writes

What a great time that was!
I hate early starts but we had to set off at 6am to get to the airport for an 8o'clock check-in.
We set off on time but were soon snarled up with a closed road which set us back 30 minutes. After that it went pretty well until we hit road works which slowed us down again.Then, as we approached the outskirts of Newcastle, we hit another long line of traffic and realised that we had only 30 minutes before the gate closed. AAAAaaarrrrgggghhhh - we could miss the flight.

I had a little smile to myself as I thought of my favourite book which has written on it 'DON'T PANIC' in large friendly letters - but I have to admit that I did not feel that it would make much difference this time.
We had a map ... I urged Chris to leave the motorway and I would find another way through. Good idea except the scale of the map was too small and I was almost immediately lost.
Somehow we got back onto the motorway a bit further on and found, to our amazement,that we were only 5 miles from the airport and had enough time to do it.

The gods must have been smiling down on us - I don't know how we made it, but we even had 12 minutes shopping time before they sent us to the boarding gate. It was good to get on that plane and relax ... well sleep actually!!

Barcelona airport is a confusing place - we followed the green arrow to the baggage hall ... only to find that we should have followed the red arrow, which of course went in the other direction. Thirty minutes later we were fighting a baggage handler for our guitars as he was just about to take them away ... who knows where they would have ended up??

Isaac met us in and by this time we had already ascertained that Matt was in terminal C, waiting for us. We were in terminal A .... miles away.

Isaac got the vehicle and said he would pick Chris up and meet us at terminal C. It almost was terminal - I thought I would never get there!!

Eventually all three of us, and Isaac were in the vehicle and heading for Lleida.

Isaac made the mistake of asking if we wanted anything to eat or drink. Does a fish swim? Doesn't everyone know that a musician never refuses food? Who knows when the next meal will be along?? Yes please we said.

What an experiance that turned out to be ... it wouldn't happen in England! The waiter brought us some yummy bread and a sauce, then baby leeks and another sauce ...these were to try ...for goodness sake could you see that happening in Watford Gap services??.

We eventually ordered and I have never seen such a feast. It was a very nice interlude and I'm just sorry that I didn't notice the name of the place because I would certainly recommend it.

An hour later and we arrived at the AC hotel in Lleida where we promptly booked in and all went to bed for a while.

Chris was not particularly well - in fact he was at death's door - so he was more than grateful for the chance to catch up on a bit of sleep.

At 9:30 we met with Antoni and Alex in the foyer. I was very surprised to find that they were both so young.... I always expect older people when they are dealing with acts of our age ... but these two were perfect gentlemen and very into the music of the 60s and 70s ... how refreshing!!

We were to see the venue - and the act that evening was  'Xavier Baro' an artist from the same town. I had not heard of him but he is obviously well regarded and has a big following. It was very interesting to watch. Unfortunately we couldn't understand the words and he is best known for his lyrics but it was an enjoyable evening for all that and good that we had the chance to see how the venue worked.

After the gig we headed for the burger joint and filled up on 'junk' food - but even that was different class - it was obviously made with top class beef - not the cotton wool that we normally find in burgers at home.

Back to the hotel where we agreed to meet earlyish the next morning.

Breakfast at 9am and then a rehearsal. It's funny how quickly you can forget things. I wasn't sure of a lot of the new songs and even Matt was floundering a bit with some songs. No matter - we had got quite a long way when Antoni called for us ....snails for lunch.
Now I'm not a big fan of snails but I hate to miss out on a speciallity so I said I'd give it a go. Matt ordered a salad and said he might try one or two ....

It was good that Antoni and Chris were hungry as Matt's 'one or two' was actually 'one' (at least he tried), I did a little better but after about twenty I was out. Chris and Antoni managed the rest and that was good because it was a respectable result.

Back at the hotel we bumped into Nelson Silva - he was just checking in so we agreed to meet them in the foyer in a few minutes so that they could join us for the sound check.

The one thing that bothered me was that people could smoke in the place. Chris' lungs were by now akin to two sacks of sogge brown paper and my throat was not fully up to scratch either (something to do with the plaster dust that I had been dealing with at home). Antoni said he would do what he could, I said I would announce that it would help if people didn't smoke, but I didn't hold out much hope.

The soundcheck went well Josan was on the ball and we were soon sorted out. I decided to do 'Who Knows Where the TIme Goes' to start with, but when we walked back in that evening I realised that it was probably a mistake. A large lung full of air is required before the top note and the amount of smoke that I took in with it ensured that it didn't quite come off - but hey - that's the way it is sometimes. The only problem is - people don't blame the smoke - they blame you for not being able to sing ... pants!!

Luckily that was the only song that caused any problem and the rest of the evening was great. We remembered everything, didn't make any massive mistakes and had an absolute ball.

It was obvious that the audience spoke little English. This always amazes me because the place was completely sold out with people who could barely understand what they were listening to...and yet it worked fine.

At the end of the evening we knew we had given all we had and went to the bar for a well deserved beer.
Everyone was so nice to us. I'm just sorry I didn't get to meet Jolanda, ANtoni's wife .... maybe next time?

We chatted to quite a few people and then put away the equipment. Nelson and family offered to help with carrying some things back to the hotel so Chris set off with them and I said we would follow shortly ... famous last words.

Salban (did I spell that right?) was pouring perfect gin and tonics, as was Kiku, there were a few very nice people left at the bar, including Josan, whom we thanked for doing an excellent job on the sound. Ten minutes became half an hour. One gin and tonic became several. Then the Tequila.
I can remember laughing a lot, dancing in a strange and peculiar way and having a very odd conversation with Kiku ... who started it??

At around 5:30am I realised that perhaps we should make our way back to the hotel as we had to be up and ready to leave at 10:30 .... ooops.
It's along time since I had an 'after party' like that one. I do not remember leaving or getting back to the hotel. I know I set the alarm on my phone because it went off at 9am, but I couldn't work out who had done most of my packing (it could only have ben me) and I couldn't help but notice that I hadn't actually managed to get into the bed to sleep. What a great time - and I didn't even have a hangover!!
When I met the guys for breakfast Matt admitted that he had not managed to get into his bed either - and Chris said something along the lines of "That was a long ten minutes" Ooops!

It was a wonderful time and all I can say is thankyou to a group of thoroughly nice people.

At 10:30 Isaac came to pick us up and take us back to the airport - we had hardly been there for two days but it was really sad to say goodbye - I hope we see you all agan some time.

Nelson took some shots too - you can see them here....

http://imaginarioreal.blogspot.com/2009/03/magna-carta.html