Here in no particular order, other than the sequence they live on my laptop's hard drive, are some of the pictures we took while wandering around the UK for six weeks. This is a collection with no greater significance than they caught our eye, amused us, made us wonder about the "natives" or just happened to be where the camera was pointing at the time.
Looking out of the hotel window at Brighton at sunset. We were fortunate with the weather here and this was a very pretty sunset. After that it got bitterly cold and incredibly windy and the noise of the surf which is just across the street made it a tad difficult to sleep.
This is Bournemouth pier. I'm told that Bournemouth is referred to as "God's waiting room" which seems more than a little unkind. Certainly the population seemed older than us, and I really couldn't see what attracted them to the area, but they were extremely hospitable and welcoming to us. Perhaps they didn't get to see too may new faces?
There's a bunch of pictures here, not because they are associated but because they are all of signs that we found noteworthy. I guess it depends what's familiar to you and what you see as new and different. As visitors, we perhaps took note of things that the locals didn't find at all unusual but then I always did have a pretty wierd outlook as anyone who knows me will confirm.
A place that sells booze and medicine - that's what I call cutting out the middle man.
I guess the intent of this sign has obvious significance and there are a great many places in the world where calmer traffic would be a great benefit, not the least of which is Australia. However, just exactly what this traffic calming area was we couldn't see, nor could we find out how it was supposed to work.
Alongside the River Dee in Cheshire there is this road with a truly great fish and chip shop. Every other cafe and restaurant was closed, it being on the Boxing Day holiday, but this bloke was open, obviously possessing slightly more entrepreneurial spirit than his competitors. We got our cod and chips and sat on the stone wall in the cold and the wind and ate some of the best food of its type I've ever had. Oh, the sign? That was in the shop.
Obviously where they are digging up the roads you can get "recovered" for free. I'm not entirely sure what happens where they aren't doing roadworks, since fortunately we never had to find out. It did make us wonder though.
Now, just exactly why I've got this idiotic smile on my face is something of a mystery. This was taken at Land's End which has to be one of the coldest and windiest places I have ever been and I was so frozen when Ros took this that I couldn't feel my ears at all. Then we went into the pub and had this great lamb pie which warmed us from the inside. Perhaps I was thinking about the possibility of food, but I really don't remember.
Driving across Dartmoor we came across a sign for the "Who'd Have Thought It" inn. I was so struck by the name that we drove down some streets barely big enough to take a bicycle and sure enough there it was. Now you can't travel in the UK without seeing all sorts of fascinating names for pubs, plus of course the endless Royal Oaks, King's Heads and the like but this is a definite first - a name unlike any other pub anywhere I've ever been. It looked like a fascinating old place but unfortunately it wasn't open when we were there.
When I was a mere lad I was introduced to the ground breaking humour of the Goons and I've been a great fan ever since. One of my favourite episodes is "Tales Of Old Dartmoor", so with the immortal words of this great comedy ringing in my ears we stopped by the gate of Dartmoor prison to take a photo. We stopped right where the sign said we weren't to stop and for a couple of frozen moments I thought we might get a closer look at the gaol before a sense of humour at the behaviour of tourists prevailed and we were allowed on our way.
This one just has to be in a box of its own. We took the underground into central London to meet some people and on the train was this advert for Sudafed. Nothing remarkable there you would think? Read the copy alongside the picture of the packet. A truly charming description of how it feels to have a cold and I swear this is a real picture, not made up with clever computer graphics, what you see is what was printed there.
So we went to Stonehenge. The lady selling guide books in various languages told me that the book was in Australian, I just had to turn it upside down. Then we walked through the tunnel and out on to the plain and at that point this terrific storm of frozen sleet started blowing horizontally across the paddock. I can't recall the last time I was so cold and it was a great shame because it cut short our visit. The photo doesn't show the sleet very well but trust me it's there.
Well, we finally made it to Vancouver, having survived Air Canada turning a nine hour non stop flight into a twenty two hour saga, complete with lost luggage and the normal joys of long flights. We got to our hotel at 2.30 am so we didn't really appreciate what the receptionist was talking about, but when we finally surfaced in the morning, this was the view that geeted us from the sixteenth floor. Sights like this revive you, unless you are beyond hope.
A couple of days rest and we were off to Vancouver Island. I did a series of very enjoyable concerts for some very appreciative people and enjoyed myself immensely. This one was at the Highlands folk club, held in an old historic and character-laden building outside Victoria just before Valentine's Day as you can see from the decoration behind me. I really felt that this diary wouldn't be complete without an occasional picture of me singing!
After a few gigs in and around Victoria we headed north on the Island. About 50 kilometres from Victoria is this lovely little lookout where we stopped to appreciate the view. At this point Ros remembered that she'd left a bag in the hotel we'd checked out of that morning. Of course, the contents of the bag included such insignificant items as her passport, tickets home, etc. So this photo was taken after we'd driven the fifty kilometres back to the hotel to retrieve the bag and then headed north again. As you can see by my smile, I'd recovered at least some of my normal sunny disposition by the time we got here for the second time.
At the same lookout as the last picture was this garbage bin. Nothing remarkable about this to Canadians, but for my Australian readers this is a bear-proof garbage bin. It's a very bad idea for all sorts of reasons to allow bears to get at human garbage. Of course, in Australia we don't need anything like this because the animals aren't smart enough to figure out how to get at the garbage. Or perhaps it's because we don't throw away anything they'd be interested in anyway.
Now, I've been described in some flattering ways here and there, but this is a definite first. I absolutely assure those of you who may be sceptical that I had nothing to do with this sign and knew nothing of it until I walked into the hall at the Mount Brenton Centre in Chemainus and there it was. However, once they'd gone to the enormous trouble of making a sign like this it seemed entirely appropriate to immortalise it in this diary, in keeping with my well-known modest image of myself.
Driving north on the Island we came into a little town on the east coast called Coquitlam. Despite it being winter the spectacular view of ocean, mountains and trees was utterly stunning and typical of the views we'd encountered everywhere in British Columbia. Whilst as an Adelaide resident I appreciate the geographic features of my local Hills we certainly don't have anything like this and definitely no snow. And I've discovered that snow can be truly appreciated when seen from a distance, as opposed to trying to move about in it!
We stayed in a pretty little town called Comox for the night and couldn't pass up this establishment. It was a bit like a sign from the heavens and made us feel a little homesick. For the non Australians amongst my readers, Port Augusta is one of the major towns in South Australia and somewhere I've been to and through many times. For the sake of our composure it was fortunate that they didn't have any gum trees.
There's this really neat venue in Vancouver called Rime, which is also a Turkish restaurant with great food. I played there with Shiny Buckle, who are also really neat (Tony on left, yours truly, Kat and Steve on the right). At the end of the night we did a rousing rendition of Poor Ned to round off the show. Considering that we'd never played together it came out not too bad. The song only having three chords was a big help.
I played in a small town called Hope, about 150 kilometres east of Vancouver. Very pretty spot, surrounded by impressive mountains. The local school heard about me coming to their town and asked if I would do a spot for the kids and tell them something about Australia. These are grade 4 kids, which means they're about 8 or 9 years old. People who know me in Australia will never believe that I actually did this, so this photo is priceless.
After the performance at the school, the kids all wanted autographs (what can I say?). I started off signing pieces of paper, then they wanted hands and arms signed, then one enterprising kid wanted his forehead signed and that started a trend. So I spent some time signing foreheads, wondering if I was going to have to explain all this to irate parents at the gig that night.
Instead of yet another picture of me sitting on my stool singing, Ros took this photo of me making friends with this stuffed character, from which the Blue Moose gets part of its name. It was a very enjoyable gig, with a bunch of expatriate Aussies in the audience, as well as some Canadians who'd spent a fair bit of time in my part of the world.
Leaving Hope we headed east, which takes you through the Rocky Mountains. Spectacular scenery and breathtaking views. At one point I thought my ears were starting to block up, so we checked the GPS to discover that we were nearly 1700 metres up. This GPS has been a terrific navigating boon, and has perhaps ensured that the Davis marriage will last a bit longer. Seems funny that in all the travelling we've done together, the only thing we ever seemed to argue about was Ros's navigating. Can't imagine why, but I'm very pleased we bought the GPS, or Noeleen as it has been christened after I downloaded an Australian voice for it.
Driving through the Rockies from Vernon to Calgary we could hardly believe the impressive scenery. Last time we did this in 2004 it was summer and we were a little further north, so there was very little snow on the mountains. The picture doesn't really convey the majestic nature of this country, or it's dangers. The sign on the bottom right is a warning that you are in avalanche country and it's a good idea not to stop, wander about and take photos. So we took this one on the run,so to speak, which accounts for the slightly out of focus look of the picture. Not that we're the least bit worried about avalanches, of course.........
Now, not being Irish you'll appreciate that St Patrick's Day has only a limited significance for me. However, after the gig at the Rocky Mountain folk club in Calgary on St Paddy's it has achieved a warm place in my memory banks. What a terrific gig. The audience was great, quiet, attentive, appreciative and what's more they laughed at my jokes. What else could a performer want? The room was absolutely packed and it was a really great night. Two Irish bands before and after me, and me in the middle. And for my Australian friends, no I didn't sing The Ballad of Brian Boru, it's much too vulgar for such a nice group of people.
Driving south from Calgary we couldn't pass up a small detour to the town of Vulcan. The Trekkies amongst you will appreciate this. They have an "Enterprise Diner" in Vulcan, with a model of the starship Enterprise outside that looks close to lifesize. The diner sells such notable items as a "Spockburger" but neither of us could bring ourselves to try one.
The last gig on this tour was at the Uptown folk club in Edmonton. Very friendly people who liked my music and gave Ros and I a great welcome. At the end of the night all the performers got together on stage for a rendition of "Mama Don't Allow". That's me on the end, second from the left. They wanted me to get in the middle of the stage, but by this point in the night I was so tired, driving all day and then performing, that I thought there was a good chance I'd fall asleep in the middle of the song, so I stayed on the end.
Despite the warm welcome from the folk people at Uptown, Edmonton can be a really cold place. This sign was in the hotel room where we stayed. It had snowed quite heavily a week or so before we got to Edmonton and most of it was still on the ground, apart from the roads that had been cleared. Signs like this do nothing for my comfort or peace of mind.
Driving back from Edmonton to Vancouver we went through the Jasper National Park. There are signs all over Canada warning about wildlife but to our great disappointment after four tours we haven't seen anything except a couple of deer. So this was a welcome change, a sign warned of wild sheep on the road and there they were. This picture was taken out of the window of the car and the sheep were almost on the road. They seemed to take a good deal less notice of us than we did of them. Probably muttering rude remarks to each other about tourists with cameras.
So, that's it for this tour. We are leaving for home, warm weather and blue skies after almost eight months on the road. It's been a rewarding and gratifying experience with a whole bunch of memories of really great people, welcoming folk venues, appreciative audiences and unforgettable sights. Way too many highlights to list here, and the photos that I've put on these diaries are really only a sample of what we took, but there just isn't the space to include them all.
However, one person I'd like to thank publicly (although she hates me embarrassing her and will make me pay for it later!) is my lovely wife Roslyn. Without her support, encouragement, tolerance of my occasional artistic temperament meltdowns, logistical support (washing, shopping and the like) while on tour and her willingness to keep working while I pursued music for several years, none of this would have been possible. Thanks, love.
We'd both like to say thank you to everyone we've met in the last eight months, the people who have made us feel welcome in their clubs and in their homes, the people who have helped us with advice, information, introductions, bookings, sights to see, places to go and a humungous bunch of other things that have eased the bumps in the road that travelling throws in your path. Now all we have to do is survive twenty something hours flying and we'll be home. Until the next tour, that is...........
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