Kasim's solo gig

Work today was hard and staying awake in the meeting (when I mainly had to listen) was tougher! I left work at 2.00pm and got in by 3.00pm. I left at 3.30pm and drove up to Manchester. Although it's a workday in UK the traffic flowed well and I pulled off for a late lunch around rush-hour.

I got to within about 40 miles of Manchester by about 7.45pm so, as Kasim wasn't due on until 11.00pm, I had a catnap in a service station (which I badly needed!).

The directions I had were fine until I got to Manchester City Centre when they directed me down a buses only road! As I knew I was near the venue I just found somewhere to park and decided to walk. It was about 10.30pm by now so I asked someone the way to Oldham Street and of course the guy I asked was a bit drunk! He told me to go to the top of the road I was in and kept telling me (by which I mean at least 3 times!) that THIS side was Oldham Street and the OTHER side was Oldham Road! At the top of the road I was in was a street running acrossways and I knew that the one street couldn't have two names so I was a bit confused - I expected to see "this side" and "that side" divided by a river or a range of mountains the way he was saying it!

At the top of the road was a hotel so I asked in there for directions and was told that at the end of that block were some traffic lights and they were where Oldham Road turned into Oldham Street and Oldham Street actually ran parallel with the road I had just walked up! Five minutes later I walked past the end of a crossroad and saw my car! It took me 15 minutes to walk to the venue and one minute to walk back to my car!

When I walked into The Night and Day Cafe I bought a drink at the bar and a friend managed to spot me. As it was someone that I haven't seen for a few weeks and we had tickets and things to sort out, we went to the front of the cafe (away from the music on stage so we could hear each other) and did that. While we were doing that various people I knew came up to say hello which was nice. The funniest thing was another friend who spotted us straightaway (we were sitting near the door) and just came across to talk to us, forgetting to pay so the door guy came after him! We later joked that he should just go behind the bar and help himself to a drink too!

Kasim's gig was amazing! I really thought this day would never come - Kasim actually playing a solo gig in UK! I still can't get over how brilliant his voice was!

I left straight afterwards as I had such a long drive ahead of me. As it turned out it was just as well that I did that as I didn't get home until 5.30am and a friend rang me on the way home to say that she had stayed at the venue for quite a while afterwards so I would have had no sleep if I'd have waited around. She did say that she drove home with a huge grin on her face after having such a great evening!

I think it's because I was already tired that it was more of an effort driving home tonight. I had one catnap at about 3.30am. It was just beginning to get light then so I thought it best to sleep for 20 minutes so that I could then drive in the light as that's so much easier.

I got home at about 5.25am, was in bed at 5.30am and had to get up at 6.30am! Thankfully I was on quite a high as I'd had such a good evening.

And did I mention how great Kasim's voice was.....!

Mileage today: 469 miles
Tour total (in my car) –5, 006 miles