Curse Of The Dog Tour strikes again!

I think this Curse Of The Dog thing has struck again - this must be one of the most ill-fated tours for me ever!

As well as car woes so I missed a concert, someone being taken ill so I missed a concert, being crushed so I wouldn't go to another concert, having one concert cancelled on me, it now looks quite likely that the Biloxi concert may not go ahead, we're going to have problems getting to Florida and I'm going to be struggling with my luggage as it seems likely I've broken a bone in my hand!

The reports about the Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi vary a lot. Just today when I got in from work I read a report in The Washington Post which said "In Biloxi, however, the upscale Beau Rivage casino and hotel appeared to have survived with little significant damage" and another report on Forbes which said "Treasure Bay Casino termed its Beau Rivage casino, also in Biloxi, "a total loss" in excess of $100 million" so we really don't know at the moment for sure.

I have one person who has been really helpful in sending me loads of updates (thanks! - you know how you are - think blankets!) and the latest she had to say was that we may have problems driving from the Robinsonville concert down to Clearwater as some of the bridges and roads are missing or impassable. (I've driving down with a friend in her car so flying isn't an option but it may be a solution apparently to go via Atlanta.)

Just to say that I don't want to underestimate my feelings for the people who live in those areas whose homes have been damaged or worse still have lost loved ones but this is a Tour Diary which is why I'm focusing on the effect it may have on our tour plans (and to use this disaster as an excuse to have another pop at me shows the depths to which some people will stoop).

The other problem at the moment is that a couple of weeks ago at work I was walking up the stairs to my office and I tripped up the stairs. I put out my left hand to save myself but I had my fingers bent at the time and it struck the brick wall so in effect I punched the wall. I can't tell you the agony that hand was that day. In fact it wasn't until the third day that I could straighten my fingers. Now, two weeks later, I still can not straighten my hand totally without pain and I can't make a fist or hold anything heavy in it (by heavy I mean that a loaf of bread hurt it today!) and things like turning up taps hurt too much to try. One of my colleagues used to be a chiropodist so I got her to look and feel it today (it's still swollen) and she thinks I've probably chipped a bone in it. (I know she dealt with feet and not hands but she has some idea about bones!). The only way to tell for sure is to have it x-rayed but they won't do much even if it is broken and I'm not going to site in A&E for a few hours just to be able to tell people that I wasn't exaggerating the pain!

The problem is that I need to take 2 suitcases to US with me (as I'll have some stuff to bring back) and I can't see how I'm going to manage that.

Apart from all that, I'm really looking forward to my holiday!!

US jaunt plans!

I've managed to book a couple of hotels for the US! I'm lucky this trip that I'm meeting up and staying with a couple of friends so for most of the jaunt they're making the arrangements but I've booked my hotels for the first couple of nights.

I land at about 5.00pm which will be 10.00pm or 11.00pm (I don't know which time zone they are in) for my body so that first night I've booked a hotel near the airport with a restaurant.

The next day my plan is to visit Graceland! It's only a matter of miles from the airport so I'll probably catch a taxi there (as I hear that wandering around Memphis is not a good idea!).

The second night I'm staying in Robinsonville, about 6 blocks along on the same road as the casino - actually Robinsonville seems to mainly consist of Casino Drive!

Coming home I have 7 hours to wait at Newark Airport so I've arranged to meet up with a friend for lunch which will break up my journey a bit!

Cancelled concert

Please allow me a bit of a rant here! Actually I should have ranted about this a few weeks ago when I got the bad news but I'm still miffed about it!

The Meat Loaf concert on 17th September has been cancelled!!

Well, technically it's postponed but for me it's been cancelled. Not only that but I've bought and paid for 2 internal flights in US for this concert and now I can't use them! I've looked into either staying on or flying back out there for the concert but neither of those options are practical (I started a new job a few months ago as the accountant of an international company and I've been lucky that they've let me have these 10 days off and if I fly back out then it will cost me as much for those 2 days as for the 10 days!).

Of course anyone who knows me will know that this isn't the first time that Meat Loaf will have cancelled a gig on me (in fact at a conservative estimate it's the 28th time!) but it really annoys me that this gig was cancelled a couple of weeks after tickets went on sale so loads of fans will have made plans! In fact there were 6 of us meeting up there and now there are people like me who won't be able to attend, other people who are paying mega bucks (I'm talking $200+) to change their plans and other people who will have to take time off work as the new concert is on a work day. I can appreciate that the venue wants Meat Loaf for 2 shows instead of just 1 but why not stick to the original date and just add the other at the end of the tour? They're going back to Atlantic City for an extra date so why not go back to Kansas City too?!!

Rant over....