Jackie Oates

Our final gig for this tour began for me in Exeter, where I have been recouperating since leaving South Petherton. It has been great to get back home to Devon and begin teaching my violin pupils again. I spent the first part of the morning teaching some pupils at school and it took me a while to get organised and leave the house as have very quickly got out of the habit of instrument vehicle loading. After packing the car and dressing/preparing Keith and Julia (my t-shirt models) for their journey we set off to meet the rest of the band. Having arrived at the depot to load the van we bumped into my dear friend Phil Beer who is on a break from extensive touring with Show of Hands.

Life feels a lot more dark, cold and rainy since October ended, and it was dark by the time we arrived in Cardiff. Having loaded all our stuff from the van, onto a trolley thing, into a lift and then onto the stage, soundchecking began. Post soundcheck, we headed into the centre of Cardiff to find edible things. The early evening turned out to be quite a momentous occasion for rural Devon-born Mike Cosgrave, as it was his first experience of Wagamamas, and possibly Japanese food. Full of noodles and green tea, we tore James Budden away from his artistic defacing of his paper place matt and headed back to the venue.

It was great to have a packed venue for the show and a joy to see familiar faces in the audience, this time from all different stages of my life thus far: school, university, my first job and some of my old violin pupils. Post gig we had a long drive back to Exeter, and back to normal daily non-touring life.

Thanks to everyone who came to see us on the tour.  I’m very grateful for all of your support and look forward to seeing you again soon.