Day 283. Uncomplicated. (10/10/13)

An interesting roller coaster of a day then.

That 'it's a gig, not a party/ it's a party not a gig' that I'm having for my 50th? Well I'm not anymore.

The morning started with a Facebook posting and a text from Mal (bass) closely followed by a text from Geoff (drums) saying 'call me'. Mal had been parking his motorbike last night, still sat astride said bike, when a gust of wind caught the bike and toppled it. Mal landed on his shoulder and fractured his collarbone.

Now, if you're a bassist, a fully working collarbone or two is/are fairly useful. If you haven't got a strap slung across it holding a pretty weighty musical instrument (basses are pretty heavy for those who aren't aware) then you're moving it round because you're plucking strings with the hand attached to it.

Mally's first intention was that he'd have to skip tomorrow's rehearsal but would be okay for next Thursday and obviously the night itself (a week tomorrow). Now, I don't claim to be any kind of medical expert but I felt this may be just a tad optimistic.

Long story short (unusual for me): even if Mal was sufficiently healed to play the gig,  we wouldn't have been anywhere near rehearsed enough and none of us do these things half heartedly. Result? Night cancelled. Postponed more than cancelled, we're all up for doing it, end of the year, beginning of next, something like that. A one off, belated 'not 50th party'gig. It'll happen, we'll be awesome.

So the aftermath started. The clearing up. The texts, the Facebook posts, the tweets, the family conversations. Luckily my Mum is doing the family contacting so I've escaped making the following statement endlessly;

The reason that I didn't just carry on with the night and do it without the band is that I had absolutely no desire to have a 50th birthday party with a buffet and a disco and all that 'partyish' stuff. I was having a gig. I'm led to believe that other people may have been under the impression that they were going to a 'party', I hope they're not too disappointed by the fact that it's not happening but they were quite definitely going to a gig. No gig, no night out, I'm not going to stand in a big room being reminded that I'm old when my intention was to defy the aging process.

And, as I pointed out to my Dad, I don't like being the centre of attention. 'But you were going to be the centre of attention' he said. But that's different. On stage is different. Totally.

Anyway, it's off.

So, the afternoon became a cheering up process. I went to a shop. I won't say which shop but it's of a type that I will be receiving my 50th birthday present from and I am ridiculously excited about it.

If that wasn't enough we booked a bit of a city break for the week of my birthday. Well I never intended to be in the country to achieve a stupid number did I?  New York stopped being an option as soon as the Republicans decided that they didn't like the idea of helping the less fortunate out, refused to sanction Obama's budget and basically shut America down for the foreseeable... so we found somewhere else and got one hell of a bargain.

And you'll notice that I'm not giving out any details.

Well, there have to be surprises don't there? I have to have something to write about in the next  (Jesus) 13 days.

The countdown goes on.

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