Guys played well last night. Shout out to Linda :-)

Stage sound was great, we took a trip down memory lane for a few tunes.

Rosie and I were remembering old road stories on the way up to Newcastle.

The Tale Of The Fish Van.

Ahem. 

Once Upon a Time my trusty, fully packed with gig gear, Holden Wagon broke down just as we were leaving for a gig.

 Ok, not that bad but not working. 

Oh crap. We gotta get to NEWCASTLE!!!

Luckily, Balmain rentals was close. A phone call later, yes! they still had an Automatic Van. 1.

Whew.

Launch into frantic ninja high gear - we gotta go get van, rent van, drive back home, unpack, repack, Go Team!!

Thank you Balmain rentals.

Zap down there. Sweet. Do paperwork. No worries. Grab van.

 Driving van off lot, on a mission.

Sniff.

Sniff.

WTF.

The last people to hire that van had been moving Fish Products.

The Van had not been cleaned.

There is no alternative. We're due in Newcastle. It's a 2 hour drive.

Bolt back, transfer gear, start driving.

Rosie and I lasted about the first 20 minutes OK.

Then, as the glorious afternoon sunshine baked the non airconditioned, absolutely-no-suspension-left, rattling-can-of-rocks-and-stank, it got Bad.

Realllllly bad.

Rosie and me, windows open, heads out the window, alternately coughing and retching and kvetching as we swore and cussed the smell, hurtling up the highway.

On the one hand, grateful for the van. On the other, welcome to the 15th layer of Hell.

But wait. there's more.

Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I was coughing and retching. I wanted a gasmask.

They didn't stock those at the Service Station.

Instead, I pulled the van in, went into the  shop and bought 5 of those scented car things and a can of Glen 20.

I sprayed the van liberally, inside and out, attached all the air fresheners.

Ahhhhh. bliss.

For the first 5 minutes.

The Fish Odor was not giving up. It was still happily there, and as the sun once more toasted the outside of the van, it returned....

now, with 5 added Car Freshener Scents and Glen 20 Original.

Welcome to the 16th level of hell.

Did I mention we had to drive that van home as well?

Yeah.

Good times :-)