We’ve been on the ground a week now, far from the heat and smoke and dust of a still suffering Sydney.
everyone we meet has heard of the fires and they all send their regards with a collective kindness that may come as a surprise .
Much as we see one image from the outside, the locals see Australia as on fire, where we see nothing but impeachment talk .
In both cases there is an element of truth, it does not describe the totality. The map is not the territory.
In the three years since we were last here things have not significantly changed . Americans still live the 24 hour lifestyle and are too busy doing their own thing to be collectively obsessed with one subject .
Having said that, there is a deep sense of something being out of whack, but what it is depends on your perspective .
We try to remain good houseguests and I grow strangely quiet when certain subjects are raised finding that it is better to listen .
My focus is first and foremost the logistics of moving a bunch of people around in cars, taxis, Uber, planes trains and mule wagon.
In the week since we have been here, the very straightforward tasks of obtaining equipment, lodging and transport have occupied my time.
We have been able to renew the bonds of friendship with our mates in the states, without Whom it would be very hard indeed to do this.
I am dictating this into my phone, seated behind my cup of coffee, here on a cold Memphis morning while the sound of trains honking their horns comes in from the nearby tracks.
We do our first show tonight as part of the international blues challenge and I will admit to feeling the excitement that comes with walking such hallowed ground.
Even in this age of the removal of privacy, there are some elements of organising a tour, the ups and downs, starts and stops, that I leave for a future time. It is fair to say the calling this the minor miracle tour is apt .
Last night we ate our first meal together in Memphis and spent time reviewing our set lists, making sure our equipment is in order and getting ready to represent .
We still have much ahead of us and I need another cup of coffee .
Seven days in, my thoughts are still of home shrouded under dark skies and heat, as I look in wonder at the blue skies of Texas and Memphis and the relief of a soft winter.