Day Thirty-four (from Kristi)

Day Thirty-four (from Kristi)

Gary is getting us around now, having married on the windshield of our Mitsubishi Colt. I have a love-hate relationship with him; Steve says I’m calling him by the wrong name which doesn’t help. Garmin calls him Daniel. When he was the American, Garmin called him Jack. I’m convinced Garmin is to blame for all his problems so I’m sticking with Gary. He has two settings, “FAST”, or “MOST DIRECT ROUTE”. I don’t think there’s an actual difference. We type in the postal code to our destination and every time he sends us into the winding, narrow, slow hinterlands as opposed to the motorways. American Jack kept calling A4028 “ayfordywendyeight” until we fired him. Dainel was in a fibbing spree while “recalculating” us as we roamed around the backroad routes to Kielder Forest. His little white arrow finally morphed into a sort of wart and stopped in the middle of the road as he said something like, “turn left on B-onemillion”. That would have led us directly onto a sheep pasture. I occasionally am quite relieved to have his help. Having at last got us to an ASDA in Livingston he directed us toward the exit of the parking lot through a brick wall. But he’s useful when we’ve come NEAR to a destination. At that point British roads have a tendency to send us in endless circles until we stumble upon our destination. So I’m cautiously making peace with his odd ways. Steve also says I’m jealous of him, having relinquished my important role as navigator. But within fifteen minutes of his purchase in Cramlington, which is north of Newcastle, Steve was ready to hurl him into downtown Newcastle, wherein we were slowly pushing our way through the dense traffic towards Croxdale, which is in the suburbs of Durham, south of Newcastle. We tried to find a Tesco near the airport in Edinburgh a few days ago. Gary got us successfully to an inaccessible backlot to an extinct Tesco, with the store logo barely legible having been painted out. Then he took us to a quickstop version of the super-store which was equally useless. Finally as we attempted escape from the heart the city, he wound us into a tight spot in heavy traffic with construction and a traffic policeman parked to watch, then Gary told us to make a U-turn. Every day with Gary is a big adventure. I continue to wonder if Tom-Tom might have been a better match.

The tour is going great. We’re continuing to have favorable responses from our audiences. I’m enjoying the comaraderie within this fraternity that shares their beloved tunes with one another. The level of appreciation and mutual respect is quite phenomenal in this “folk world”.
I’m looking forward to our return though. The comforts of home in a practical sense aren’t superior to the homes we’ve experienced here. Our hosts have been positively angelic to us. I’m just aching for the familiar. Of course that means you. Please keep in touch.