Katowice, Poland

I managed to get to the gym this morning followed by a little time spent practicing guitar, but sadly not much else before our lobby call and flight to Katowice. There's so much to see while staying in Prague and I'd like to spend every free minute being a tourist but one of the unwritten rules of a tour this length is to budget one's energy. Sleep is one of the most important things followed by fitness, without those anybody would soon send up the white flag. Tourism will wait until tomorrow.

We arrived at Katowice and from the airport we drove through the country passing four or five different small villages with names I couldn't pronounce or remember before getting to the city centre. Tonight's venue was called Spodek and looked like a flying saucer, 1940's style, had landed there from outer space. I would guess it was built in the 70's, but that's only a guess. Anyway it would be a close tie with the venue in Antwerp for dirty, cold and smelling like a public lavatory. Our beloved crew were touchy due to another sleepless night on the bus going over roads that haven't been looked after since WWII and problems with the venue. So we retreated to the dressing room which was dirty, cold and smelling like a public lavatory. On the plus side is Matt's continuing guitar lessons from Mark. Matt's already learned 8 or 9 chords and is talking about buying a guitar once his fingers are healed enough to pull the credit card from his wallet. Our traveling wireless internet was in full force so we were all able to huddle up for warmth and catch up on e-mails and tonight's dinner courtesy of Darren, Adam and the Eat You Heart Out catering crew was smashing. Finally. the wardrobe lady gets an angel of the day award for ironing every one of our shirts hanging in the two traveling wardrobe trunks. Usually we each pick what we'll wear on stage that night and those are the items ironed but she made a clean sweep through the trunks and we'll be in good shape for a week! For photos of all the above go to Guy's site at guyfletcher.co.uk.

Every problem with the venue was overcome with a show and audience of 7,000 that was warm and joyous. The audiences in Eastern Europe have been so appreciative and we love to see their faces.

It was back to Prague after the gig and an early night. Tomorrow I will get out in the old town again before flying to Warsaw.

So long,

Richard