Saturday 15th February

The drive dwon through France was good, a fair bit of rain till Paris but then it started to clear up and by Orleans it was 18C and the sun was shining through the clouds.  We got to the house at 7.00 p.m. which is by far the best run we have ever done.  Partly because we wanted to get to Le Pub Gambetta for the Friday night live music.  We had heard that one of our favourites, Geoff Barker, was singing.  Geoff is the most unlikely looking of rock’n’rollers; podgy short and mid sixties, but he plays guitar and still has a good voice.  Best of all he know nearly everything, from early sixties skiffle through to Oasis and Savage Garden.  His set started with “All you need is love” and it was mostly sing-along from there.

He plays amplified acoustic guitar, but we have seen him with electric and a drummer and bass before.  So this was sort-of unplugged.  Then it really was unplugged.  The power went in the pub.  Completely.

An electrician was found but it was a major power supply problem so candles came out and Geoff played completely unplugged “Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man”, “Pretty Woman” and a few other requests.  Then someone asked for Lonnie Donegan, who I can barely even remember and we had a great rendition of “Putting on the Style” and “My Old Man’s a Dustman”.   Plenty of drink was consumed and a great time had by all.