Woke up with nightmares around 6am, fell back asleep but my own snoring snapped me out of my nest every 15 minutes. This went on until 9am. There was no breakfast at this hotel and so we were on the bus by 10.45 and rolling by 11am. Daddyo (the birthday boy!) popped ‘Pulp Fiction’ into the DVD player and had fun watching it.

Got to Wrexham about 3pm, took a shower and napped a spell. Went to sound check at 5pm, saw Chris Helme and some of The Yards. After sound check the club serve us dinner; Tuna Casserole. Now, imagine eating top shelf Italian food one day, in sunny 20c weather and then having to eat Tuna Casserole in cold, rainy, Wales the next. After dinner I watched The Yards play and then we played a really good show. Wrexham fans sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Daddyo before our encore. Also, the Singer did an impromptu ‘Blazing’ harmonica solo in ‘House is not a Motel’ and the crowd loved it. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel (Chris Helme, as well, is with us on the bus and in the hotels for the next few days) and opened the extra case of Heineken the club gave us. Oh, I nearly forgot, Mick Head stopped by last night and said he liked the show. So, back to the hotel, we were sat round a big table – we being, Rusty, Frazer (t-shirt guy), Bent, Kose, me, Chapple, Troels and the birthday boy. The beers were flowing and we noticed some people in the conference room next to us singing ‘Kinks’ songs and drinking, laughing and smoking cigars. Then one of the tunes changed to a ‘Yards’ song, we were wondering where Chris Helme was and, BAM, there he was serenading the room. Eventually, I wound up playing ‘Kinks’ songs for them (they had an acoustic guitar in their room) and when one of the guys realised we were ‘Love’, he made me play ‘Andmoreagain’, forgetting all the words.

Went back to the boys, as Kose was pouring brandy shots. Daddyo was enjoying his birthday and everything seemed good. I got a text from Italian ‘Love’ fan, Elenora, saying her transcription of my diaries was nearly done, I texted her back a big ‘thanx. Got a call from Pixy, the ‘Keys’ bassist. He asked if his brother could come to our Brecon show. I said ‘of course’ and told him to say ‘Hello’ to my mate, Manny, who worked at the Islington Academy, where the Keys play next week. I texted Manny and said to say ‘Hi’ to the welsh gang. It was now really late, about 2am, and so I got some sleep, tomorrow would be Brecon and pints with Caryne.

Mike Randle