The Booth, Scalloway

I finally have a little bit of internet time with access to a keyboard (and not a phone handset) so it's the perfect opportunity to actually do a proper little bit of blogging.

I'm having an amazing time on this tour! It's completely knackering, but it's brilliant fun. There is no daily routine, other than:

• Get in minibus
• Travel for 4-6 hours along a variety of road types from motorway right down to single track
• Stop for supplies somewhere in the middle of nowhere
  
• Arrive at venue and nab a corner somewhere near a mirror
• Mooch about a bit
• Maybe get some food
• Maybe play with someone's dog
• Talk nonsense while putting on Vast Amounts of Make Up (VAMU)
  
• Do The Show
• Take Off VAMU (takes a good 20 minutes and a bit of turps)
  
• Pack up after the show
• Watch everyone else get drunk while I (far too sensibly) stick to fizzy water or (worse) herbal tea
• Have some nice person in the bar compliment me on my act once they realise which one I am by process of elimination and realise I look different without my VAMU
  
• Pack everything back in the van sometime around 1-2 am
• Bomb along a country road to The Accommodation with most of the crew completely steaming
• Get to bed sometime around 1.30 - 3.30am
• Get up sometime around 6 - 8 am
• Repeat from top ad infinitum (or until 25th April)

So far my favourite venue has been The Gable End on Hoy in the Orkney Islands, mainly because I made great pals with the above mentioned dog (who then very kindly pooped just inside our dressing room door, either as a token of affection, or as a post-modern commentary on Deirdre the usherette's "free shite" dispensation).

Today is a day off in Shetland so I've taken the opportunity to visit the Booth artist's studio in Scalloway, and also to give a couple of my costumes a quick wash (yep, they certainly were starting to need it!). We might go a local gig tonight where Quinn might do an impromptu acoustic set. Tomorrow we fly back to Orkney, where we have another day off (Skara Brae seems to be a popular request) then on Monday we make the long, long, long minibus journey home to Glasgow. I'll be amusing myself on that leg by using my sewing kit to "let out" Doreen Percy's pink summer dress a little (she's a chesty lady, and the strain is starting to show)