Jimmy Bowskill Band - European Tour Blog - Jan - Mar 2010

February 28, 2010

In the morning Dan makes us eggs and we chat. One of the other people living in the apartment decided to bring some friends over last night at 4 am and kept us all up tossing and turning to their noise. What’s more, Wishbone Ash was kind enough to give us a bottle of Red Label that said resident and guests set about drinking on us. With that in mind, we let him know how we do it in Canada when we are crossed. While he slept away in his room next to the breakfast room, Jim loaded up his Charlie Pride playlist onto his computer and hooked it up to some external speakers and we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with distorted Charlie Pride announcing our displeasure at being awoken at 4 am and losing our liquor to strangers.

I went to an internet cafe and out for one last walk in the rain in Den Haag. I start to feel somewhat sentimental and get the empty feeling I get at the end of every tour. A quote that appeared in a hotel information book in Hamburg came to mind:
“Life is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page” - Augustine

The first out-of-town gig I ever did was when I was 13 in Cambleford, Ontario. I recall being traumatized and fearful of the unknown. Now, some 27 years later, I’m in Europe having been to 11 countries and I can’t even imagine what went through that young man’s mind. As this tour draws to and end I understand the allure of travel and the road. It’s addictive. However, I have also learned my limits and 7 weeks has definitely pushed the envelope in terms of a reasonable amount of time to be out here.

When I return to the apartment, Jim and I leave for Artist On The Road, the backline company in Amsterdam, to drop off the rental van. Once there Jim settles up the balance of the cost and the hapless guy that was stuck there waiting for us takes us to the airport so we can put all of our luggage in lockup, thus allowing us to take a train into Amsterdam airport the following morning, grab our bags and leave. Once the bags are tucked away in the airport basement, we board the train for Den Haag and walk back to the apartment.

Tomorrow we will fly home and it’s an early day. The replacement bottle of Scotch our flatmate had promised us was non-existent and we were drinkless. Dan has the good sense to tell us that Canada is facing the US in the Gold Metal Olympic hockey game and that we should find a pub where it’s playing on TV - regardless of the fact that it’s 11 pm and we have to be up early to take the train to Amsterdam airport.

We arrive at an Irish pub in the market area of Den Haag at the start of the third period. An Englishman cheering for the US spots the American flag on the shoulder of Jim’s Harley Davidson jacket and presumes he has a fellow US fan, but I flash my Canadian Passport at him and he quiets down. The majority of folks in the pub were cheering Canada on. The broadcast was courtesy of BBC and the commentators amused us (“and the US team is changing on-ice personnel” rather than “a line change”). Once Canada’s victory came down, we walked back to the apartment to prepare for our two hour nap and final journey home. Real home.