After weeks of hot, dry weather, the earth around here is parched and the grass yellow, so it was a great pity that on the evening that Mart and Maarten held their annual party, the forecast was for storms and rain. The weather people often get it completely wrong, so they decided to go ahead anyway.

It was heavy, hot and humid in the afternoon, but sunny, so they put out tables and chairs in the garden; however, precisely as people started arriving, the sky turned from blue to black, there were rumbles of thunder and we felt the first few drops of rain. Within moments it was pouring; tablecloths were removed, chairs folded up, tables put away, and we moved indoors; luckily their house is big enough. It was great to catch up with people I only see at events such as this.

By midnight the rain had stopped; some people went in the pool for a swim, others headed home and by 1am there were just a few of us left, dancing in the garden, splattered occasionally by big, fat raindrops dripping from the trees overhead. It was a great party, as always, in spite of the weather.

The following morning I headed home, hoping I might have time for a little siesta before setting off to play a gig that evening; the siesta, of course, didn’t happen.

I repacked my bags and filled the car with my music stuff, along with a big tarpaulin – the forecast was still not great, and got to Jean Marc’s at 4pm. The gig was in Argelos, his village, the finale of their Bastille day dinner.

Jean Marc had spent the morning building a stage, complete with drum risers, out of three large trailers, topped with big sheets of plywood; it felt remarkably stable. It was at the end of the mairie car park, the rest of which was filled with tables, set for the evening’s meal. We installed our gear and started testing the speakers and mics; the bass speaker wasn’t working, so the lads spent half an hour sorting that, as I  stood in front of it, waiting for sound. Finally it worked – big relief all round.

We did a sound check and played a couple of songs; apparently the sound was excellent, then we were called inside for our dinner. One day we hope to be paid, but for the moment, we just sing for our supper.

By the time we were ready to head back to Jean Marc’s to shower and change, the sky had turned black; we put tarpaulins over everything and Jean Mi offered to stay and look after the stuff. A quick change and we were back, a few drops of rain had fallen, but the sky had cleared again and looked set fine for the night.

The meal started, so we found ourselves a quiet spot round the back of the village hall, where we could practice quietly . We were meant to start playing at 9.30, but they were still mid meal, so we waited…………

By 11pm they were having coffee, so we made a start. “Bonjour Argelos” called Jean Mi – no response (and we were definitely loud enough). Those with their backs to us didn’t even turn their heads. So we played the first number – nothing – not one person applauded. And so it continued. For the last few numbers, there were three people sitting on a bench to one side of us, listening and clapping, but that was all. If we hadn’t had such a great reception at the previous gig, I think we’d have been worried; as it was, we just had to keep going, to complete the set, but it’s very difficult to motivate yourself and to give everything you’ve got when there’s no response at all. The other problem was that, apart from a few footlights, we were in the dark, there was no overhead lighting; we’d got little lights for our music stands, but really struggled to see the necks of our instruments, making playing quite difficult.

About half past midnight we finished; nobody from the comité des fêtes, who’d invited us, came to thank us, so we packed up and went back to Jean Marc’s, feeling more than a little deflated.

Hopefully the next one will be better received.