I think I what will remember most about this tour will be my cold, shingles and the late nights.

It was wonderful to do another tour in English and a first language.

I started in a very cool pub venue in Ipswich with a very small turnout and an audience who enjoyed politics.

The next morning greeted me with a pub breakfast and peaceful train trip north to Norwich.

The small afternoon youth gig in Norwich was a delightful challenge and well worth the effort. The evening gig was exceeding well planned, resulting in a packed venue and enthusiastic crowd. This was definitely my best ever English gig.

After breakfast my host drove me to ‘holding-pen’ Stansted where I flew north. After a lovely afternoon dog-walk I played to the home-crowd of Glasgow. It was a house gig with friends where I dragged out my faithful Scottish poetry.

The morn greeted me with good coffee and two northern train trips to a small village south of Perth. This was a lovely afternoon open-fire house gig.

The last of my northern journeys was a snow laden train excursion to Inverness. After lunch I was blessed with a quick trip monster hunting at Loch Ness. The evening was spent with a warm audience in the Sunset Cafe.

My journey south was absorbed by a delayed train and a very drunk Highlander mourning his dead cat. The evening in West Kilbride was spent reading around a candle-lit table flanked by a roaring fire.

After a very late night I was driven to Ayr where I managed a morning snooze and a spot of shopping before performing in front of a very responsive crowd in a very packed Su Casa cafe.

By the morning I was quite sick and shared this with a plane load of people flying to Derry city. It was a lovely Northern Irish day worth the coastal road to Coleraine. I shared the evening in Kiwi’s Brew Bar with excellent musicians. Unfortunately my fuzzy-head-cold left my performance a bit flat.

More snow on the morning’s drive to Belfast. Lovely train as I headed south. Dublin the final event was a house gig with a fun loving crowd. The Dusty Finger Tour finished just before midnight. I had a good long sleep before an Ulster Fry, walk through the village and celebratory Guinness.

I think what struck me the most on this tour was the quality of the audiences. I met so so many good people. Thanks so much to my hosts who did a such a good job or organising things.