To quote one of life’s great philosophers, ‘F-fetch a cloth G-granville’. No, not that one. ‘It’s been a funny old day.’ This could be the phrase every day at the moment.
A few weeks ago, things were looking promising for a partial return to normality. Howling Jake was back in the studio for First Resort (Tuesday at 7pm) and Mick and myself were back for Over The Hump. Everybody else was still recording shows from home which has worked remarkably well as the increase in our listener numbers backs up.
Then it started. We were quietly chatting away on Wednesday night a couple of weeks ago, halfway through Over The Hump, when we noticed that the fire alarm was sounding. Being an ex fire-marshal (the high vis jacket clashed horribly with my hair colour), we did the responsible thing and, after a short on-air explanation, we legged it. When we got to the stair well (don’t use the lift if there is a fire alarm – see, the training is still there) it was obvious to me that something was wrong. There was something in the air that stung my eyes and throat and made me cough. Mick likened himself to a cockroach, noticing nothing and equipped to survive any disaster. When we reached the front door there was a bloke looking very sheepish that he had set the alarms off. He was also dressed in a full haz-mat suit and gas mask! He expressed shock that we were in the building as he understood it to be empty. He had been ‘fogging’ the building to deep clean. All laudable to control COVID-19 but not good if you are in the building at the time. He was at pains to point out that the stuff was not toxic. Easy for him to say from his vantage point with the haz-mat suit and gas mask. Actually, not easy to say with the gas mask but you get what I mean.
Anyway, the fire service responder and two big fire engines duly arrived and the bloke duly grovelled. We abandoned for the evening but the cough lasted a good two weeks.
All was well for the following week’s show, then we got news of the increased restrictions for the Bradford area. As our little studio is in Saltaire we were back to only one in residence at a time. Over The Hump will celebrate its 100th show this Wednesday but I will be flying solo. Any suggestions for who should play the part of Mick would be welcome. Let me know via Facebook or Twitter. The show will feature new singles from The Waterboys, The Rolling Stones & Jimmy Page, Emmy The Great and Matt Berry – all added to our A list this week.
Roy