Well, I suppose it's time for an update. I've just got back from Blackpool after a round trip of 12-14 miles on the bike and it's nearly midnight.

On 1st February, the local bus company reorganised the buses and missed off a load of the late night ones. This basically meant that I could no longer get to Staining or even to Fleetwood, simply because there's now no bus home.

After sulking for a couple of weeks, I finally got round to ordering a bike. The weather's better and I've had it for a couple of weeks now and it's ideal in the Fylde as it's a very flat area (quite like Cambridge, where I went to school).

I've been biking into Lytham from St Anne's instead of catching the bus but this week I felt it was time to get out in the evening. I didn't get to Staining last night as it was blowing a gale at Lytham and had turned pretty cold by mid evening. The weather had improved tonight though, so I thought I'd go to The Clarence where they were having a Singers Night (I like Singers Nights).

Well, I can't say it was bad. The pub was OK and the beer was fine and the standard of performance was by no means bad. In fact I would have really enjoyed myself except for just one thing.

I was there 2 hours and I left early. During that time, nobody spoke a single word to me. They didn't ask if I wanted to sing or even say hello. They didn't even try to sell me a raffle ticket! most uncharacteristic in a folk club.   There were about 30 people in the room and they seemed to know each other ... it was pretty clear that I was a stranger. Equally clearly, I didn't feel in the least welcome. Their strategy seemed to be simply to ignore me.

I'm not sure how to analyse the emotions I felt and I'm not at all sure why I have them - they didn't seem at all unpleasant people - but I felt overwhelmingly humiliated and angry. I can't really see me going back there again as it would simply be embarrassing, even though it was essentially a good night. It's sometimes hard to understand your own emotions, let alone somebody else's, but I've been to quite a few folk clubs, sessions etc. over the years and never before felt totally ignored like this.

I'm sorry if I might have offended anyone associated with the club and - oddly enough - it's not a negative recommendation. It's just how I'm feeling, hundreds of miles away from home on a tired Wednesday.

:-(
Ian