Hi bw,

Nick & I got back to Northamptonshire at 10.00am yesterday and I did a lot of sleeping. We'd packed a lot in to our 6 days in Toronto!

It was really good to meet you and Bill and to see Harvey Andrews & Scott Cameron Smith. It was the first time Nick's been to folk concert and he was surprised to discover that he genuinely enjoyed the experience. He even says he'd like to go and see Harvey again sometime...though maybe in England!

GMT is right about the smoking thing though. The local folk clubs round here are usually held in bars, which are sadly very smoky. I attend a few where the smoke is at a level I can just about tolerate, but many are so bad that they're effectively 'out-of-bounds' for me (I get sore throats singing in them). The closest non-smoking singaround I've found is an hour's drive away in a place called St Neots. I pray that one day we'll have non-smoking legislation like yours in Canada! Nick and I are usually NEVER able to go to bars together here, simply because of the smoke (as an ex-smoker, he has a worse reaction than me - sore eyes/throat etc), but in Toronto, it just wasn't a problem. Even where smoking is allowed, the ventilation seemed amazingly effective, and we never came out stinking as we would in the UK. I'd usually have to wash every item of clothing I've worn and wash my hair too!

Must pop off to get some lunch,

Bye for now,

Julie B