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In my long career of touring I haven't missed many shows - even illness has rarely stopped me and only severe weather conditions have stopped me performing. Occasionally traffic has been bad enough that I have turned up late, but still in time to perform. Once when doing a gig in Manchester traffic was so bad that I didn't make it in time to open the show as intended and had to close it instead (and only just arrived in time for that).
On checking the blog I discover that I did have to cancel another gig that night as a result. Another time we were stick on the M4 for three or four hours, but still got to Wales in time for the show.
Today I thought I was pretty convinced to have to cancel or postpone the show. That's a big blow for RHLSTP, not least because of having to ruin the plans of hundreds of people, but also the expense of travel and unused hotels and the fact that even if the gig is rescheduled it's highly unlikely that I'd get the same guests, so there's all that research time wasted too.
We'd set off nice and early from home, but as we approached Leicester on the M1 traffic ground to a halt. From the emergency vehicles heading up the hard shoulder and the helicopter flying overhead it was clear there was a pretty bad accident ahead of us. But we had a fair amount of wiggle room at this point and as annoying as being trapped behind an accident can be, it's not as annoying as being in the accident.
Traffic didn't move at all to begin with, for over an hour, but gradually things shifted forwards and Leicester Forest East was within sight. It was probably worth sitting it out there rather than in the car, but Bec said that the sat nav was showing a potential back exit out of the service station that might lead us to freedom. This seemed pretty unlikely to me. Given the volume of traffic it seemed likely that even if this was viable that it would be blocked up too and my feeling was we were better off just waiting. We still had the chance of getting to the venue in good time if things got moving.
But nothing was happening, apart from cars heading up the hard shoulder to get to the services. I needed a wee. And so we came off at the service station and had a comfort break and thought about what we could do. The south bound carriageway had been closed too but was now reopened and Bec thought that there might be time for me to head over the bridge to the south bound services and see if I could persuade someone there to take a diversion and drop me at a train station. I looked up train times and it was clear that I'd need to get an immediate lift and that even then I was likely to arrive in Leeds at 7.15pm even if all the trains worked, for a show that started at 7.30pm. We could delay a little bit. It might work. Or maybe the guests could interview each other for the first half and I interview them both together in the second half.
I heard someone at the services say that the road wasn't going to be open until 6.30pm at the earliest - which would certainly mean the show would be cancelled if the train didn't work out.
There was a lorry fire and also a separate incident involving a motorcyclist.
I sent out a desperate tweet to see if anyone on the southbound side might be able to help. But meanwhile Bec had investigated the exit and seen that police were directing people out of the exit that her satnav had suggested and things were moving, though slowly.
We decided to give it a go. I had pretty much accepted that we didn't have a chance though. I told Bec she would be fired if this went wrong. She seemed pretty cool with this set up- almost like that's what she would have wanted
It was, though, a bit of a miracle. Once off the slip road everyone else was turning right. but Bec had seen that there was a route to the M1 if she turned left. We had an absolutely clear road all the way through country lanes, like God had parted the ways for us. It was so quiet that we both thought that there must be something wrong with this route. Had no one else noticed it?
It completely worked though and took us to the next open junction of the M1 and we were on our way with an eta of 6pm. There was another lorry fire near Wakefield unbelievably, but we were a way away from that and also planned out an alternate route (which we took just in case). Bec had completely saved the show, which means I can't sack her and also that she can do one thing that would usually result in being sacked and there will be nothing I can do. I hope she uses that power wisely.
I can not believe we made it but I am so glad we did, because it was an absolutely magical night, which overwrote the mild disaster of the first half of the last time we did the podcast in this venue. Even though the day had been exhausting, I found myself in sparkling form and had great chemistry with both guests. Corinne Bailey Rae was as charming and down to earth as you would hope, in spite of her overwhelming talent (I told her that listening to her music makes me understand why other people love music so much - her stuff is so emotive and she gives so much of herself and it's scintillating). She was also very funny, and open and this was one of the best podcasts I've done.
Her new album, Black Rainbows is an astonishing piece of work. I've met a lot of remarkable people through this podcast, but none more remarkable than this woman.
Amar Latif is also a very inspirational person, refusing to let the 95% blindness that he's experienced since he was 18 stop him from living his life. I was getting a little bit tired in this one, but we were still zinging off each other as I tried to argue that aphantasia was equivalent to blindness and Amar didn't necessarily agree.
Sadly you'll have to wait a while for these podcasts. But they are worth the wait.
I am glad I live in the Universe where this night went ahead, rather than the one where we sat sadly in a service station until 7pm and then made our way home. And I am glad I live in the Universe where we were stuck in traffic rather than caught up in an accident.
