This week was the start of the endless rain. Which helpfully coincided with having to walk several parcels to the post office for Vinted dropoffs. I took the opportunity to explore the park a bit while it was quieter though. I had a wander through the community flower garden and loved seeing all the bright colours, it really brightened up an otherwise grey day.
We had a midweek trip to London to see one of my favourite country artists, Maren Morris. She has been in Europe supporting The Chicks and initially wasn’t doing any of her own dates but she thankfully managed to sneak one night in London in. I have been fortunate enough to see her on the last two tours, from playing at my local University to Royal Albert Hall and finally, and most recently Kentish Forum. I’m really starting to dislike the O2 academy venues though, they are small, often oversold and always too hot. Opening for Maren was another artist I have seen a few times called Sam Palladio. I don’t actually know much of his new stuff and we turned up when his set was ending so only heard 2 of the songs.
Maren was fantastic. It’s great to see how she has blossomed as an artist, her confidence, vocals, everything are elevated from the first time I saw her. She’s a fantastic performer and I enjoy every time I see her. Because this was not a part of her official tour she changed up the playlist and mostly played a lot of her hits and older songs. It was a lovely treat and not what I was expecting at all. Nothing makes me feel better than singing along at the top of my lungs and just enjoying the music and atmosphere. Any country gig always attracts a variety of people, older, younger, diehard fans and new ones and this gig was the same. A couple next to us seems to have only discovered Maren quite recently as while we were all screaming along to Rich I heard her ask her partner how everyone seemed to know the words. One thing I love about country though is that there’s no judgement, it’s excitement that she gets to discover all her favourites and experience them for the first time again. Sam Palladio actually came out into the crowd later on to watch, he managed a fair few songs before I think too many people recognised him and he left.
Our hotel was conveniently located one stop away on the train at St Pancras. It’s a hotel we have stayed at a few times in London, the Hub by Premier Inn. Location wise it’s great for anything around that part of London and is usually fairly cheap although it feels like no hotels in London are cheap anymore. The other great part about this hotel’s location is that there’s a Dishoom within 5 minutes walking distance so of course breakfast for the day after was sorted.
We were back for one night before another train but this time to the North. Good news, direct trains to Manchester are back so we headed up to spend a few days at my mother-in-laws. She had a few house jobs that we offered to help with although we mostly just chilled as she wasn’t too well. We managed a walk in the sunshine one day and ate out at a local restaurant where the food was very tasty.
