England & Scotland (Aug. 31 - Sept. 7, 2025)

On Sunday (Aug. 31), I left Norway on a super early flight to Manchester, England. I took a shuttle to the train station and my good friends, Vance and Louise Wilcox, were kind enough to drive over and meet me there. We had a coffees and danishes, caught up on life, and then they walked me to the right platform. And, it might’ve been the gummy I took, but I felt exactly like a small child getting on a school bus for the fist time, while the proud parents watched with silent joy…

I took the train to Lincoln and my old, old friend, Mike Courtney, picked me up, fed me a healthy lunch, and then brought me to my hotel (Travelodge – 2.5 stars!….).
 

The next night, the Courtney’s treated me to an awesome home cooked English supper (which was awesome!!!) We solved the problems of the world and then it was time for Jeffrey to attempt a reasonable facsimile of sleep. So, it was back to the Travelodge (2.5 stars!….)

On the night of Tuesday the 2nd, I played the 2nd annual “Live in the Foyer” at the Riverhead Theatre in Louth. The ultra talented Jazz Lingard opened for me and she was amazing!! Great original songs and a beautiful voice!! (Look her up!).
 

She played for 30 minutes and then I played acoustically for two hours….well, almost. I had one short pee-pee break 10 minutes before the end…(damn, I’m getting’ old!) But it was a great crowd. They stayed until the end and it was an absolutely wonderful night!!!

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On Thursday (Sept. 4th), I took the train from Lincoln to Edinburgh, Scotland. And once, I stepped off of the train, I knew I was in the presence of the “Old World”. So much of the architecture and statuary art has been preserved and if present everywhere that you turn your head. I took a long walk from the Edinburgh Waverly to my hotel, just to soak it all in. *Plus, the temps of the low 60’s felt better to me than sitting in aromatic and heated Uber…

I cleaned up at the hotel and then caught a train for the teeming metropolis of Tillicoultry (pop. 5000). I was picked up at the train station by my good friends, Jamie & Chrissie Gill and they took me to their house for a quick supper and then off to their local pub to meet our other good friends Alan & Marie McLaren, for a Scottish jam session that they have there every Thursday night. The jam session was pretty packed but they were gracious enough to make room for my fat-ass and let me sit down and join them.

  I haven’t done too many jam sessions at bars so I didn’t quite know the protocol. I thought it was to play songs that, hopefully, all of the other musicians knew. Unfortunately, the acoustic stuff I do now is way more obscure and easily not well known to a lot of younger musicians (and some of the old timers sitting in, as well). But it went extremely well and they couldn’t have been kinder.

We had an awesome time at the pub and then went home to rest up for the next day’s tour.

Friday saw us up (bright and early….11 AM), we picked up Marie & Alan and made off for Stirling!

From what I’ve read over the years, Stirling Bridge actually had a LOT to do with the Scottish victory in this first battle with William Wallace leading them. For some reason, that was completely left out of the movie, Braveheart. But, hey, I didn’t write the damn thing!…

Then we moved on to Stirling Castle and Olde Town (not the one in Kissimmee!). We walked the castle and the town, had a great lunch, and then drove by the 1869 built monument to the leader of the Scottish rebellion against the tyranny of the English, Mel Gibson.

On the last day, I said goodbye to Marie & Alan, and then headed to see The Kelpies before boarding the train back to Edinburgh. I believe The Kelpies were first designed to rise and fall with the locks of a nearby canal, but the decision was overridden by concerns of their durability, with the constant moving up and down.

Jamie & Chrissie put me on the shuttle to downtown Edinburgh. That night I met an old English friend (from the Cricketer’s Arms days), John Newman. He and I had a few pints and hit several pubs downtown, and then it was time for Jeffrey to crash.

The next day saw me walking the streets of Edinburgh through the park, near the old college, and up to the castle. Beautiful city!!!

Monday morning, I flew back to Ireland to finish out the tour!

More to come…..