THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT - NOT!!

The days, not to mention the weeks, are scurrying past so quickly that the Big Ho Ho Ho will be on us before we know (11 more sleeps, as I type!) but, before that, 2 things are due to happen on Friday 21 December:

1. According to our good friends, the extinct Mayans from South America, the world is going to end!! This is because a 5,125-year cycle known as the Long Count in the Mayan calendar supposedly comes to a close (which, of course, we all remember from 'O' Level History!), resulting in mass destruction of, well the whole world, basically! Not surprisingly, this has sparked consternation in some quarters! According to the New York Times:

• Inmates in a women’s prison in Russia, near the Chinese border, are said to have experienced a “collective mass psychosis” so intense that their wardens summoned a priest to calm them. “Once, when the prisoners were standing in formation, one of them imagined that the earth yawned, and they were all stricken by fear and ran in all directions,” said the priest! 
• In a factory town east of Moscow, panicked citizens stripped shelves of matches, kerosene, sugar and candles
• More common are reports about panicky buying. In Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Buryatiya region, citizens have reportedly been hoarding food and candles to survive a period without light, following instructions from a Tibetan monk called "The Oracle of Shambhala" (made up name, if I ever heard one)!

This is obviously a disturbing state of affairs because...

2. Dazed and Confused are due to play their last gig of the year at The Windmill in Whiteley Green!!

Now, I've done my research, and the actual time of Armageddon is due to be 11:11am UTC (Universal Time Co-ordinates); for those who don't know, UTC is the same as GMT so, by my reckoning, we're going to have to take a rain check on the gig, if this is for real, because it's more than likely that the pub won't be there, at 9:00pm when we're due to kick off (come to think of it, neither will we!)!.

So, what to do? Well, I think we should travel optimistically and trust that the Mayans were slightly adrift in their calculations; therefore, I can assure you that the gig is still ON, and we would encourage everyone to book their places early cos this is always a very popular gig AND as it is the last working day before Christmas for many, it is a brilliant excuse to "let your hair down" (as we hippies used to say!) and bring in the Festive Season in style! Of course, if we get any updates on the end of the world, we will post them here, so be sure to come back often y'all!

A footnote to all this Mayan nonsense - I'm putting off buying any presents until the 22nd - just in case!

Finally, a word of apology for those intending to travel into Bollington for the scheduled gig tomorrow night (Saturday 15th) at The Poachers. Unfortunately, Rob & Helen have cancelled the gig (we think due to space constraints), so we won't be appearing. We're really sorry if you were planning to be there, and a specially big "Soz" to Stella & Andy who were planning to trek across from Doncaster - we'll see you on Sunday anyway! x