When we first arrived at the Prince Albert, it seemed that we would be having a quiet evening. But people kept arriving until the pub was full, and we had a great time.

One group of three people we hadn’t seen before included a Japanese woman, who sat amongst us, leaving her male companions to sit at the other end of the bar. Naturally, we asked her if she wanted to sing, so she persuaded one of her (apparently British) companions to borrow a guitar. Together they sang a sing in Japanese, surely a first that not even Alison could top. A rough translation of the chorus is ‘drink sake until you fall over, drink sake until you are unconscious’. Perhaps this is the Japanese version of Bring Us a Barrel. I had hoped to get the Japanese title, but the party departed before I got the chance.

In the middle of the evening, Terry decided that the tone needed to be lowered and so treated us to ‘Vindaloo’, a lavatorial parody of Yahoo’s Only You. We hadn’t seen Roger Rowe for some time. As usual he arrived armed with his PDA. He was persuaded by Karen to pull up the lyrics and sing the hilarious Curry Song, another lavatorial curry-themed parody, this time of Queen’s Bohemia Rhapsody. Tears of laughter were shed!

This was Martin’s last evening with us before returning to Derby, so he sang Jason Mraz’ Dynamo of Volition. This was quite a tour de force, with enough lyrics to last us the rest of the term. His other number was Richard Thompson’s Needle and Thread.

Other contributions were:

• Dick: Let Union Be, Dido Bendigo
• Martin & Kerraleigh (AKA The August List): Settling Song (Nina Nastasia), Diamond Heart (Marissa Nadler), Whiskey In My Whiskey (Felice Brothers?) and Diamond Dust (an excellent original)
• Terry: Slow Down To My Speed (John The Fish)
• Bob: Learning the Game (Buddy Holly), Little Bowl (his own song about Hiroshima), Down Where The Drunkards Roll (Richard Thompson)
• Richard: Pull the knife and stick it in again/The Eavesdropper/Cathal MCConnells on the low whistle, Captain O’Kay/Planxty Kelly on the recorder
• Rosie and Alan: Off To California/Tomgraney Castle, Across the Universe (John Lennon) - chosen to celebrate the release of the remastered versions of all the Beatles CDs that day, Crazy
• Rosie: The Kippers’ Overstrand, with the remnants of her Norfolk accent that she brought back from our week in a cottage near to all the villages mentioned
• Karen and Roger: Country Roads, Someone Waits For Me, Follow The Heron Home
• Stuart F: Cyril Tawney’s Chicken On a Raft
• Delia: Can Ye Sew Cushions
• Roger Rowe: All Among The Barley
• Gerry: Dougie Mclean’s More Fool I, Frankie Miller’s I Can't Change It (apparently featured in the TV series Life On Mars)
• Ian: Burn The Candle Out, We Gets Up in the Morn (While The Morning Sun Do Shine)
• David/Alison/Simon: Ready For The Storm, Chant A Ma Moulin, List For A Sailor

As we no longer go to The Old Ship, we’ll be at The Belle Vue in Wycombe next Wednesday (16th). I’ll set up the PA for anyone who wants to use it. Let’s hope that the evening is a varied as this.