drumming secrets

Help!! My good old Chevy van broke down...again!! Just had the transmission replaced, which wasn't cheap. Now we were rolling so smoothly, I started to believe that me and my Chevy could roll for another decade......NOT!!

After a few weeks on a night trip from Brussels to Oostkamp (Belgium), the motor started to sound really weird and after a security stop in the middle of the night, we got the advise to not drive it anymore!! Bugger!! Anyway, I managed to drive the van home and parked it in front of our house. Now what to do?.....selling the van at this point made no sense what so ever (who wants to buy a 'broken car'?), so we had to look for another option. Meanwhile I had jobs coming in (rehearsals, gigs) and was totally dependend on the good will of friends....thanks to them I got everywhere in time... I even had to borrow my parents car: a little Fiat Panda!! And guess what? My flightcases with snares and hardware fitted in it easily...Not my whole kit though.... It was fun to drive this little car instead of my 2,5 ton van...I arrived just as well at the studio in Amsterdam....bloody hot weather, windows open, free way....rolling like a truck ha,ha,ha,...It felt like I was in Italy touring! But like I said; this car was too small for me as a drummer... too bad though, I started to like the idea! Then my friend Andreas from Osnabreuck (Germany) called me and offered me a chance that I couldn't refuse; he had a Volvo 850 Estate from 1996, 188.000 km and in a Ferrari red colour...ready to roll. Ever seen a 850 Estate before? The space you have in the back, with the back seats down is unbelievable!! So I went to Germany to pick it up and drive it home....the Volvo drives like a limousine, I am not kidding! The couple of gigs that I had to do still, I used the new car and let me tell you something I experienced: normally I always have to make a few stops in the night after a gig. Either for coffe or to prevent myself from falling a sleep behind the wheel. But this time I really enjoyed the whole trip (2,5 hrs) with no stops at all....classical music, airconditioner on, my drum tech. sleeping in the other seat (instead of talking)....I came home, drunk a little water and slept like a baby!!! Any down side to this story? Oh YES!!....the red colour is fantastic, but I found out you have to polish it at least every two weeks to keep it bright and shiny....if you don't do that the colour will dissapear and after a while the lacquer will be damaged!!!...so I know what to do with my spare time now, ha,ha,ha,...