British techno legend Henry Cullen (aka D.A.V.E. The Drummer) endured a nightmare journey back from Bulgaria last weekend after snow storms forced him to take trains, planes, buses and automobiles to get home.
Contacting Skrufff from Sofia airport in Bulgaria, Henry described how his first trip to Varna in December was cancelled after ‘super-snow’ saw his flights cancelled though said he was optimistic flying from Gatwick to Sofia last Saturday morning. Meeting the party promoters unexpectedly when he arrived at Sofia Airport, the acid techno legend said he was feeling positively cheery, before discovering not everything was as it seemed.
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“You can see where this is going can't you,” he laughed.
“As I'm waiting at the gate in Sofia, Jackrock and Balthazaar appear. ‘Weird’, I think, “these two are Bulgaria’s biggest techno promoters and the promoters for this gig, why are they here? Maybe we are all going together . . . Hooray! But . . .”
"Hi Dave! " they chirp chirpily like two revoltingly chirpy birds chirping outside your bedroom window after a night out on the lash with the entire cast of Withnail and I,” Henry continued, “We just wanted to make sure you were actually going to catch the flight."
I'm like: " I'm here, why wouldn't I want to catch the flight?"
"Well, we went to Varna last week," (chirp chirp),” they smile, “And it was so windy that the airport closed. So then we had to catch the train home after being stuck for 2 days." they cheerily add.
“Fuck! No way, I can't do that, I've got the car in the car park at Heathrow, I have to get home, the wife will go spare."
" Oh don't worry, I'm sure you'll be OK" they say, completely unconvincingly.”
Henry’s concerns were subsequently validated by the BBC who reported two days later that emergency workers were still ‘struggling through 13-ft (4m) snowdrifts to deliver supplies to stranded villages in Bulgaria’. Henry in the meantime, continued his tale:
“Fast forward and I arrive in Varna in a fucking blizzard,” he recalled.
“The snow is 4 feet (1.2 metres) deep in places and the city is at a complete standstill. They haven't even cleared the snow from the approach road to the airport. Buses are getting stuck, everyone's driving in a foot of snow, its insane.
“Preslava, the DJ assigned to look after me, arrives just as I am thinking about re-catching my plane BACK to Sofia. So I check into my hotel room (which turns out to be amazingly plush) and am then informed that the airport will be closed for at least two days. And the driver who was supposed to drive me to Sofia, in the event of an emergency, is sick,” he continued.
Several hours later, feeling fed and relatively acclimatised he went to the club.
“200 people have made it through knee deep snow to get here, unbelievable,” said Henry.
“We all had a good time jumping up and down, shouting at each other, playing records, taking photos of ourselves and generally being silly. Except for two guys. And to those two wankers who thought they could come into an acid techno gig and ask for the tempo to slow down, fuck off! (I can say that now I'm at a safe distance)”.
“I finish at 3.30am and we go straight to the bus station and sit in the car for an hour in the snow, waiting for the bus. Then the ticket lady arrives and says the highway is closed. I cannot describe how bleak the city is looking at this moment. It’s like someone’s dumped a million, billion tons of snow everywhere, cars are completely covered, snow is waist deep in places, everything is totally swamped in snow, roads are impassable. And adding insult to injury it’s -15º. So it’s a train then . . .” he continues.
“10 hours later after the MOST boring train journey I have ever been on I am here in Sofia, about to fly back to Gatwick (where my car isn’t). So I need to take a bus to Heathrow to collect it and then drive home to Dartford. The motor was also starting to smell of burning rubber when I left it it Heathrow on the way. That stage of the journey is still to come.”
credits:
Balthazaar and Jackrock: for their patience with stressed out me and for buying no less than 9- Nine! flights for this trip. PLUS the train ticket PLUS 25 euro for my bus journey back in UK.”
Preslava: the DJ in Varna assigned to look after me while I was there, thanks very much, you are great.
The Crowd: as usual Bulgarian people are nuts.
The Wife: I couldn't have done it without your understanding and love.
Rakitt: always fun to get a text from the Rack.
And God: Oh no sorry, you didn't help at all, in fact where were you exactly?
Does this ever happen to you?”
http://www.myspace.com/davethedrummerhenrycullen (Henry hosts his next Hydraulix party in London (weather permitting) on 02.04.10 at the Corsica Studios, in Elephant & Castle)
