Since rehearsals were to begin today, it was time to move the pans to the gym, so we were up early, and made Terrie an honourary band member so that she could join the conga line of pan movers.

Given the options, I had hoped to bring the car down to the quai so that we could load the bass pans and take them up to the gym, but for some reason there were Gendarmes walking around the Uvarium area, and so, given Captain Jim’s recent experience with driving his vehicle through the Uvarium Park,  I decided not to push my luck. So we carried them by hand up to the gym.

We were scheduled for a 9am start, but Joe and Karen texted from the Atlantic Coast to say they would not arrive till 1030h, so Rita, Ruth and I started rehearsing on some of the songs that Ruth thought she needed practice. Around 1030h, Joe and Karen arrived, so we set up all the instruments, in the layout we expected for the Moissac Parvis gig, and then practiced till 1300h. Some of the numbers were a bit rusty, but not bad for the first run-through together in several months.

Given the travel schedules for everyone over the past few days, we all went home at lunchtime to get some sleep.

That afternoon, a reporter from La Depeche came down to Kanumbra to interview Rita and get some words for a story they wanted to run about the Fêtes. In the meantime, more boats arrived (even though it was only Tuesday).

At 1600h, we reconvened at the gym for another couple of hours of practice. The improvement since the morning rehearsals was noticeable.

After practice, I returned to the quai to move Kanumbra into it’s final position for the Fêtes, since the early arrival of boats meant that I had to move her so that other boats could also move into their final positions. At the end of the day, a cluster of Piper Barges was forming at the western end of the quai.

Rain was threatening, but never eventuated, so we had a quiet dinner on-board, and then I went down the other end of the quai near Lazybones to join in on the pre-pre-party for the early birds who had so far arrived. Lots of new and old acquaintances were present, and a multitude of conversations started up around the table. Everyone was just getting some practice for the real party that starts on Friday.