My blog of things and thoughts

I'm a member of Postgigs, it's a site that allows professional magicians to pass bookings to each other, particularly useful when an enquiry is received for a date that is already booked, or when the venue is too far a distance to travel.

However, on Friday 6th July I found Postgigs managed to get me out of an awkward situation. I was on my way to an early afternoon booking in Manchester when the M6 started to slow and grind to a halt.

After being stationary for about 30 minutes I realised that if the traffic started moving I would be cutting it fine to get to the venue for the contracted start time, and if the traffic didn't start moving within the next 20 minutes I would definitely be late.

Taking action I entered the details of the booking on the Postgigs site (so that all members would receive an email within minutes) and called the client to let them know the situation, and that I was searching for cover should the motorway remain shut.

By the time I finished the call to the client members had started come back to me to let me know that they were local to Manchester and could get there for the afternoon. As the M6 was still a picnic area I instructed magician Mark Waddington (as he was the first to call me) to grab a pack of cards and jump in his car.

Fortunately he did because the M6 remained closed (http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2011/07/08/jack-knifed-lorry-shuts-m6/) and once it did start moving again I could only exit at the next junction, turn round and drive home.

So, on Friday I traveled about 260 wasted miles, burnt petrol at about £1.35 per litre, got agonising cramp by being sat in the same position for 8 hours, cooked in the July heat and lost a chunk of income. However, the clients still saw some great magic at their event and my professional integrity was not torn to shreds.

Thanks again to Postgigs and those users who offered to help me in my time of need. It made the following 4 hours of sitting in the car less stressful.