Floating to the Fringe: On Tour to the Edinburgh Fringe in an Electric Milk Float - Softcover

Thompson, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798654410399

Publisher: Independently published, 2020

Synopsis

The World Record Breaking Tour…at 15 miles per hour!

Gazing out of his cottage window one day at the ‘Slow You Down’ sign in the Norfolk village where he lives, singer-songwriter Paul Thompson comes up with a cunning plan to promote his latest album. Buy an electric milk float, and do a tour to the Edinburgh Fringe, driving the most beautiful B-Roads in Britain along the way. 

Despite being told by the director of a dairy that, ‘It will be a bloody miracle if you make it back in one piece,’ Paul convinces Arts Council England to fund his mad-cap idea, and converts a milk float that he names ‘Bluebell’ into a tour bus, and solar-powered outdoor music stage. 

Travelling at an average speed of 15mph, 30 miles per day, Paul takes the slow roads to the Edinburgh Fringe, island-hopping along the west coast of Scotland, stopping to play gigs at village halls, nature reserves, music festivals, pubs, and in fact just about anywhere that will get Bluebell charged up for the next leg of the journey.

But life on the road proves to be harder than Paul anticipated. It turns out that Bluebell is allergic to hills, especially steep ones, and there are a lot of those in Scotland! Overcoming breakdowns and exhaustion, Paul discovers the kindness of strangers in the most unlikely places, and comes to realise just how special the British Isles truly are. 

As finances start to run low, and Bluebell’s ancient batteries begin to fade, will Paul complete the mission he’s set out on? After all, there’s a Guinness World Record at stake, and this might be the only chance Paul and Bluebell get to break it…

About this title

About the Author

Paul Thompson is a writer and musician from Norfolk, England. He has toured in the US, Canada and Europe, as well as around the British Isles in his mobile milk float stage 'Bluebell'.Paul's 2015 Floating to the Fringe Tour gained him a Guinness World Record for 'the longest journey by electric milk float', and in 2017 Paul did a further milk float tour, Bluebell's Busking Bonanza, from Norfolk to Land's End in Cornwall, raising money for Cancer Research.After breaking down in Somerset on the return journey, Paul applied to do a Master's Degree in Songwriting at Bath Spa University, and remained in Somerset for a further year, recording his album One Again in a motorhome studio that was converted by Sound on Sound magazine.Eventually returning to his Norfolk home, Paul continues to write, record, teach and produce music, as well as planning quirky travel adventures.

Edition details

• Publisher: Independently published
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798654410399
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 220