Half hour call

Such is the lot of the theatre pit muso that the half hour call means half an hour to inbibe a quick drink before treading the path of least resistance to the band pit. The pit in our theatre is marooned from an exit. The only way out when you're in is through the audience or across the stage. Neither of which is desirable in the middle of a show. It means a certain amount of forthought.

1) Never fill your bladder beyond the length of the first half.
2) Never contract food poisoning before entering the pit

Added to this has been a most unwelcome bout of IBS, which anagramatically combined to give me BIMSS. And that is quite descriptive of how my stomach has felt. My Doctor said it was stress related...have you experienced any life changing events in the last year, eighteen months? Well yes, if you remember you diagnosed me with Multiple Sclerosis. Ah, yes. That's stressful enough.

So now you see the relevance and indeed fear of a no escape pit. But I have found that just the right amount of red wine combined with just the right amount of gaviscon does the job quite succesfully. We've just had our 5 minute call....last chance for the loo.