Switzerland for the day

On Wednesday we gave a performance of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet in the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland. As we were only going for the day, I thought checking-in at the airport would be so easy with no suitcase, but no! When trying to get through the departures gate, I was stopped by the man checking our passports and boarding cards. The usual story; he was insisting I was only allowed one piece of hand luggage, and I therefore would have to put my 300-year old violin worth tens of thousands of pounds, which doesn't even belong to me, into the hold. I wearily explained yet again that the rules of his airline state that you are allowed a musical instrument as well as one piece of hand luggage, but he wasn't having any of it. I could have just gone to a different gate, where there no doubt would have been a more enlightened security person, but I thought he should learn the rules to save the next poor violinist who tries to get past him. I returned with his superior who told him he was wrong and had to let me pass, but I didn't get an apology - just my passport flung back at me!

Then as if I wasn't late enough, my bag was searched. All because there was a stray lipstick at the bottom of it that apparently I should have been carrying separately in a see-through plasic bag, And then the lady took the plug off my hair-tongs and put it on again. Why? Why?

Very late by now.. desperately trying to fit everything back into my bag. I love the way they unpack it for you and then just hand you everything back in a heap. How did I fit it all in?

Ran towards the gate and then the final insult - a man asked me to take off my boots for inspection. For goodness sake! Do they realise what a hassle it is trying to balance on one foot to take a boot off, with a violin on your back???

Anyway, the performance went really well, and I even had time for a short walk around the town centre before jumping back on the plane. Unfortunately, the British education system has left me talking a strange hybrid of French, German, Italian, Spanish and Cockney Rhyming Slang every time I visit a European country, so it was probably a good thing that I didn't have time to attempt to talk to anyone or buy anything!

Have just started a 2-week run of being the solo violinist in Fiddler on the Roof in the West End. When I was booked for it, I stupidly asked if the part was hard or exposed. The answer; the clue's in the title! Durr!