Nashville's not till Sunday (evening Thurs 30 July 2008)

Not only is Dollywood alcohol free, but we discover that our usual alcohol issues continue to dog our steps around the world. Much to our horror, disbelief and frustration we discover a county ordinance prohibits sale of liquor above 20% proof. The local hostellers have taken this to heart – we should have spotted there no adverts for beer anywhere or any bars...... But we cannot believe this so start our own investigations – but no luck – restaurant after restaurant with no booze – we find one that sells beer but nothing else. We ask in one and the waitress directs us to TGI Fridays just down the road. Sadly in this town where no one walks “Just down the road” turns out to be miles..... We finally arrive on foot to find they actually sell wine – we had been without alcohol for so long we almost prostrate ourselves on the floor with pleasure. We are seated by our kindly host and take a glass each. But we needed it – we had a job to do. One of our tasks on this trip is to recreate that famous Dolly and Graham Norton song “Islands in the Stream” whilst floating around the lazy river in Dolly’s Splash Country water Park tomorrow. But we have to learn the words – we set to our task, but frankly are not very good. Another glass of wine later and we still can’t get it right – singing as quietly as we can but dissolving into hysterical giggles every few minutes. Another task we have set ourselves is to record a track when we are in Nashville – we are going to record “Crazy” the Patsy Cline classic (leading to Ant now calling me Miss D Cline.... think about it....) and have to learn that too. I remind Ant that he has to learn this too when he tells me to stop putting pressure on him as “Nashville’s not till Sunday”