Good evening and welcome the 3rd installment of "England - The Time
Of My Life"
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After meeting Gary Numan, it seemed that that was it, but there was still
so much more to come. On Sunday night, I stayed at the St Alban's Hotel for
the last time. Everywhere I stayed was a Bed & Breakfast, but for me
breakfast is just not served at 8:00, so only at Cambridge was I able to
enjoy a full British breakfast.
On Monday morning I arose around 10, showered in the shared bath.....
something that took me a while to get used to.. the showers were private
enough and clean, but it was a bit odd and and a bit of a pain having to go
down the hall to use not only the shower but the bathroom too....or the
toilet as they say....The Brits say it like it is.....if you go to use the
toilet, you say it...the toilet.....not the bathroom or the
restroom.....after all...say your in a resteraunt. ..and you have to
go.....you go to use the toilet....you don't go take a bath....or go into
the room for a rest..
So I headed off to Paddington Station, once again, to take the train to
Bristol, where Gary was playing that night....the second show of the four I
would see. The very best thing about Britain is the TRAINS!!!
I suppose I may be a little bias considering my love of trains but I never
needed a schedule because there are so many trains. I just showed up at the
station, looked up at the board, locacted a train bound for my destination
and I was off. I never waited more than 15 minutes. The trains were great.
Modern, clean and FAST!!. Although I didn't look at the speedometer, the
trains I rode to both Bristol and Cambridge must have hit 100mph. One thing
I though was strange though is that almost half the time, no one checked my
ticket. And considering that all the rail lines have been privatized, i
wounder how much money they lose. I guarentee some of the kids I saw
jumping on and off the train didn't have tickets.
I arrived at Bristol Temple-Meade Train Station around 4 and judging by the
map in my "Rough Guide" (the most useful of the guide books I had), I'd be
best off taking the bus to the centre of town. Outside the station were 3
coaches bound for the Towne Centre. I boarded and picturing the map in my
head I guessed at about where to get off. The traffic was heavy and Bristol
is not one of the more pictureque cities... we pased a pub with another one
of those great names... "The Reckless Engineer"....Bristol actually remined
me of Lynn Mass. It had been notorious for having a large number of
homeless people but Newark, NJ seemed far worse. I guessed pretty good and
quickly found a sign for the Tourist office. I was about 4 blocks away.
They were very helpful and actually found me a "luxury" hotel located only 3
blocks from the venue that Gary was playing at. It ended up being the hotel
where the fans who hired a coach to follow the tour were staying. This was
the only place I stayed that had what we would consider modern plumbing.
Everywhere the sinks still had the old seperate hot and cold taps. I should
go to Home Depot and buy a million modern faucets and bring them over there.
After I unpacked my gear at the hotel, I immediately headed over to the
venue, Colston Hall, to get my ticket. The only thing still left was a
balcony seat. But that was o.k, this was a small venue and I fiqured I'd
get a diferent perspective on the performance. There wasn;t much time 'tll
the gig so I headed into the nearest pub. Actually, it was called a Wine
Bar, the name escapes me at the moment, but I have pics. In reality,it was
a pub like any other. I grabbed an order of Fish and Chips at the bar and
was soon in conversation with a stressed out Bristol accountant named Jim.
He was a "Hot Shit" as we would say. We talked about America and the
Europeon Union and how he hated life in Bristol. He quickly got drunk on a
variety of lagers. If he called me a "good bloke" once, he called me it a
milliion times. Our bartender was a cool young kid, named Joe, about 19.
He had never ventured far beyond Bristol, and wanted to go to Disneyworld.
So many people I met wanted to go to Disneyworld. I'm saying "Why? That's
not really America" Anyway Joe had some great jokes about Princess Di.
Here's one he wrote down for me since I'm so bad at remembering jokes.
"What is the difference between Freddie Mercury and Diana?"
"Freddie died a Queen!"
Jim kept buying rounds of drinks, but I had to off to the show. I
think I left him with four beers on the bar. Then he follows me
outside....shouting "Your a good bloke"
Gary's performance that night was fabulous. He loosed up a lot from the
night before and was smilling a lot more. It really was nice to see the
show from a difference perspective. I had a great view and got some great
pics. I didn't know anyone there that night, but I had tried to hook up
with a guy named Stephen on the internet but we didn't get a chance to make
plans before I left. When I got back I had an e-mail from him and we ended
up both sitting close to each other in the balcony.
After the show I was starved and on the way back to the Hotel. I found a
great liitle take-away called Mikey Finns. It was the Mac's Roast Beef
(Peabody, MA) of Bristol. The best late-night chicken nuggets and chips
that side of the Atlantic.
The next morning, I packed up and walked around downtown. Not much to see
there. Although there are some historical seaside museums and the SS Great
Britain is berthed there, I didn't have the time. And I knew my money was
going to be mostly spent on the shows and on CD's.
So it was back to the train station. Now of the things I was curious about
for a couple of days was why there were not trashbins in the railway
stations. I finally got my answer. They have been taken out for fear of
bombings. Now I haven't heard of a terrorist bombing in a railway station
trashbin, mostly just car bombs, but they're playing it safe. It's
interesting, the fear in this country is of getting shot with a gun,
especially here in Texas, but over there it's fear of an IRA terrorist
bombing. More pepole are killed here by guns than over there by IRA
terrorists.
It was another great train ride back to London. Interesting views from the
train....some real ugly housing and some of the most beautiful green English
countryside...and a few small castles in the distance.
In London, I headed for Earl's Court....the part of town I originally wanted
to stay in... Once again...interesting how things work out. Earl's Court
was not was I imagined it. It's very working class and very ethnic. Still
compared to a similar area in America it seemed safe and the people were
pretty friendly. I found a littlte B&B... the Green Court Hotel....and
though it was a bit well worn, the room had a private bath....but no shower.
Andy, Shane and I had made plans to just meet at the venue in Guildford that
night for Gary's show since we were all on different schedules. I don't
know whether I had heard, or read or just assumed that the train to
Guildford ( a suburb) was out of Victoria Station, but that's where I
headed. It's rush hour and I find out opon arrival that there is no dirrect
train to Guildford. I have to change at Claphan Junction. I must say I
was a bit nervous...and I also had no idea where the venue...the Civic Hall
was located. I jumped on the next train to Clapham Junction. This was rush
hour and the train was a s full as a crowded subway. Agian, no tickets were
checked. How could they be? They conductor couldn't have moved through the
crowd. After about 25 minutes and a couple of station stops, I arrived at
Clapham Junction. Now I had to find the train to Guildford. Over the
intercom came an annoucement of a derailement and some delays. The heart
began to beat a little faster. Just then , I look up and I spot my friend
Shane. The next train that arrived was going to call on Guildford. We
hoped on. Then the announcement came on....."because of a derailment...alll
pasengers must change trains at the next station......except those
passengers for GUILDFORD!! The train emptied at the next stop and in a few
minutes we were at Guildford. Now....where is the Civic Hall? We located
a map and plotted our route. Now one thing about England is that there are
virtually no street signs as we know them. There are signs on the sides of
corner buildings...but not every building. Shane and I navigated our way up
the High Street and with the help of a few frendly
Guildforders....Guildfordonians?, we made it to the Civic Hall. This was
the coldest night of the trip and it was a walk but the excitemment of the
seeing the show made us oblivious to the cold. We evan saw a Gary Numan
Tour poster in the middle of town....The only one I ever saw aside of the
actual venues.
We entered the Civic Hall and quickly caught up with Andy, his friend
Mathew, and other one of my interenet friends I met for the first
time....Andy West.
This show was the most fun of the whole tour....being with friends... Gary
having a great time smiling and laughing....and we even had a mini-mosh pit
going on a couple of songs....and of course the music was awesome and I was
starting to learn the words of the new songs....
The evening ended with us taking a few pics of the "gang" and having a final
ale.....Shane was off to Iceland the next day.....I'd see Andy again. Shane
and I sneeked into a first class compartment on the train ride back to
London....the conductor came by to collect tickets...he let us stay
though...just explaining what First Class was......."Oh I didn't
know................"
Tomorrow night 's installment...The trip to Historic Cambridge and my final
Gary Numan show of the trip.