Lizzy and I are up at 4.45am - Keith asks me why the f**k I'm getting up so early, then I remind him that we're on the early flight to Edinburgh - he puts the pillow over his head and goes back to sleep...
We're out of the house at 5.15am and drive into town to pick up Aake, who is sitting on the pavement outside his hotel waiting for us. I drive the 10 miles or so to East Midlands Airport, park up and we check in - we're numbers 1 2 and 3 to check onto our flight, the 7.30am Easyjet to Edinburgh. I've flown to Edinburgh several times before from here, but still manage to get us sitting in completely the wrong part of the airport, i.e. the part where we can't hear the calls for our flight. Never mind, we figure it out on the end, and we're all aboard with about 10 minutes to spare.
Off the plane and onto the airlink bus to the city centre, a really good service - we arrive just before 9am. Lizzy and I are staying with Fiona and Billy who are some of the brilliant people we've met before at Love gigs - we're meeting up with Fiona in Jenner's cafe at 9am - and there she is!! Its wonderful when a plan comes together.
We have a nice greasy Scottish breakfast and then all get the bus to Portobello, where Fiona and Billy live - its a lovely area, the Edinburgh seaside, their house overlooks the beach and the Firth of Forth. The three of us chill out for a while then Billy arrives back from his optician's appointment where he's had weird stuff squirted in his eyes and is finding it hard to see. We go for a walk to see the sights of Portobello, then back for a great lunch, then we all decide we could probably do with a bit of a kip to get a bit of energy back for tonight's proceedings after the very early start.
The next door neighbour Molly is coming to the gig as well - we've also arranged to meet up with Aake and Old Man (George) and his daughter Lorna who have come down from Aberdeen so we're going to be quite a large contingent. We decide to defer the great curry that Fiona has cooked for us and set off for the centre of town at about 6pm, to meet up with Aake, George and Lorna at the Last Drop pub in the Grassmarket. Everybody seems to hit it off famously - Fiona and Billy say that Aake must stay with them next time he's in Scotland, even though at one stage Billy accuses Aake of looking like one of the itinerant Grassmarket alkies!! (it must be the tattoos).
We head off towards the venue - I spot Troels typing away in an internet cafe we pass on the way and rush in to say hello. The unmistakable tourbus is parked up outside the Liquid Room, which is on one of those old narrow streets in the Edinburgh Old Town, however nobody seems to mind that. Lizzy's cousin Joan is driving down from near Perth as well, we had asked Glenn on Friday if her name could go down on the door as its late in the day to get tickets, but it doesn't seem to be there - anyway, the nice lady lets her in anyway, we mention Scottish Keith's name and his was on the door, I think it is for every show!
Inside and Lizzy, Joan, Aake. George, Lorna and I take up our familiar positions right at the front. Fiona, Billy and Molly prefer to be upstairs on there balcony where there's a good view and not such a crush - Lizzy and I filmed from there last time we were here. Its Primary 5 in support again tonight, as good as ever - Paul Quinn has a real stage presence. There are some real heavy bouncers in the area between the crowd and the stage, definitely no flash photography here tonight. We're joined near the front by the prodigious Loveshack, who's come over from Glasgow - he can't make the Glasgow gig because of some football match or the other.
The place is packed when Arthur and the band come on stage - I seem to remember Johnny getting a particularly warm reception. Another cracking show!!!!
At the end, after the encore, Johnny comes over to the edge of ths stage - he shakes my hand and I can feel that he's passing me something - its his guitar pick, which is now among my most treasured possessions.
Our (quite large) party all heads outside after the gig - Arthur and Johnny haven't come out to sign autographs tonight but Billy is determined that he'll get his album covers signed, so we wait around for a while for them to come out to get into the taxi back to their hotel. Billy isn't taking no for an answer and gets his autographs.
Mike is around as well as Brummy Jim - we all pile into a nearby bar and have a cracking hour or two drinking and having a great time - then its a taxi back to Fiona and Billy's house where we eventually get to eat that curry - very welcome it is as well. Off to bed for a few hours - Lizzy is getting the early train back to Newcastle, and I'm flying back to Nottingham, so we've got a taxi booked for about 5.30 am again. Fiona gets up to see us off - they really have shown us fantastic hospitality! The taxi takes us to Waverley station, Lizzy goes off to catch her train and I get the bus back to the airport for the 8.20 plane.
Back in the East Midlands, I head for the great services near Junction 24 of the M1 where they have showers and everything - I've left my work gear in the car , so I shower, put on some make-up and my work suit and head for my 11.30 meeting in Leicester. I pick up my colleague who's come up from London at Leicester station and we head for the organisation where we are pitching for some business. I'm pretty tired but things seem to be going OK. Its going to be an early night tonight.
We hear a couple of weeks later that our pitch was not the successful one.
Hey ho
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment