PAGE 9.
This was turning out to be one of the happiest
tours I can remember. Even with such a tight schedule, early
flights, and long coach journeys, we were having a good time. I got
to visit art galleries and places of interest that I never seemed to
have time to do in the past. I tried to make sure I had time to say
hello to all the old friends and fans that had supported us for so
many years.
We also did a lot of laughing at some of the
situations we found ourselves in. In other words, even if things
were not right we always looked on the funny side. Some of the
Hotels were not exactly ideal for our various needs on the road. The
most common fault was refurbishment work in progress; drills that
you thought would come through your wall at any time; rooms with no
baths, not good for drummers after a show; hotel restaurants that
closed before we finished a gig; hotel restaurants that were closed
for our early morning starts; hotels with no restaurants at all.
One morning Warren invited Mark and me for
breakfast in his room where he had a kitchen. He had got supplies in
the day before. He made us fabulous omelettes and with my filter
coffee set up it was the perfect start to another long day.
One journey was a five hour coach trip. There was
a toilet on board but the driver had lost the key to it. I tried
picking the lock with no luck. We were on a motor way in heavy
traffic. By the time we got to our destination we were naturally
dying to get off. However the driver got lost and eventually after
going round the city centre in circles for thirty minutes. Erik
jumped off the bus and, running through the oncoming cars, hailed a
cab to lead us in. The concert was next to a big football stadium
and all the roads were closed for a big game that afternoon. The
only way to get to the gig was to be led in by police motor cycle
escort.
Erik was often getting lost at airports,
taking us from one check in point to the next. With the sound of a
cockeral echoing through the airport lounges (that was Erik’s phone
ring tone), you couldn’t do anything but laugh. Yes, happy times.
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