CHAPTER 2: the perfect start

CHAPTER 2: the perfect start

it was a wet and windy day. i set off from my hometown
around 11am and caught the metro train from sunderland at about
quarter to twelve.

i was so excited yet very tired and as i sat watching the rain
out of the window the lyrics
"you sleep on the train you get hypnotised by the morning rain"
from morning sickness, the first song on thier album
came to mind.

from newcastle i hopped onto a bus for another 15 minutes travel
to ouseburn,
a small industrial area where the newcastle cluny was situated.

on arrival i bought my ticket and went out into the pouring rain gripping onto
my cd to wait for the boys to arrive and sign it.

i was sitting on the wall outside when i looked up and spotted a familiar face
it was him, the cool little drummer, jim.
he was standing with a ginger man, not much older than me, smoking a ciggerette
i knew it was him, and i watched him religiously but for some reason i couldn't
bring myself to go and talk to him
i was paralysed with nerves
and i waited until he disapeared inside before i went back in to shelter from
the rain.

i had popped to the toilet when i bumped into the barmaid. i asked her if the band
were already there and she told me they were setting up in the hall.
she asked who they were so i told her and she suggested since i knew them
i followed her in while she asked if they wanted any tea or coffee

excitedly but shyly i followed her in. as soon as the doors opened
someone rushed over to me with a smile on his face.....
jarvey.
he gave me a hug and thanked me for coming before rounding the other three
up to sign my cd
it was then i met the final member, the bassist with the cool shoes, mark.

i handed them my presents for them. i had made ali a dog tag knecklace with his name on one side and "e&os" on the other. he put it on straight way.
and i gave jim a flashing starshaped badge which said "i'm a star" which he seemed very taken by!

i also gave them a notebook named the "setlist book" as my online friend emma had seen them a week before and told me that they were using paperplates for setlists we thought it would be a great idea for them to have thier own book just for setlists.
ali smiled and replied "that has to be the most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given us" and i smiled so much my face ached.

i had my photo taken with them and talked to jim before nervously just standing
and taking in what was going on
one of thier roadies, andy, picked up on this and fetched a chair, placing it beside
jim. nervously i sat down as happily jim struck up a conversation with me.
for almost an hour i sat and talked to him. getting to know him more and more.
he told me how he used to want to be a builder, how his flat was so damp fungus had
started to grow, how he used to be in a band as a singer, how he too liked green day
and how his brother stu, the ginger man he had been smoking with earlier apparently
smelt bad.

it was the greatest hour of my life so far and as he stood up to do his soundcheck
he invited me to stay and watch but as i sat alone feeling a little out of place
i decided to leave the room.

as i went out i noticed two girls on the sofa. they looked up at me suprised.
i just smiled and walked on.

however as i returned and walked by the girl with black curly hair spoke out to me
she invited me to sit with them and told me she was a big fan too.
her name was taffy and her friend was called charli.
they had known the boys for 3 years and had seen them many times before.

imedietly we clicked and talked for ages.

as we got aquainted talking about ourselves and learning a few more facts about the band taffy bought me a drink or 4 and within time we were all quite tipsy.
me and charli had gone outside for a ciggerette. the sun had come out and it wasn't that bad a place after all.
i had a nice chat to charli. i knew that her and taffy could possibley become great friends after all they had already anounced that they were "adopting" me.

we were on our way back into the pub when a bee followed us in.
like typical girls me and charli started running around and screaming as taffy rolled her eyes, grabbed a glass and a placemat and caught the bee.

imedietly we started to think it was funny. we got out our cameras and were screaming
"take a picture of it! take a picture" when the hall door opened behind us and who should appear but jarvey.

unable to really explain why she was holding a bee in a pint glass taffy turned to jarvey and declared
"oh jarvey we brought you this bee!"
jarvey looked back at us confused and asked "you brought me a bee?" as the three of us kept giggling and resumed shouting "take a picture!"
"are you torturing that poor bee?" jarvey asked us half amused but as we just kept giggling he figured he couldn't get sense out of us anyway so he walked off and we let the bee go free outside!

to make things worse we were getting into sillier conversations and as jim passed by taffy shouted out "i like chickens!" which made us laugh more. i had only known the two for maybe two or three hours but it felt like we'd known each other for years.

as time krept by three more people joined us, an american girl, their flat mate christina, a sporty looking boy called mark and a beautiful gothic type johnny depp look-a-like named steffan.
i got on with them pretty well too although mark was scaring me a little by flirting constantly.

finally at around 8pm the doors opened. the support came on at around 8.20 but weren't that good. and instead i ended up watching jim wandering back and forth.
he was dressed for the show. he was wearing a black wastecoat and a red tie over a white shirt. it was the trademark jim style i would get to know so well.
i really liked him before that day but now, after getting to know him, after seeing how sweet he really was, my fondess for him had grown tenfold.

by the time they finally came on to get ready for thier set i was so excited. i watched them all set up as jarvey kept smiling over and miming "won't be long now"

of course he was right. within ten minutes the lights went down and the sound of "step accross" rang out through the room.
throughout the whole gig me charli and taffy danced and giggled and took photos. it was the best time i had had in years and before i knew it we were caught up in the last chorus of "shipwrecked" singing along to
"all through the days and all through the nights, keeping my head above water i'm not giving up yet"
before the lights flickered on and the four rushed off, but that wasn't the end of the night, far from it.
there was plenty more to come yet.

walking up to the stage i called out to the soundguy andy "can i have jim's setlist?"
of course he handed it over and excitedly i rushed off to congratulate the boys and get my setlist signed.
we got many more photos taken with the four, and talked to them for ages.
before we knew it the hall was empty and the only ones there were us and the band.

but they didn't kick us out, infact they were happy we were there, because somehow we got roped into helping to pack up and load the van.

amongst the heavy guitar cases and amps and cymbols i spotted something that i had noticed sitting on the stage, a plastic pheasant.
i asked jarvey in passing what the pheasant was called. he told me he wasn't sure so i said to call it lor but taffy asked mark who told her it was named phil!
it was something that, i, they or any of the other fans would never forget from then on.

i asked to carry phil to the van and of course they let me so me and taffy, still slightly tipsy rushed outside and started messing about with the plastic pheasant.
as jarvey packed the last box into the van he asked
"can i have the pheasant now"
taffy, who was holding the pheasant handed him to jarvey but we all screamed sympothetically as jarvey carelessly threw the pheasant into the van.
poor phil.

we then tried to persuade them to come out for a drink with us but they told us they had to leave really early for aberdeen and they had better get going to their travelodge. disapointedly but understandingly we nodded and continued helping to pack up.

as the van doors closed we gathered the boys up for one more photograph. i had already arranged to stay over at taffy's flat and so taffy being what i figured by now was typical non shy taffy asked the boys "any chance of a ride back to town"
jim explained they would but there was quite a few of them that day and there wasn't much room.
mischeviously and still in my tipsy state i turned to him and replied
"well i could always sit on your knee!"
the second it slipped out of my mouth i regretted it and i waited for jim to look at me weirdly or walk away scared but to my suprise he didn't react that way at all infact, he laughed, hugged me and kissed me on the cheek!

as we said our final goodbyes we watched the van drive away smiling to myself.
we walked on, in the direction of the town centre and were happilly talking when we passed the travelodge. i looked over and spotted the van parking there. i stopped for a moment and stared over sighing.
who knows when i'd see them agian
who knows if i would?
but i was determined to move heaven and earth for us to meet again,
after all they were my everything now.

as we got to taffy's flat exhausted her and christina crawled to bed. thankfully mark had crawled off during the night so it was only me charli and steffan, whom i stayed up with all night as the two of us shared our deepest darkest secrets.
however, before that, charli allowed me to go onto my myspace. i logged in and was suprised to see a message.....
a message from jarvey.
it said "i've just had my photo taken with you!"
i sat back sighed and smiled
it had been a perfect day
i only hoped that i would see them again, as soon as possible
as i wasn't sure just how long i could go without them in my life now.