CHAPTER 6:our friend, lor

it was a couple of day into august, and i sat in my bedroom feeling glum.
i knew at that very moment, sinners from all over the country were gathering in a park in birmingham to watch and even participate in the "pheasant championships 2008"
but i was completely poor, still awaiting my first payment from job seekers alowence, who were checking therilly that i had indeed left university.

i had tried desperately to raise the money.
i begged, i borrowed, i tried my hardest to sell things.
in my most desperate moments i attempted to take my precious guitars into cash converters to raise the money.....
but i just didn't have the heart.

i told taffy online about not being able to afford to go a few days before, and we made a joke about me sitting being emo in my bedroom while listening to "shipwrecked" on repeat.

taffy found this such a funny image in her head that she drew a cartoon of me, slitting my wrists screaming "nooo emo forever" as a radio beside me played shipwrecked, which i promptly put on my myspace display photo.

within a few hours of me changing my photo to that, there was a message in my inbox......
it read;
"dont be emo forever, don't sell your guitars, there'll be other shows, we'll see you soon, i promise---- jarvey xxx"
it had put a temperary smile on my face.

after all, since coming home from the carnival in copmanthorpe that day,
it was no longer jim i had a school girl crush on,
it was jarvey instead.
but even jarvey's kind words wore off after a while and as i sat on the day, moping, i wondered just how long i would have to wait until i saw them again

after all it was over a month since the carnival,
the longest i had been away from them since i had first met them,
but this didn't make me give up hope, oh no! if anything, it made me MORE determined to see them and as i wiped my eyes i promised myself as soon as i got some money, i would go to ANY of thier shows to see them.

it was so lucky then, that my money came through 2 days later, and i jumped with joy as i realized i had more than enough to travel and see them.

after all, i was well aware what their next gig would be,
the gig i was HOPING to go to anyway,
a gig in my most favourite place in the world, london.

it was 3pm and i sat in the small internet cafe just outside of liester square while i typed up my latest blog entry.
it had been quite a day already.
since arriving in london at 6.30am i had already checked into my youth hostel, walked the 2 miles to find out where the venue was, seen the whole of hyde park and spent an hour or so in covent garden.
it had already been an incredable day, but the best was yet to come.
i remember looking down and smiling at the brown paper bag beside me.
i always liked to get my envy boys a little something everytime i see them
and i had 4 colourful lollypops neatly tucked away in my green day bag i was carrying with me,
but in the brown paper bag was a special something i picked up on the way.

i had been browsing around covent garden market you see, when i spotted a stall with handcarved pens.....
and there it was. as if it was made for me to come along and buy......a wooden pen, carved into the shape of a pheasant.
i thought of one person imedietly....ali.

so i was prepared.
the gifts, the excitement, and highness playing over and over in my head
what else could i possibley need?
i looked out of the window and got my answer
the bright summers day had suddenly turned black and everyone pulled their coats around them as the heavens opened
as i watched, i remember smiling to myself and thinking "i've brought the rain again@

i looked in the small cracked mirror in my hostel room as i applied my bright green eye shadow.
for once i decided not to wear an envy top.
i felt really good about myself that particular day and wanted to follow that up by "dressing up" a little bit more than usual.
so in a pair of dark jeans, a low cut red top and my hair straigtened under a black hat i took one last glance in the mirror and headed off.
as i stepped outside i smiled even more as i looked up.
the last drop of rain dripped down onto my face as the clouds suddenly cleared
and for the first time while making my way to an envy concert......the sun shone brightly.

i stepped outside of the tube station at highburry and islington and smiled to myself.
i saw him imedietly, standing in the doorway of the venue.....jim!
he looked suprised yet happy to see me as i rushed over and hugged him.
i talked to him for a moment or two, and i think we lit up a ciggerette.
he then turned and asked me "would you like a job?"
i was suprised wondering what he meant but said yes anyway then much to my amusement he passed me a stuffed pheasant and replied with "look after him while we set up"
i laughed and agreed before i telling him i was meeting a friend in the pub next door and that he was welcome to join us.
to my delight he told me the venue wasnt open yet and they were still waiting for ali and jarvey to arrive so him and mark would join me in there now.
so after texting my friend, kieron to let him know where i was, we made our way into the pub.

jim bought me a drink and the three of us....and the pheasant.... grabbed the seats by the window.
we got on chatting as always about how they were helping ali build a shed and so on.
mark also, as always, commented on how i looked.
i remember blushing and thanking him.
for some reason, i always felt shy around mark...

it wasn't much longer when kieron arrived and imedietly he clicked with the two
until jarvey and ali arived and the two rushed off to get ready
leaving me and kieron to pheasant sit!
we were having a laugh taking photos of us with it when i saw someone pass the window.
in amazement i just asked "was that noel fielding?"
ans without barely giving kieron a chance to reply i dashed out into the street and hurdled after him.

after meeting and talking to noel my spirits where higher than ever as i greeted ali and jarvey.
i did notice however i had already got over my crush on jarvey for some reason.
i guess it was just a phase.

kieron left not long after that and i waited outside the venue as i heard the boys setting up inside.
the girls on the door however struck up a conversation with me.
i told them how many times i had seen them.
they knew it was an hour before the doors would open properly and it was getting quite cold so they told me to just go down.
it was brilliant! watching the boys soundchecking was like my own little private gig.

i went out for a ciggerette after their soundchecks and got talking to ali.
he pretty much told me off for even thinking of selling my guitars and we talked for ages as always, until the other 3 dragged him away to get food.

alone, i went back in and watched the support.
they were pretty cool and i enjoyed them but i wished i wasn't such a loner.

well my wish got answered.
as i seem to do at every envy gig, i made a brand new friend
and her name was rhiannon.
i clicked with her imedietly and we realised we had actualy spoke before online.
we were also very much into photography and bragged to each other about each photo we took.

i stuck with rhiannon all the way through the show and we had an awesome time,
so after the show we both rushed out to see the boys.
sometime between going outside i lost rhiannon for a short while,
i think she was helping jarvey to pack up
soi wandered over to where jim and mark were and asked for a photo.
they handed my camera to the woman they were talking to as we posed for a photo.
as she passed the camera back to me jim introduced her to me
i dont remember her name but i think he said she was their agent.
what he said next i will probably never forget.
he turned to the woman and smiling said
"and this is our friend lor"

i had always called myself a friend of theirs when i told people
but i always thought to them i'd just be a fan,
yet hearing jim say that made me feel so special and i couldn't stop smiling after that.

i found rhiannon again and we talked to the boys even more.
i gave them their lollypops which mark said he would eat on the way home because it was the only food in the van!
ali also adored his pen which i said he could "write the next album with"

me and rhiannon helped the boys pack up and took more photos before they climbed into their two vans and bid us goodbye.

me and rhiannon got in a taxi and as i got out at my hostel i hugged her and promised to keep in touch.

it had been a long day and i was exorsted but i couldnt go to bed just yet.
imedietly i went to the hostel's cyber cafe, typed up a long blog about my day and uploaded the photos

i looked through them until i got to the one of me mark and jim.
i smiled to myself as i thought of jim saying "our friend lor"
then found myself glancing at mark, smiling even more and thinking
"oooh no, here comes crush no.3"

all in all it had been one of the greatest days of my life and i could, as always, barely wait to see them again.