My phone rang about 8am and it was Ringo asking if I was in York yet. I thought we were but it turned out to be about 1 hour southwest of York. I went back to sleep but this time, around 9am, Hannah rang to see how I was doing and stuff. I told her I was fine, I missed her and that last night’s show was fun and kinda strange! We finally got to York at about half 10 and the other guys were still asleep when I hopped off the bus on Nunnery Lane and Blossom Street and walked to Bishopthorpe, near Ringo’s home. Bought a Virgin ‘Top-Up’ card and then Ringo came round and we got sandwiches and walked back to his place. I showered (boy did I need it…I hadn’t showered since Glastonbury), had a cup of tea and surfed the internet. Julian’s Mum sent me cute pictures of his pre-kindergarten graduation (he starts elementary in Sept) from the other day. He looked proud, good fella, that one. The rest of the band rolled round 11.30 and showered and did their laundry and then watched TV and then we all walked into town and to the venue about 4pm. Ate some sandwiches at the club and sound checked. Chris Helme showed up a bit after us and did his check. He brought a couple of friends with him for his stage show as well, They were (vocalist) Haley and (Yard’s bassist) Stuart.

After the show, Old Man, his lovely daughter, Tina, Lizzy, Ringo, Chris H. Ringo’s brother Paul and his mate Coops and all the rest of us (band and crew) went to York’s best bar, the EVIL EYE. Owned by massive LOVE FAN, Evil Ian (who also owns the record shop, FOREVER CHANGES), the E.E. is the spot to be at. Ian kept it open for us and so we got really, really drunk. Coops, who is a notorious drunk, bought me a HELL SHOT, which is like 80% vodka and 20% absinthe (sounds like my kind of drink!! CP), I nearly died. Frazer took one look at my face, saw my eyes water and immediately ordered the same! Coops had one and then he got more wasted than usual. Then Derek started on me again for wearing my England shirt (that Jeff Trice gave me in Brighton 2002) and then he pulled it off me and threw it on the ceiling fan. So, I took a bowl of limes and threw them at Derek, one at a time.

By this time it was around 3am and we were heading to a kebab shop and Coops was a mess and then he started talking about eating you know what (no, I don’t know?!! Lol CP) I started laughing like never before, so I told Coops, man, chill out…people can hear you. But he kept going ‘I LOVE EATING P***Y’ (oh, now I know!! Lol CP) Then these local York birds walked past us and he said it REAL loud, looked at them, stuck his tongue out and said ‘ARRRGH!!!!’ And, so, you can understand I was right to be embarrassed. Got toRingo’s and crashed on his couch a tired boy indeed.

Mike Randle