Memories

One of the pleasures of moving, or at least packing up to move, is the element of discovery. Finding things that you’d forgotten you’d had (and putting them back into their proper place), finding things you thought you had and subsequently replaced (put them in the ‘EBay’ bucket), and finding things that jog the memory.

I found my old Filofax – remember them? It was an odd find. Not because it was a discovery, but because the discovery element was in looking through all those old addresses and phone numbers and pondering ‘Where are they now?”

Some I know about (thanks to Facebook). Some I don’t. What was interesting was the memories these names evoked. In a former life, I worked at Rover Car factory. I started in the October of 1980 on the car wash and ended up as a Senior Engineer in the Homologation department (carrying out crash tests and the like on the cars to prove them for market). Some of the contacts in the book were from this period. Bill Coleman was one.

Bill was a proud Yorkshire man, so there’s sufficient in that statement to warrant no further explanation of his character. However, I think he had a soft spot for me and recognised someone who had come through the ranks to get where I was, rather than have it handed to me on a plate via some graduate scheme. Not that I’m against these, it’s just that it is a different experience, having been there and worked the job that we inform.

I liked Bill. He was a no-nonsense type of guy, who you could rely on to tell you how it is. I think as a society we’ve lost that skill. Brutal, but gentle honesty. I learned a lot from Bill; much of it to do with Star Trek and the technologies that were emerging because of the show (I wonder what he makes of the iPhone, and all that). It was a good time for me, that I look back with fondness. Still that was then…

Another find was an envelope of gig stubs. You know, those bits of paper that were left over from entering a gig. Again good times. I remember going with a mate to the La Dolce Vita club in the City Centre to watch Depeche Mode (If anyone is interested, there's and alternative music exhibition in Parkside, BCU during May). And I remember Blancmange being the support group. The thing about this memory is not the gig itself, but the fact that I spent an hour with Neil Arthur – the singer – talking philosophy, religion, and all manner of stuff. Looking back, I must have come across as pretty boring (and likely arrogant), but the memory lingers. (as a side note, there was a year when we sat next to Depeche Mode at Greenbelt).

The other concerts I have fond memories of are U2 at the ODEON New Street. It was the War tour and supporting them were The Alarm. Later we went to see the Alarm in their own right, on tour. Supporting them were A Flock of Seaguls. Perhaps the oddest experience from those days was the Psychedelic Furs gig. The performance itself was fine. What was odd was the bloke who came and sat right next to me and my friend, when all around there were empty seats. The exotic aroma that emanated from his corner of the room suggested that he was appreciating this gig differently from the way we were. We were too polite to say anything, and in too much of a good viewing position to move. I was glad when that one ended and we could get into the cold, fresh winter air.

Those gig stubs though? I shall have to mount them in picture frames. You never know, they could be worth a fortune one day.