JEBO
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9/22/2007 9:48:37 AM
---- Updated 9/22/2007 9:53:42 AM
JEBO Tour Blog Day 8
Day 8 – From Loreley on the road home
JEBO Daily Blog for Kevin @ Bristol Rock www.bristolrock.co.uk
by Charlie Presburg (www.pollstar.com)
The final day of this tour and it's another early start for the men of JEBO. Time to drive back to the UK, Jeff's been doing the driving and personally, I've no idea how we does it. He seems to have an in-built compass or it's possibly that map he's been referring to on one of the passenger seats, either that or, he's been doing a fantastic job and we all love him for it. We sit down to a fairly hasty breakfast at our hotel, one by one, the boys appear and by 9.30, we're on the road again. Due to some local advice from local people, Jeff's wisely decided to take the ferry across the river as it joins the Autobahn directly and saves us having to drive around the mountains, this will save us a lot of time.
We board the ferry with Peter leading the way in his vintage Jag (it's been turning heads all week as our strange looking convoy makes its way up and down the Autobahn's of Germany). It's a short ferry journey across the Rhein and the view up and down the river is beautiful, seems a shame to have to leave. We say our goodbyes to Peter who's been amazing and go our separate ways, we'll be seeing him again in October when we head out again.
With Lawrie in one of the front passenger seats, the rest of us sit in the back of the van and enjoy The Who's 'The Kids are Alright', great entertainment. Everyone's tired but spirits are still high and we talk about the previous day's gig, festival and general adventures. We make a stop at a service station and continue the drive to Belgium. We stop in Poperinge for a drink and the hope of something to eat but most of the cafes and restaurants have stopped serving as it's already after lunch, around 3pm (plus it's a Sunday). We still manage however to get a beer, it's a lovely sunny day and a very pleasant afternoon for sitting in the town square sipping a beer. Rob and Jeff tell me that this very pretty town was the centre of British activities during the First World War. Nick discovers the only open bakery in the town that's still serving cakes and the boys grab a snack . An hour and a half or so later, we board the van and settle down to watch 'Peep-Show' for the drive to Calais, our ferry's due to sail around 6pm.
Just as we get out of the van on the ferry, Jeff discovers a DVD screen in the front console, just as well really! We make for one of the lounges for a well deserved cup of coffee where we gather around the movie camera to watch some of the footage, yep, it looks okay to me. Rob will take it back to Bristol for analysis, so to speak. Another hour and a half later we pull into Dover Port, we board the van and drive into the Port proper where it's time to say our goodbyes. This time, the boys are off back to Bristol and I'm dropping Nick in Central London before returning home, ah, the wilds of Palmers Green, how I miss it, not! It's hugs all round, the boys drive off and there you have it. One week of pure joy on the road with Bristol's finest, I miss you guys already, see you in October when no doubt, there'll be another blog so keep your eyes peeled.
Footnote – I'd just like to say at this point that throughout the entire week we were treated like kings by our various hosts, they took care of most of our bar bills, pretty much all our food, placed us in comfortable accommodation and took very good care of the boys' shows, a big thanks to all of you for that if you get to read this. You certainly set an example as to how it should and can be done, UK promoters and venues please take note.
Did I tell you that JEBO shifted all the CD's we took out to Europe? We're taking more orders now.
Yeah Baby!
Charlie
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