Legends of
Brocklehurst Chapter 14
The next morning, totally refreshed, I had a full
English breakfast, and went to pick up the Scorpio. Having parked the
car I was in plenty of time to meet Neil off his flight. I was
holding a hand written sign which said "Chauffeur in a Rush",
which Neil found amusing. We quickly headed for the short term
parking area, and drove away from Heathrow. All Neil could talk about
was the ill fated Mercedes. Apparently everyone in Anthem, and
connected to the tour were talking about nothing else. When I showed
Mr. Peart the news paper article, he laughed out loud, and said he
would have to have copies made so they could be faxed to friends. For
the first few days copies were faxed by all senior members of the
tour to their friends, and relatives all over the world. Once again,
unintentionally, I had given a Rush tour some amusement, and this one
hadn't started yet.
We headed up the M1 towards Sheffield, talking,
and catching up. The trip was uneventful, and we arrived at the
Sheffield Moat House Hotel mid afternoon. The next day was production
load in day, and the Thursday rehearsal day, so apart from taking
Neil to the Sheffield Arena and back, once, I had two days off.
After having a bath, and a change of clothes I
went to a nearby restaurant for a steak, and a glass or two of red
wine. Again as during the HYF tour I was on a daily wage plus
expenses. Breakfast was included, but all other meals I had to pay
for, and couldn't afford prices charged by the hotels. On returning
to the hotel I headed for the bar. I fancied a few drinks knowing I
had the next day off. As I ordered a vodka, and tonic, I could see a
few of the crew at the opposite side of the bar. Although I was
completely at ease regarding meeting them all again, I decided to
stay where I was. Then that familiar blonde head turned round, and
spotted me. Alex walked over, gave me a big hug, and invited me to
join them. Most of the usual suspects were there but all anyone
wanted to talk about was the Mercedes. No sooner had I told my story
than someone else joined the company, and I had to start all over
again. Alex in particular found it hilarious, and made up various
reasons why it had been set on fire. One suggestion was Mark, and I
had imported a load of Colombian Marching Powder, and we had torched
the car to get rid of forensic evidence. That idea was deemed the
most likely, and variations of this were offered throughout the tour.
Funnily enough when I returned home this was also the consensus of
opinion. The truth was however as I have told it, and I am still not
sure exactly what happened.
Later in the evening Pegi Cecconi came into the bar.
We had got on very well during the previous tour, and I was delighted
to see her again. Pegi has a wonderful sense of humour, and a great
deep throated laugh which booms out when ever she is amused. She
introduced me to a guy she was with. He was a well known photographer
called Fin Costello who had taken pictures of all the well known
bands in the 60's and also many of Rush in their early days. Pegi is
a massive Coronation Street fan, and during the conversation asked me
if I had ever been to the Coronation Street Studio in Manchester. She
knew about the tours open to the public there,, and wondered if
Neil's car could be commandeered to take her the next day. Now the
car was only for us and on the HYF tour no-one, and I mean, no-one,
was allowed to use it. Neil's typical reply on the couple of times a
tentative request had been made to give some one a lift was.
"Feck off, you have limos, trains, and
planes, the car is mine and Peter's." No one inquired further
after that answer.
Understandably Pegi was loath to ask Neil direct,
so full of alcohol, I said I would sort it. I rang Neil's room, and
surprisingly he agreed right away, and told me to enjoy myself. I
relayed his answer to Pegi who was delighted. We arranged a time to
set off the next day, and then Fin asked if he could join us. It was
agreed, and he said he would take some pictures of us on set. I was
slightly less impressed than Pegi who was over the moon, however I
didn't have to buy another drink all night. Alex kept making comments
about drugs in the boot, and told Pegi to make sure she got out of
the car before it was set alight. "Peter used to live in
Manchester, Pegi, he has many criminal contacts there", he said
with a big grin on his face.
After breakfast the next morning the three of us
set off for Manchester. I drove via Snakehead Pass to show Pegi, and
Fin the beautiful countryside. Arriving at the Granada Studios we
bought tickets, and joined the tour. For me it wasn't very
impressive, but Pegi was like a kid in a sweet factory. Fin took
dozens of snaps, some of Pegi, and me, and some of just her. We had
great fun posing in front of various places, and inside The Rovers
Return. ( The pub in Coronation Street. ) We came back via the M62 so
they could see the desolate, but strangely beautiful moors. On the
way Fin asked me if I could get him a forged driving license for a
friend. I said if he gave me all the details it would be no problem,
and if he sent me a copy of the photos that I was on from our trip to
Manchester, I wouldn't charge him. After the tour I posted the
license to him, but never received my pictures. I have often wondered
if his friend is still driving on that forged license ?