Würzburg, a Mad Manager, and a Demon - April 25th 2009
A few weeks earlier I had phoned the Mad Manager of my boys Demon and he had mentioned that himself and Dave (the singer in Demon for those of you who are clueless) would be coming to Würzburg for a little bash called Keep it True, a homage to the New Wave of [British] Heavy Metal. I looked at a map and reasoned that this was not really that far away from Munich... Once, when working in Philadelphia, I had noticed that Wishbone Ash were playing in Pittsburgh and that didn't look too far away. Yeah, you guessed it. I'm still just as stupid and haven't learned a damn thing; little map, big fucking country!
I booked my train ticket for Würzburg (I haven't bothered to get a car over here as public transport actually works for all my basic needs, although I might lease a Benz over the summer) and hopped on the sleek ICE train early on the Saturday morning. A little over two hours later, I arrived in the aforementioned town. I called Mike and discovered that the gig was actually in a town called Königshafen, some 30km to the south, and we were staying somewhere 10km away from that, in a little village called Taubersbischofsheim. A very nice lady at the train station, once I had explained my predicament, worked me out a route to get to the hotel, as well as a route back on the following day, a Sunday. Keep that in mind, will you. Two trains and a bus ride later, I met up with Mike and Dave and we headed off to the gig. It was great to see two friendly faces from back home, given that I had not gone back to the UK for Pan's birthday. It lifted my spirits immensely and the gig was fun, the beer and food were free, the fans were great, and I splurged on a bottle of Jack for us. A good day was had by all and I even got to meet the legendary Thunderstick, formerly the drummer from Samson. What more can a boy ask for?
Actually, a taxi, on a Sunday morning, in a little village in the middle of nowhere, would be nice. It just hadn't occurred to me that I would not be able to get a taxi to take me to the station in Lauda for 09:40, to enable me to get to Würzburg to catch my 11:05 train to Munich.
As I sat on the bench in the deserted town square in Taubersbischofsheim at 8:30am on a Sunday morning, I contemplated my options. It was a short list. I had checked the bus timetable and that was not even an option. Hopefully, I would be back in Munich before that bus came... A nice latte would help. No, focus, you imbecile! Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a very small sign on the wall of a building, just above an intercom. It said: 'Taxi. Press button'. So, I did. A nice lady answered and said she had nothing available. I explained that I needed to get to the train station in Lauda to catch the 09:40 to Würzburg. It was now 08:50. She asked me to hold on and I could hear this conversation in the background. She came back on and said she would have a taxi in ten minutes. Basically, she had made her husband get up out of bed and take me to Lauda. The fare came to 12€ but I gave him a twenty for his trouble. The rest is pretty boring. I got my trains, arrived back in Munich mid-afternoon, had a bath, fell asleep. Well, I'm not getting any younger...
Click here for the next bit
I booked my train ticket for Würzburg (I haven't bothered to get a car over here as public transport actually works for all my basic needs, although I might lease a Benz over the summer) and hopped on the sleek ICE train early on the Saturday morning. A little over two hours later, I arrived in the aforementioned town. I called Mike and discovered that the gig was actually in a town called Königshafen, some 30km to the south, and we were staying somewhere 10km away from that, in a little village called Taubersbischofsheim. A very nice lady at the train station, once I had explained my predicament, worked me out a route to get to the hotel, as well as a route back on the following day, a Sunday. Keep that in mind, will you. Two trains and a bus ride later, I met up with Mike and Dave and we headed off to the gig. It was great to see two friendly faces from back home, given that I had not gone back to the UK for Pan's birthday. It lifted my spirits immensely and the gig was fun, the beer and food were free, the fans were great, and I splurged on a bottle of Jack for us. A good day was had by all and I even got to meet the legendary Thunderstick, formerly the drummer from Samson. What more can a boy ask for?
Actually, a taxi, on a Sunday morning, in a little village in the middle of nowhere, would be nice. It just hadn't occurred to me that I would not be able to get a taxi to take me to the station in Lauda for 09:40, to enable me to get to Würzburg to catch my 11:05 train to Munich.
As I sat on the bench in the deserted town square in Taubersbischofsheim at 8:30am on a Sunday morning, I contemplated my options. It was a short list. I had checked the bus timetable and that was not even an option. Hopefully, I would be back in Munich before that bus came... A nice latte would help. No, focus, you imbecile! Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a very small sign on the wall of a building, just above an intercom. It said: 'Taxi. Press button'. So, I did. A nice lady answered and said she had nothing available. I explained that I needed to get to the train station in Lauda to catch the 09:40 to Würzburg. It was now 08:50. She asked me to hold on and I could hear this conversation in the background. She came back on and said she would have a taxi in ten minutes. Basically, she had made her husband get up out of bed and take me to Lauda. The fare came to 12€ but I gave him a twenty for his trouble. The rest is pretty boring. I got my trains, arrived back in Munich mid-afternoon, had a bath, fell asleep. Well, I'm not getting any younger...
Click here for the next bit