James Gage
Ah, the stupid things you do when you're young...
OK, how sad is this..! I read an interview with Glen Gregory (when I was 15) in a magasine and he said that he walked his dog in Hyde Park- so I spent a whole day in Hyde Park..! What a nightmare. I once ordered a Heaven 17 record in a shop in Brighton (which was about 60 miles from my house in London) and it wasn't until I got home that I realised that I'd have to go back there to get it. The train fair cost me more than the record! That, coupled with the 120mile round-trip makes the record very special, and I've never even played it (American Heaven17 compilation album with an orange/multicolour cover). Just after I took my exams (June 1985) I got this A5 envelope in the post and I thought "great, the fan club newsletter", so I opened the package excitedly and tipped the contents onto the table- joy turned to horror as my exam results tumbled out and informed me that I'd failed every one... The H17Plan envelope arrived the next day, it was an identical package..!
I got home one night (again, I was about 15) and my mum told me that I'd had a call from the fan club, but that they didn't leave a number. I spent two days tracking down a number (they were based in Notting Hill)and a further two days trying to get them to answer. When I finally got through the guy at the other end didn't know what I was talking about, but agreed that I was talking to to the fan club. Totally mystified I told my mates at school the next day about my ordeal and that was when they admitted that they'd made the call in an attempt to wind me up. Well, it worked and I was gutted for days..!
James Gage
I hope this is suitable, and you can put my name to it, if you like (and my email address ukarrows@hotmail.com too, if you want to)