The day was grey and drizzling. I remember it being like that most of the time I was in England, just cold and damp. For a kid from Southern California and Arizona it was a big change and it colored everything I did there whether I knew it or not at the time. Peter, Lee and I ventured out into London in one of those famous black cabs that forever roam the streets there. We did a little sight seeing and tried our hand at English food which was a shock in itself. I finally learned about Whimpy Burgers, but not soon enough.
This was not like the US where you could always find some place that had something you liked. It was a whole new ball game and most of the time a poor experience. I don't remember exactly where we were when it happened maybe Picadilly Circus or something, but a brand new 1964 Chevrolet pulled up and everybody on the street stopped to stare at it. They were gawking at it like it was the rarest thing they'd ever seen. While they stared at the car we stared at them.
It seemed to me that who ever was driving just parked it damn near in the middle of the street and got out. He was a young guy maybe early 20's when all of a sudden I heard. "Bobby, Bobby Jameson is that you Mate?" I figured out quickly it was Andrew Oldham. "Yeah it's me you must be Andrew." I said, "what an accent," he replied. That was something I had to get used to. Every where I went people would comment on my accent which was really strange at first. "I didn't have an accent they did," I thought.
"Ok, well let's get you out of the road so we can get properly acquainted," said Andrew. We all piled in the Chevy and he headed out into to traffic. Everything was going the wrong way and it was just something else to get used to. "Where'd you get this Chevrolet Andrew?" I asked, "I'd of thought you'd be driving a Rolls Royce or something?" He said he used to have a British sedan, but then he got the Chevy and it was like nothing he'd ever imagined. "People go wild," he said, "Everywhere I go." Man did he like that car. I watched out the window at London zipping by while Peter and Lee talked to Andrew about the schedule and what to expect in the next few days.
I was tired from the long flight and my sense of direction was nonexistent. I couldn't figure out where we were or where we were going. It always seemed like we were moving in circles. Andrew dropped us off at our hotel after an hour or so and we watched as the Chevy Belair drove out of sight. "Man he likes that car," we all said. and laughed as we went inside. Andrew was a tall lanky guy with longish curly hair and glasses. He looked like kind of a geek, but handled himself well and had an air of self assuredness about him that made you think he was on top of things.
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| From bobby jameson |
He didn't hesitate when he spoke and had no shortage of opinions about everything. After the first meeting we all pretty much decided we liked him from what we had seen and we began to look forward to the coming events and meeting Mick Jagger. The jet lag was killing everyone so we thought we'd try and go to bed early and get ready for the next day. The trouble with that kind of jet lag is you're tired as hell, but your body won't go to sleep. This ended up in the long run as a major problem for me.
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