Bulgaria Trip Diary
"Yummee... A Purple One!"
Day 6
For someone
who was tired, I hardly slept at all but I felt okay so I went down for
breakfast at 10:15, easily beating the 10:30 deadline I had been given.
Only the actual deadline was 10:00 but hey… what´s in a little detail? I
wasn´t starving and there was always Nataly´s restaurant which was attached to
the hotel, except that it wasn´t really but I won´t bore you with all this stuff
because at least the place was open and there was an abundance of long-legged
junior-high (I am guessing here) cuties running around being paid nothing to
serve jerks like me. I was guessing about the junior high thing not the ¨legs¨
or the ¨jerk¨ part!
I had stuff to
do and I had time… cool! The capuccino was good, the sandwich was a little
"mature" but beggars can´t be choosers right? Peter and I had some stuff
to take care of this was swiftly and efficiently done.
Then it was
off to a press conference at the City Hall. ow the mayor had his suit on
and so did a few other people which was a nice change of target for my English
sarcasm, as always, done in a way that completely disguises it.
Interestingly, our relationships with these people had developed and
strengthened so quickly and honestly that the little jokes were enjoyed, shared
and returned by all.
I think Valeri
(the head of the CKAT TV channel that was filming everything … well, almost
everything) won the suit contest in a natty, tailor made, single breasted number
that was dark grey with subtle green tones in the fibre. Very nice and of
course with matching accessories. If you needed anything done, Valeri
seemed to be the man to "take measures"…
Gifts were
bestowed and many pleasantries and formalities completed before we made our way
to…… lunch! Yes folks it was time to eat AGAIN!
"Good
Lord Rufus…. By now this guy should weigh 500 pounds!"
"I know, I know… but he has one of them thar
"metabolism transfer" thingies, you
know, he eats
the food and the others gain the weight"
Tonight´s gig
was in the city park at an open air amphitheatre with a retractable roof. (I am
going to pause here for a moment in case any of you need to look up the meaning
of the word retractable.)
"Who does he think we are Rufus? I know
exactly what that word means, like when you retract things from your taxes right?"
"No Hon, that´s deduct … anyway he´s probably
finished with his break now so we´d best concentrate!"
But first we
had to appear at the celebration of a sand sculpture contest! I know, I know, it
sounds weird but apparently artists had come from 60 countries to compete in
this thing and some of the sculptures were actually quite amazing!
Apart from the
usual pleasantries and the outstanding dancers (Dallas Cowboys cheerleader
look-alikes who sadly (for me) disappeared as soon as I showed up), this was not
much more than a curious distraction and my mind was squarely on the show ahead.
The venue was
absolutely jammed and the back-up band, BTR was already into their first song
when we arrived at the venue.
John did one
song with them and then introduced me and we breezed through the "greatest hits"
set with the audience cheering, clapping, stamping and singing along. It
really doesn´t matter where you are performing or how many mistakes are made,
when the audience reacts like this it´s something really special!
John got the
Mayor and deputy mayor of Bourgas up on stage, we had kids of all ages singing
choruses on stage and it was generally a cool event. Not your average rock
& roll show, that´s for sure!
Back to the
hotel for a quick change and then we headed to Yasen´s bar called 10 fingers (Yasen
is a piano player you see!!).
A nice little
intimate, quasi-unlugged session, a few glasses of wine and we were soon back at
the hotel and I was in bed. I don´t know about John and Iris (or anyone else for
that matter) but I was dreaming of home, Monica and the dogs and the swimming
pool and….. zzzzzzzzzzz
