Читать книгу Class of '79 - Chris Rooke - Страница 27

Going to Leeds in the middle of the night was a strange drive. To begin with, I picked up a hitchhiker who insisted on giving me some Speed, which I had never had before, and he shovelled a couple of small spoonfuls of white powder into my mouth. This led to the rest of the journey seeming to take about 6 months, as my brain was in total overdrive (unlike my little Mini!) I then picked up another guy who immediately started to roll a large joint and I smoked that on top of the speed.

All I can say is that having driven overnight, straight from a concert and having been plied with enough speed and weed to sink a battleship, I wasn’t in the best shape when I arrived in Leeds at about 6.00am the next day. Not only that but as it had been a snap decision to go I hadn’t told Gazza I was coming so he wasn’t expecting me, and above all, when I got to Leeds I realised that I didn’t know where he lived. Apart from that, all good!

I drove to the University and as it was very early on a Sunday morning I was lucky to find a caretaker/security guard in a kiosk and explained the situation. He was clearly used to students and didn’t appear that surprised by my predicament. I told him that my friend Gazza lived in a Hall of Residence, but I had no idea which one!

My heart sank when he explained that there were about 10 Halls, so that just knowing he was in a hall didn’t help too much. Had I any idea of which one he was in? I knew that he had mentioned the name of the hall he was in previously, and suggested that if he could tell me the names of the various halls, maybe I‘d recognise Gazza’s. He obliged, and when he said Henry Price it immediately rang a bell, and I remembered that was indeed the name of his hall of residence. Thank God!

The caretaker gave me directions and I drove round to the hall and parked on the main road outside. However, I still had no idea of which room, or indeed which flat, or even which floor Gazza lived on, in what turned out to be a massive block. Not only that but it was 6.30am on a Sunday morning, and there was no-one around to ask and no way of finding out by other means (no mobile phones etc. of course).