Lodz day 2…..

I got a message from Jon Joyce asking if id like to come over to their hotel tomorrow for a beer/coffee so we arranged to meet up at 1pm.

I met up with Phil, Laila and Daniele first around 11:30 at the ice cream store. Ben was flying back to the UK today so wanted t say goodbye, hope its not another 11 years before i see you again Ben!

I then took a rickshaw over to the bands hotel to meet up with Jon, Dave had text me the day before too and we were gonna arrange lunch for today so i sent him a message to say i was meeting up with Jon and would be around there at 1pm if he wanted to join us. Got to the hotel around 1pm and sat with Jon for half an hour before Dave came and joined us both and then Robbie and Pat. The hotel was in an old style building that used to be a textile factory in Lodz, a very famous one by all accounts and the factory even has a museum dedicated to it!

My ice cream                              The view from my rickshaw         The old factory hotel building

   

Dave needed a new external hard drive for his laptop so Jon, Dave and i went to have a look round the stores nearby, Jon went to change some money and Dave and i went into what looked like a big Curry’s electrical store.Few minutes later, hard drive secured and we went for a wonder around the stores. We spotted a cool chair/sculpture in the centre of the square which we both took turns in taking pictures in after each other. Before we did this though there was a family of 5 or 6 people just getting off the chair and they had a young Polish girl with them whom id guess was no more than 11 or 12 years old. She was wearing a crossed hammers t shirt and Dave mentioned something to her about the T shirt. She was a touch embarrassed about her English and tried the best she could to have a chat in English but the words just weren't there, at this point she had no idea who Dave was. Dave  took a couple of guitar picks from his pocket and gave her two, she was delighted, but again it didn't register who Dave was. After Dave gave her the couple of pics she managed to tell us that she also played guitar, to which Dave replied something like “so do i, on top of the wall”  he pointed to her T shirt and then to himself and again said “i play guitar for them”. It was at that point that the penny dropped and she realised what he was saying and who he was, her face was an absolute picture!! totally priceless.

She couldn't believe it, her family took a few pics of her with Dave and she was smiling from ear to ear. After a couple of minutes of chatting Dave and i carried on walking towards the hotel, we met up again with Jon who was going to the Museum of the factory, Dave and i went to look around the shopping mall as there was an hour to go before the band were to leave the hotel.

Dave and the little girl            All smiles                           Me in the chair                    Dave in the chair

     

After wandering around for another 20 minutes we headed back to the hotel, just as we got there Roger was outside signing a few autographs for fans that had gathered at the entrance. Dave decided to put the hood up on his hoodie, took his hair in and get inline for an autograph. As he got in front of Roger he was just about to hand him the box to his hard drive he had just bought when both Roger and Dave looked up at each other, Roger was amused as was i and as was Dave.

Dave asking Roger for an autograph

We sat at the bar for half an hour watching some models doing a photo shoot in the lobby, a fan came up to Dave whilst we were sat there and asked him to autograph his tickets, Dave was more than happy to and after he had the guy asked me to sign it too! i said “ are you sure” “yes of course he said” so i did! to the amusement of Dave who took a picture of me doing so, it was only after the guy had left that i joked i should have signed it D Gilmour!!

Phil and Laila joined us for a while and Phil was hoping to get his piece of the wall signed by Roger and the band, he just missed Roger by 5 minutes but the rest of the band trickled down as they were about to leave for the venue at 4:15. Dave signed Phil's brick along with his program (see below) and as the band came down Phil asked each and everyone if they wouldn't mind signing his brick, of course they were all delighted to and he eventually got everyone apart from Roger.

Man at C&A (you don't wanna know)    Phil and his signed piece of brick        Dave's signature in Phil's program

     

I said bye to the band as they headed out to the venue and sat and had a drink with Phil and Laila in the bar before getting a taxi back to my hotel to meet up with Kevin. We both headed out for some dinner before deciding it was a touch too cold for the rickshaw tonight and opted for a nice warm taxi instead, which was again cheaper than the rickshaw!

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