Sunday, San Diego day 2

After a relatively early night last night, five of us headed around the block from the hotel to get breakfast at Denny’s

My friend Frank from Phoenix and his his friend Dora arrived late last night and came over to the room to say hi after breakfast. I hadn't seen Frank since the Milan show in 2011 but we had kept in touch via e mail and he’ll be seeing the Phoenix and LA shows later on in the week. His friend Dora hadn't seen the show at all and hadn't even heard of Pink Floyd! so we had to be careful when talking about the show so as not to have her hearing an spoilers!

Dora and Frank

Gail, Joe and myself decided to head out to one of the many beaches in San Diego and ended up sitting on Mission Beach for a couple of hours. When you’re travelling around seeing shows its like you’re constantly on the go, always have somewhere to be at a certain time whether it be to meet someone, to get a train or an plane or to see a show. It was nice yesterday to just sit for a few hours without having to “be somewhere” I’m really looking forward to the 3 full days off we have between the Phoenix show and the LA show.

Its well known that the weather in San Diego takes a few hours to come good in the mornings in May and June, it takes about 3 hours for the sun to burn through the clouds but when it does its hot and clear and the beach starts to busy up, especially at the weekends. We parked the car at Mission Beach around noon and relaxed in the sun for an hour, was great to spend some alone time with Gail and Joe and just chill out.

I’ve ridden the rollercoaster on the boardwalk here a few times before and i know Gails a bit of a one for a good thrill ride however until we left the beach we hadn't seen it going round the tracks. The second i pointed out to Gail it was now running we turned to each other and decided we had to do it together.

My view from the beach!                      Woodie coaster on the boardwalk        Gail and i ready to ride the coaster

  

After a slice of pizza from the store across the street we jumped back in the car and headed to the hotel. James, Matt, Eric and Lisette were out at Ocean Beach and were about to head back too in 20 minutes time. We all reconvened about an hour later around the pool and the drinks started flowing.

My view for the afternoon                      Body shots ? No, just toe snacks!

 

A few weeks before the show id looked around online for a place to have a pre show meet up and something to eat. I’d eaten at a great BBQ place called Phil’s across the street from where we were staying(which was also across the street from the venue for tonight's show) i e mailed the restaurant but heard back that they didn't take reservations and it was first come first served. What i hadn't realised until my friend Chris messaged me was that not only was it a Sunday night, not only was there a gig on but it was Mothers Day! the line at Phil's the night before was HUGE all the time so the chances of us getting a table with all the above factors was pretty slim. As we had turned into the parking lot of the hotel the day before James had seen the Phil’s BBQ sign and it turns out that James was(and still is) very good friends with Phil!

The hotel had a real nice pool area with patio tables, pool area, Jacuzzi and a great little pub attached to the building. We decided to order take out from Phil’s and James went across to see his friend over there who kindly did us a HUGE spread of food to take out for 10 people and charged us very VERY little for it! James and i picked the food up at 5pm, we took over the patio area around the pool and everyone tucked in to some great BBQ.

It was great that everyone made it to the meet up.

Jackie, James,Lisette, Dave, Eric, Matt, Thomas, Joe, Gail, Julie, Dora, Frank.

Thomas, Gail, Joe and i all met on a Roger Waters message board that started in 1999. By the mid 90’s the board had ended but most of us had stayed in touch via e mail and always met up at shows around the world. Gail, Joe and i first met in 2002 in Dublin and this year was our ten year anniversary of meeting up.Id met Thomas a fewyears later but Gail and Joe even though knowing of Thomas through the message board had only just met today!

Myself, Thomas, Gail and Joe,

It was a great atmosphere around the pool, great food, great people and a great show due in a couple of hours. I couldn't help thinking that there were some great people missing though, after hanging out with Wendy and Chris and Robert and Phil and Greg in San Francisco i was missing those guys and really wishing they were here. Wont be long before i see Wendy and Chris again though in Chicago:) Most of all i was missing my other half Kami. We’ve talked on the phone and messaged but i really wish she had been able to make it and meet all of my friends at the shows I’m seeing. She is however going to be in Chicago and I’m soooo looking forward to that leg of the tour with her

We all sat and chatted till around 6:45 before heading over to the venue.

Julie and myself                                  Frank, dora and i                               Thomas and I