What really strikes me is that Renata Frankowska was able to walk through the front gates of Friar Park and onto George's property three separate times! I always thought that those front gates had been locked since George first moved in. Why did he leave them unlocked? He was so fortunate that no one crazy came in during this time.
It also strikes me that I read all the time that George wasn't friendly to fans, that George disliked them, etc. I think this blog has proven that theory to be incorrect. George was so sweet to Renata. He signed 12 autographs for me and posed for countless photos. He stood outside and talked to her for a long time.
When you read this story, please keep in mind that English was not Renata's first language, and some of the grammar and syntax are incorrect. I purposely kept things as she had originally written them because I wanted to keep her enthusiasm intact, and I felt that if I corrected all of her errors, it would take away from the story.
This first appeared in the April 1977 issue of "With a Little Help From My Friends."
How saw George and how I got into Friar Park
Renata Frankowska – Poland
I wish I was a poet and could write everything about what
happened in beautiful poetic words, but although I am not a poet, I’ll try to
do my best!
I came to England on Friday, the 20th of August,
1976. I came alone, but a Polish lady,
my mum’s friend, was waiting for me at the airport. Her husband gave us a lift home, so soon I
was I the Swiss Cottage in London (I lived in that lady’s flat for almost two
weeks when I first got there).
My dad came to London later than I and phoned me from the
hotel. He came to Swiss Cottage and
helped me move to the hotel where he was staying. It was a beautiful hotel, called Elizabeth
hotel, not far from Harrods. It was in
Indian-Arabian style, a bit mystic, very colourful. I moved there, and we decided to go to
Henely the next day. What else could I
do?
So we got up very early the next morning, went to Victoria
Station and then got the bus to the goal of our trip – the Holy Place –
Henely! I was very excited and nervous, and was
sitting very impatiently. Oh, my God
always when you go to Henely, there’s this special kind of feeling and
excitement. God only knows what can
happen there.
So we were going there, through Maidenhead, the beautiful
M-4. The weather was beautiful- sunny,
blue sky and very hot. And finally we
were in Henely. Oh, I was so nervous and
I “saw” George everywhere. We started to
go up the hill through Hart Street and then we were standing in front of
George’s beautiful property – Friar Park!
As always, beautiful, very silent and empty, as if nobody was living
there.
And this warning sign:
“Private Property. Trespassers
will be prosecuted. Beware of guard
dogs…” Doesn’t sound too nice. When I was standing there, so nervous,
scared to move on, scared to go inside, I decided that this time, I will risk
everything I have. If they throw me out,
if George throws me out himself, if the dogs bite me or not, I have to try. I have to go in. My dad blessed me, said many warm words,
encouraged me and I went in.
You can imagine how scared I was going through Friar Park,
waiting for somebody to throw me out or for dogs, but nobody seemed to be
around. I passed Harold’s house and was
moving slowly up to his home. Slowly because
I was so scared I could hardly move. I
could hear the roar of the wind through the trees and the beat of my heart
which was beating so strong and fast then!
I knew the way, as I had been there in 1973, and I knew that
I would have to go near another house, in the middle of the way, between
Harold’s house and George’s house, there’s a house – very similar to
Harold’s I don’t know who lives in that
house in the middle, but I was scared that somebody could see me and stop
me. But no, everything was all
right. And suddenly between the trees, I
saw George’s home and my heart started to beat faster as upon the house I saw a
flag with an aum. It was yellow and the
sign was red. I remember one newsletter
from the club saying that probably, if the flag is up, then the master of the
home is in!
There was a small hope in my heart and a big joy that maybe
he is in, that maybe I will be lucky enough to meet him personally, after all
those years of waiting with hope that maybe my dream will come true.
So I was moving on and soon I was standing in front of
George’s front door! I was shaking so
much. I was so scared. The place in front of the door changed a lot
since 1973 – there was a tablet on the ground (marble I think), a sort of
calendar or something, some inscriptions here and there and a man’s bust, don’t
know who he was, made from white marble.
It all looked very beautiful and mystic.
I didn’t write anything. I was
too frightened to do it. And farther, at
the right side of the home, I saw well you remember the “gremlins” from the All
Things Must Pass album? They were
staying there! They’re so nice and
sweet! At the door (beautiful door,
wooden and carved), there was a bell, a sort of a big jaw with the green marble
button in the middle. My hands were cold
and wet from fear, but I decided to ring.
I was shaking, but I rang.
Nothing. I rang again. And I heard some steps on the stairs. I wanted to run at first, but I subdued the
fear and stayed. The door opened and
appeared an Indian man (who later I found out was Kumar Shanker, a relative of
Ravi’s). I told him that I’m George’s
fan and that I came from Poland and I asked him if George was at home. He said no, George was on holiday in Sweden
with Olivia, of course, and he didn’t know when George would come back. I told him that I don’t believe him. And he said, “What do you want me to
say? Lies?” I said no, but I really wanted the truth, and
explained to him how hard it is for me to get to England, and that I was in
Henely three years ago but I didn’t get to meet George. I told him how important it was for me and
asked him to help me. But he said that
really, George was away and he didn’t know that date of his return. He advised me to write a letter to George
from London and ask if he would see me, and if George answers, it will mean he
“wants” to see me. I was feeling sorry,
but what could I do? Mr. Kumar wasn’t
too nice, anyway. I mean he was a bit
cool. He apologized to me for not
showing me the house but he said he couldn’t – it wasn’t his home. I asked him if I could take some photos of
the house and park but he said that if I respected George I shouldn’t do
it. So I said goodbye and started to go
back.
I really do respect George very much, but I was taking
photos while I was going back. I knew I
shouldn’t’ have been, but you never know if you will be able to go there,
inside the gates, ever again. And it was
so important to me. So I took some
photos. Well, I was coming back so sad
and disappointed, but it was my first day of staying in England and I had two
months in front of me, so I had a sweet hope that I would see George anyway.
My Dad and I decided to stay in Henely for the weekend, as
the weather was fantastic and we both love Henely very much. So we stayed in the Red Lion Hotel, near the
bridge and the Thames, and spend two really nice days in Henely, visiting the
town, walking by the river, drinking tea
in one of those sweet Henely teahouses
Henely is really a nice place – little, sweet, full of flowers and trees
and beautiful little houses, gardens, coffee houses and small pubs. There’s a fantastic atmosphere in Henely,
especially on the weekends when people get together in the market place near
the Town Hall, and there’s a fantastic observation place to see the cars. I think the atmosphere in the town and on the
river, where people swim and have their own small boats – it is so good because
of George. You know that he lives there
– his castle reigns over the town and it’s his town.
So, as I said before, we stayed for two days in Henely and
then had to go back to London to arrange my school and hostel. My Dad advised (God bless him for this!) to
go to Henely again, on Wednesday, to see if George is back I wasn’t sure what to do, if I should go or
not, because I thought that if they see me there again, they would think, “oh
it’s her again! She is hanging around
again! What a nasty girl!” And that
they’ll say that to George. But I
decided to go – you can see George in the street, in the car at least.
So we got up early again, and from Victoria Station through
Maidenhead, we went to Henely. The day
was as beautiful as you can imagine – bright sun, blue sky, and nice smell in
the air. Just great!
It was Wednesday, 25th August 1976
From London, I took all the presents for George and the
photos to sign and some things to show him, so I had many things with me.
We were in Henely about 12:30pm, and went straight to his
property. And again, I was standing in
front of Friar Park, scared, nervous and shaking. And then, my beloved Dad said that I should
do something, not just stay, shake and wait for no one knows what. He gave me
that advice, and it was a good idea, really!
Because I was corresponding a bit with Janet – Harold’s daughter,
George’s niece – he advised me to go and knock on Harold’s house and ask for
Janet. Of course, I wanted to see her,
but I was so absorbed in waiting to see George that I couldn’t think about
anything else.
I decided to do it.
Of course, I stood there half an hour scared before I went in. I knocked on the door,. Soon, the door opened and there appeared a
tall young boy (about 15-17 years old) with an earring in one ear. I told him that I came from Poland. I am George’s fan, and I asked if George was
at home. He said he didn’t know if he
was in. Then I asked about Janet and it
turned out that she had gone on holiday to Wales. And suddenly, he shouted to somebody inside,
“Father! Renata has come!” So you can imagine how surprised I was then,
and I thought, where does he know me from and that my name is Renata? But then, I thought that he surely had to
associate Poland and a girl writing to Janet, so that must be how he knew my
name.
Soon at the door appeared a man who turned out to be
George’s brother, Harold! He was very nice and kind to me and we were talking
for a long time. First of all, he told
me the most important thing – George was back in England, but went to London on
business. Oh God, I was so happy to hear
that! I remember Harold saying, “What a pity George isn’t in. He went to London. You could see him and see the park and
home.” I was surprised when he said
that! It seemed he didn’t mind talking with me and taking his time, and that he
could be helpful in that way. We were
taking for a long time about a lot of things.
It was so nice to talk to someone who knows George personally, lives
next to him and to get the information from someone who knows something for
sure. Amongst other things, he told me
that Pattie wanted to come back to George and at the time, the divorce wasn’t
on the way; he told me that Olivia is Mexican, not Greek, and he told me that
on the cover of George’s next LP called “33 1/3” will be his dad and the
gremlins! And, it was true!
I took some photos of Harold in front of his home and car,
and also I asked him about George’s illness.
He said yes, George was ill and many people were coming and asking about
his health, hanging around the Park, and it was nice of them. At the end of our talk, Harold said, “You
know what? Come again at 4:00. Maybe George will be back, so you could see
him.” Oh, I was so surprised again! I asked if George wouldn’t mind that or get
angry, and he said no, he wouldn’t mind – never. He doesn’t mind seeing the fans. I thanked Harold and I ran to my dad with the
joyous news! And I was really
running! When I told him what Harold had
said, he was very glad and said that I should buy a present for Harold to repay
his kindness and help. So we decided to
buy him an elegant bottle of Scotch whisky.
And then, I sat on the bench near George’s home and I was waiting. It was about 2:30pm, so I had plenty of
time. Oh it lasted ages! Every moment I corrected my make-up and hair
and I had to smell like the whole perfume shop, although I don’t think that
anything can help me. I wanted to look
my best. To crown all- a bee stung me on
the leg and it hurt and looked terrible, but it was worth suffering and I
didn’t care that much about it.
I was praying all the time to be able to see George, to meet
him, and I was trying to remember everything I wanted to tell him. I was so excited, nervous and shaking again,
that I started to forget English completely!
I was waiting and waiting and nobody came in, so I was sure that George hadn’t
come back from London yet.
It was 4:00 and time to go to meet Harold. I crossed myself and went in. I knocked at Harold’s home and he came
out. Immediately I asked him, “Did
George come yet?” But he said “come on.” I asked again, “Tell me – is George at
home? Did he come from London?” But he only said, “Come on come on” So, I
thought, and was almost sure, that he wasn’t back yet. I gave the present to Harold, he said of
course that it wasn’t necessary and we started to go through Friar Park, walk
through it.
To tell you the truth, I have never seen such a beautiful
place in my life. Composed with such a
good flavor, full of beautiful trees and flowers, shrubs. These wonderful great lakes, waterfalls… There’s a small boat on one of the lakes and
Harold said that George sometimes swims in the lake. During the way to George’s home there’s a
beautiful home almost hanging on the rocks which is George’s tea-house. We were passing lakes, flowers, small
romantic bridges, small houses, trees, and I was so charmed and moved when I
was going through the park I thought how much I wanted to seei t, how many
times I imagined myself walking through here, and I thought about all my
friends who wanted to see it so much, and still I couldn’t believe it was true
I was there!
We stopped sometimes and I was taking photos, and then we
stopped in front of a cave. Harold
wanted to show it to me, and I was so surprised. Why so much favour for me, why? We went down into the cave and I thought that
I was in a Disney film. I’ve never seen
a place like this! Water everywhere and
around it—sidewalks made from stone and the same with the banisters, but
imitating wood, beautiful stalactites and stalagmites and small tunnels and it
was all made from beautiful white-grey very shiny stones. Harold told me it wasn’t natural, it was all
made especially for George. There was
electric light in the cave – here and there, small bulbs giving off violet light. It looked as if it was ultra-violet
light. Unfortunately my flash broke so
none of my photos taken in the cave turned out.
Harold also told me that the whole Park flowered and became
beautiful since George moved in, and that George had a lot of work to do with
it, as the lakes had been very dirty and neglected. About the cave, he told me that the gremlins
were found in this cave and that Kumar Shankar repaired them and takes care of
them now.
We were nearer and nearer to our goal, and suddenly, I saw
George’s home in all its beauty! When I
looked on the roof, I started to laugh as there was a pirate flag on the mast! Harold laughed too, and said George has
several flags – including the Union Jack and they changed it just for fun.
I wasn’t all that nervous during my way to George’s home as
I was almost sure he wasn’t there.
Harold didn’t mention a word about it.
I started to be more excited, more nervous the more we were coming near
George’s home.
I was taking many photos, and we found ourselves just near
George’s home. And again, I saw the
gremlins and I smiled and took a photo.
During that time Harold left me and went inside the home. I looked there, and behind the window pane, I
saw the outline of a well-known face, but couldn’t see perfectly. “Oh no” I thought. “It’s impossible!”
I was staying there almost stiff from fear, looking at the
ground, and when I looked up again my heart stopped for a moment – somebody came
out – and IT WAS GEORGE!!!
I was so shocked that I completely forgot English! I didn’t know what to say! I was standing there shaking, excited – my heart
raged and I was completed stupefied! But I was fascinated. He
was beautiful. Here he was, in front of
me, in reality, not in a dream, not on film, but – in reality! I was waiting 8 long years for that sublime
moment! I caught hold of myself and
said, “Oh George, I can’t believe it. I
can’t believe I can see you in real life!”
But George only smiled gently, shrugged his shoulders and said in his
beautiful Liverpudlian way, “I’m just like anybody else.”
And again – emptiness in my mind - - everything I wanted to
tell him, through all those years – all my thoughts and feelings, all I even
wrote and prepared on paper to tell him – everything had gone! I still was sure
if this was a dream or not so I pinched myself a few times quite strongly to
make sure. It hurt so it was true! It was incredible. My dream came true!
George was still smiling, gently and nicely and he looked at
me. I finally said, “I don’t know what
to say. Can I take some pictures of you?” George looked at my camera and said in a
sweet way, looking down at it and taking it in his hands, “Oh, what a nice
camera. “I have seen this funny
expression on his face, very boyish and sweet many time sin “Help” and “A Hard
Day’s Night”.
“Oh, yes, my father bought it for me. But my flash doesn’t work.” I said.
“You don’t need a flash” answered George.
“I know I know, “I said and my voice was shaking, I mean it
was trembling. I asked him again if I
could take pictures and he said, ‘Yeah my brother will do it. “He looked at my
bag, a plastic bag with his picture on it.
He picked up and said, “Who is this?”
“It’s….it’s you, George,”
I said, and George smiled. He
moved on a few steps and then stopped as if waiting for me. I left my bags, gave my camera to Harold, who
was still standing near us, and I stood near George. I looked at what he was doing and he put his
arm around me! I was shocked again! I could feel the warmth of his hands o my
shoulder.
I thought, “Why couldn’t I do the same?” So I looked at George and wanted to ask him
for
permission, and I asked, making a gesture as if I wanted to embrace him, I
only said, “Can I….?” But he said in the
middle of my sentence, “Sure, of course.”
I put my arm around him, very gently.
I was so scared! But then, I
touched him a little bit stronger. I
felt his ribs. I could tough him, and it
was great! I said, “Oh George, you’re so
thin!”
“I know!” he said with a pleased voice, as if he was pleased
that he was so thin. I think this moment
is seen in the picture where George embraces me and I him.
I remembered that during taking photos the face should be to
the sun, not the sun behind the head, so I said, “Face to the sun please,
George,” and I started to turn him around, gently holding his arm. He tried to restrain a smile. He often used to do it. And Harry took another photo.
Then, George kept asking me how I got to England, was it
difficult to get here, how they let me go, so I explained everything to him. In one of the moments he started to laugh and
said, “Why do you repeat ‘socialist’ country and ‘capitalist’ country?”
And I said, “Don’t laugh, George, if you came to Poland, you
would see how different is our country from your country.” He asked me how long I will be staying in
England. “I’ve got a visa for 2 months,
but maybe I will be able to stay about year.
You see, I would like to study English, take English courses, you know,
and I’ve got a house – a room in a special house for girls, for foreign
students, so maybe I will be able to star until June.”
“Do you have a school yet?” he asked.
“Well, we were looking for a school in Peter Street in
London but you see there are many pornographic things all around soo…” I shook my head and looked at him
significantly.
“Nooooo…..” George
made a very wry face, hearing it.
“So we were trying to find another one.” And then he asked me, “Where will you be
living during that time?” and making a
roguish, but beautiful face and grinning, he looked at me with the grinning
eyes and said, “In the Red Lion?”
I was very embarrassed, and couldn’t stand his look, so I
felt I was getting red and I looked down and said, “No, not in the Red Lion,
but in Hampstead.”
He smiled and asked, “Aren’t there any schools in Hampstead?”
“Well, there’s one but it’s very, you know expensive.”
“Expensive, yeah…” repeated George, lost in thoughts. I forgot to say that when we were talking
about Poland, how I got to England, George said something about our government
and that it should give us more freedom, and I loved the way he said “government”
with a heavy, Liverpudlian accent.
And then Olivia came.
George looked at me, then at her and said gently, pointing a hand at
her, “This is Olivia.”
“Hello!” she said, smiled and grasped my hand.
“Hello! I know you,
you know, from pictures. “ I said to her.
She brought a packet of cigarettes for George (I don’t know what kind of
cigarettes, but it’s seen in the pictures –a blue small box near his
feet). I looked at her. I think she’s beautiful. I was very surprised when I saw how thin and
tiny she was. I didn’t think she was
that thin. And she turned out to be far
more pretty than I thought she was.
Completely without any make-up, with beautiful dark skin, really
beautiful black shining hair and black eyes.
She was beautiful. I wish I was
here.
George smoked a cigarette (looking fantastic with it! It’s stupid but I always wanted to see him
smoking). And I said, “Oh George, I’ve
got so many presents for you.” George
looked worried and said, “Oh, you shouldn’t do that, you don’t have to bring
anything. It’s not necessary. You gave me so many things already.”
“Why not?” I wanted
to give you something.” I said and
started to hand him the presents. He
looked like an uncomfortable child, but looked at the presents and kept asking,
“What’s this? What’s this?”
I was explaining to him what everything was. I brought several presents, and among them
were – Christ head-sculpture, made from gypsum – reminded me of George himself;
and Chopin’s record, and a box of chocolates, some viewcards of Poland,
etc. He was so sweet, standing there
looking at presents and asking, “What’s this?”
When I told him, for instance, that this is Chopin’s record, he
repeated, “Chopin’s?!?!”
You know, you can see him watching the presents in that
photos where he is along, squats upon the packets and trying to explain
something. In his left hand, he holds
some viewcards of Poland which he started to look at. When I gave him the chocolates he asked again,
“What’s this” and I said, “It’s something sweet for you.” And then, I remembered, that yet I have to
thank him very much for all the cards he wrote to me, for the Indian books I
received to me in October 1975! So I
said, “Oh George, thank you for all your cards.
I still got them. I have them
with me, left them in London. And thank
you very much for your beautiful records, “Extra Texture” and the single.
”
“I was the single ‘You’”? asked Olivia.
“Yes” I said, “and the LP Extra Texture.”
“Beautiful, aren’t they?”
asked Olivia and smiled.
“Yes,” I said. After I thanked him George said, “Yeah.”
“How did it happen George, with this record?” I asked.
“Well, it was just sent t you that’s all,” he said
modestly., trying to finish the subject as soon as possible. But I didn’t want it to end so I said, “But
why?” I was afraid that you would think
that I was asking for it or something.”
“Of course I knew you weren’t asking, not at all.” Denied George. “I just thought that you sit there, sad and
alone in your room, and that it can make you happy.” Another shock! What would you say? Oh, I was so moved, I felt the tears pressing
against my eyes, but I subdued myself and said “Oh, thank you George, you’re so
good…you are too good to people.”
“oh no” he said.
“Yes you are. Why are
you so modest?” I asked.
“I can’t still think….I…I…I…”
“Yes, of course, but why so modest? You know that you are deep thinking, good,
thoughtful man and beautiful,” I added
quieter.
“Oh no…” he said casting down his eyes, looking very
embarrassed. “You shouldn’t say
that. I don’t like it when people say
that.” And now I was embarrassed.
And then I took out a bundle of photos of him from my bag,
and said to him. “I’ve got some picture of you to sign. Will you sign them please?”
“Yes, of course,” he said.
And poor George set to work, as he had to sign several photos! He squatted, took the ball-pen from me and
looked at the photos and started to sign them.
I looked at hm. He was
beautiful. Far more beautiful than I thought
he was. When I saw him for the first
time I was surprised that he was so thin, so slim and so very tiny. I knew he was tiny, but didn’t expect that so
much! I squatted too, next to him, so I was near him while he was signing the
photos. I was admiring his eyes. Very big, bigger than in photos, almost black,
with many, many black incredibly long lashes, surrounded by black, splendid brows. His eyes not only divine but so soulful, deep
thinking and sweet. When he was looking
at me, his eyes were warm, really warm, friendly and good, apart from the
moments when he was talking very seriously.
I don’t know what made his eyes so warm and friendly when he was looking
at me. Maybe he liked me a little bit?
Maybe, but why? Anyway, it was so nice
and sweet and I felt the warmth and joy in my heart when I looked at him. He was so kind, nice and good to me and so
friendly! I felt as if we had known each
other for years! I looked at his
face. Slim, with a beautiful nose and
sweet wonderful mouth! He moistened it
often as it was dry. And his teeth –
white and wonderful. But his smile was
the most beautiful thing, just after his eyes.
Really George’s smile. I mean
when he smiled you knew it was George Harrison and when he smiled, always very
sky, sweetly and openly I thought that the sun shined all over the world! His hair was curly, but shiny and
unfortunately covered his great brows. He looked healthy and relaxed. He wasn’t as thin and tired looking as in
1974. I was very glad about it, as I’d
heard about his illness. In his ears he
wore very small diamond earrings, and of course, there was a “collar” on his
thin and long neck. Besides the collar,
he had a medallion on a gold little chain.
When I asked him what that was he said he had the Yogi Brapupate or
somebody (I can’t remember) inside.
George wore light beige, very smart shirt and similar colour
trousers, girded by decorative belt with the Dark horse buckle. On his feet he had on Indian sandals. He looked fantastic and as always he was very
clean, neat and smart. I was observing
him. Oh, what a spirit feast for
eyes! I think he felt that I was
watching him but was pretending that he didn’t know. But very often, while we were talking, when
he noticed that I was not listening only but also watching him, he became more
shy and shyly cast his eyes down and smiled in a special, cute way. And it was so sweet and nice! So, as I said before, he started to sign the
photos. And it was so great and funny as
he was asking me where were they from.
When he saw a photo from “Help” he said “oh, Help!” There also was a photo from “Magical Mystery
tour” and one, bought from the Harrison Alliance. That one is George looking tired and dreamy
with a bit of beard from about 1968.
Personally, it’s one of my favorite photos.
Harold, who was standing near us, took the photo, looked at
it, and said, making a wry face, “Isn’t it a horrible picture?”
“Why? Horrible? It’s beautiful! So natural!”
I said. George looked at Harold,
at me, smiled and didn’t know what to say.
George liked one of the photos. It was a photo which was on the badges in
England. He has a mustache, beard, about
1971, really fantastic one, so when he saw it he said delighted, ‘Oh, that’s
nice!” I started to laugh a bit, as it
was nice. Among the photos there was
also one taken about 1970 also from the Harrison Alliance, of George with very
long hair, beard, mustache, looking down, where he looked like Jesus
Christ. I love this photo. And I said, “In this photo you look really
like Jesus Christ.”
“I’ve never seen him.”
George said seriously.
“Oh well, of course, I know you’ve never seen him, but you
can imagine him, can’t you George?” I said.
“Yes, but I imagine Jesus quite differently. I imagine him as a blond, with blue eyes, and
none of the people on earth can identify with him.” George said.
I felt stupid, but it was the whole George! Finally he signed my 12 photos. Then I asked him to sign especially prepared
for this occasion, a memorandum book, and he wrote, “to Renia love George
Harrison, England 1976.” He also drew an
aum sign by his name. And it was so nice
of him to write “Renia” not “Renata,” just the diminution of my name. And it was so nice of him to remember
it. I also brought from London lots of pictures from his U.S./Canada tour of 1974, photos taken by Pat, Kris, Kay, Joy
and others. There were about 40 ones of the
best of a huge numbers of photos from the tour.
He never saw them, so I thought he would like the idea. I said, “I’ve got some pictures of you taken
by my friends during your tour in America.
Would you like to see them?”
“Yeah,” said George.
“How did you get to kow the friends? By pen-mail?”
asked Olivia.
“No, you see through the Harrison Alliance.” I said.
“Yeah, the Harrison Alliance,” said George with a smile.
“Why did you do the tour during the winter? There was a lot of snow and frost.” I said.
“You see, it was very difficult..” said George.
“You had to cancel one concert in Cleveland.” I said.
“Yeah.”
“What about the next tour?
I’ve heard of it.”
“Yeah. I was working
on an album, but I was sick. Did you
hear about me being sick?”
“Yes, my friend wrote me about it. But what happened, George? Was it poison or something like that?”
“Yeah, something about the food. It lasted three weeks. I was sick…” said George making a wry face
and gesturing.
“Oh God! But it’s all
right now?”
“Yeah. And I was
making an album.”
“What will be the title of it?”
“33 and third…you know the speed of the record.”
“Oh yes, your brother told me about it.” I said.
“and I had to cancel the tour…” said George.
“When will you go?”
“I don’t know yet. I’m
making an album now.”
“For how long?”
“About ten days.”
“Ten days?” I said,
disappointed that he could leave in ten days.
“Yeah”
“And then?”
“Then I’m going to America and to India.”
“For how long?”
“Til January probably.”
“Oh, til January,” I said, disappointed again. Yet I had a visa for two month only! “Please George come to Poland…”
“Oh yeah, it’s very difficult to go to countries like
Poland.” And he said something like “You
know, the government won’t allow me to tour there It’s very difficult.” I don’t have to say how I felt! Oh I forgot to say that when Harold was
taking photos and Olivia came, I wanted to have a photo with both of them, and
told them so and then George said to me, “You in the middle.” I was so embarrassed that it is even seen in
the picture.
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