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| Paul at MPL on July 8, 1986. Photo by Petra |
My friend Katja and I arrived in London on July 5th. It was foggy and raining heavily. What a way to start your summer holiday! Little did we know that this was going to be
our greatest stay in England ever! After
the usual “sight-seeing” (Abbey Road, Apple, etc.) we went to MPL. The offices were being redecorated and two
workers were painting the windows on the first floor. They laughed at us watching them in the rain
but said, “Come back on Tuesday. He will
be in. “We didn’t really believe them, but there seemed to be some hope for the
next week.
On Monday we went to MPL early in the morning but found out
that Paul wasn’t going to come that day.
It was still raining in London and we spent the day hanging around some
cafes and restaurants.
Tuesday we me our friends at MPL at 9 am. It was nice to see the whole “gang”
again. There was Sheri, Liz, and Lianne
from the USA, Mikoko from Japan, Sabine from Germany and some others. The weather was dry! Just a perfect day for Paul to come!
By 12:00 our hopes were fading and by 12:30 we were about to
leave, but suddenly Liz screamed, “There he is!” None of us had seen the blue Mercedes coming
around the corner. Paul and Linda were
in it, but I didn’t even see Linda. Paul
jumped out of the car. I was desperately trying to find my camera and a photo I
wanted Paul to sign. I found the things,
turned around, and found myself standing right in front of him! What a thrill! His hair was very long again (Even longer
than in the “Press” video). He was
wearing a grey suit and a yellow tie.
Soon he was surrounded by fans.
Linda had stayed in the car and Sabine asked Paul, “Where’s Lin?” Paul looked for the car but it had already left. “Eh…she had to go somewhere else!” he
said. As usual he had to sign many
autographs and looked into our camera for pictures. “I’m in a hurry as always! Just a quick one!” Paul kept chatting while writing
autographs. “Where are you from?” He
looked at Liz, who said, “California.” “Oh,
California Dreaming!” he said. Sheri
gave him a book to sign and said, “Do it nice please!” Paul looked at her kind of surprised, “I
always do it nice!” Then a construction
worker with a very dirty apron appeared and held the apron up as if he wanted
Paul to sign that too. Paul pointed at
it and shouting, “No, I’m not going to do this!” We all laughed. Then Paul told us again that he was late and
went in. He greeted the receptionists
and went up the stairs.
To us it all seemed like a dream. We couldn’t believe it, especially those of
us who had seen him for the first time.
Mikoko went to the nearest phone box to call her family in Japan!
About an hour later John Hammel came back with the blue
Mercedes. Linda wasn’t in it
anymore. John parked the car in front of
the MPL entrance and got out. As we were
watching him we didn’t see Paul coming down the stairs. He popped his head out the door asking John, “Have
you got the car down there?” John gave
him a sign and Paul came out, saying, “I’m late as usual, I’m in a hurry.” Some people were still trying to get
autographs. Paul said, “I’m just going
to do two!” He counted loud as he
signed, “One…two… how many did I say I’d do?
Three? Four? Actually!” After doing the fourth autograph, he waved
goodbye to us and got into the waiting car.
Then he was off.
Katja and I spent the rest of the week either waiting at
MPL, HandMade Films, or Ringo’s London office.
No success.
For the second week we had booked a bed and breakfast place
in Sussex. Katja had never seen Paul’s
farm and she wanted desperately to see it.
We knew Paul didn’t like fans to come to his place, so we wanted to be
very careful that he wouldn’t see us anywhere.
After the hectic week in London it was nice to be in the quiet little
village where Paul lives.
The first morning we started very early. We reached Paul’s farm at the time we were
sure the McCartney’s were all asleep. We
took some photos of the “Waterfall” gate and the pool house. It’s a very idyllic place. After breakfast we decided to have a walk
around the village. Katja went past the local
school when she heard a very familiar voice behind her, “Hey Jackie, where are
you going? I’ll take the car down…” She turned around and saw Paul standing in
the middle of the street talking to friends.
She tried not to look at him but looked down so that he didn’t recognize
her. And he didn’t. He was too busy talking to the people at the
school. Linda had stayed in the
car. It was another blue Mercedes, but
not the one with the MPL number plate.
Paul was driving on his own. He
had jogging trousers on and was wearing a shirt. Later that day Katja and I were sitting in a cafe
house when Paul, Linda and James came by in the same car. Paul had obviously picked the boy up from
school. Again they couldn’t see us. James was telling them about something and
they were all laughing. They looked like
a very happy family.
The Paul we saw in Peasmarch wasn’t the same Paul we met in London. He just looked like a happy family man, not
at all like a “pop star.” The local people
treated him like anybody else and it as fun to watch him taking James to school
every morning. He always played with the
other kids, joked and talked to the other mothers. In fact he was the only daddy among a crowd
of mothers.
On Saturday there was the annual village fete. It was mainly for kids and took place on the
meadow near the school. Katja and I had
a look around. There were some funny
competitions. When I passed the raffle
table, somebody said, “This bottle of champagne was donated by Paul McCartney. It’s very special.” Of course we both bought a book of raffle
tickets (unfortunately we didn’t win the bottle). A lovely old man asked us if we could help
them fold the raffle tickets and we agreed to do it. Just when we were sitting there folding
tickets, Linda, Stella and James arrived.
Linda looked very good in casual clothes. She greeted some of her friends and talked to
the people at the raffle table. James
was holding her hand. The old man said
to us, “That’s Paul McCartney’s wife and his son. He’s very like his father.” Really, James looks so much like Paul – every
expression on his little face is like his dad.
He looks much cuter than in pictures.
James was wearing a blue jogging suit and a t-shirt saying, “My Dad went
to London and All I got was this lousy shirt!”
Stella went around the place with a friend. She has ginger hair and doesn’t look like
Paul at all. Linda left soon leaving the
kids at the fete. She kissed them both
goodbye. We secretly watched the two
Macca kids till they left too. James
always hung by his sister’s arm. He was fascinated
by some of the games for children.
Stella and her friend always had to join him.
That was our last day in Sussex and on Sunday we went back
to London. Monday morning we were back
at MPL – where else? Soho Square is
definitely our favorite place in London!
We were told that we had missed Paul twice last week, but we’d had some
great experiences too so we were too upset about it.
