Blog de Charlie Winston

On our way to Vieilles Charrues. It's a full bus of 13 people including my dad (aka Papa G). I think I should share a little story with you:

I invited my dad to come on tour with me for this week. To keep costs low, he decided to come from London to Paris by bicycle. I was a little concerned that he might not make it, considering that he is 64 and had not ridden a bike for 35 years, as well as recently having a hip operation. But he seemed determined and it was my bike that he wanted to ride from London (which I have been wanting in Paris since I moved), so who was to argue with the old bugger.

He told me that he would arrive on Thursday. I tried calling him during the week to see where he was at but the phone was always on answer machine. In one of my concerts at La Cigalle in June he met and befriended the parents of Camille - a brilliant singer in France. He'd also arranged to have dinner with them on Thursday night at Camille's. I was invited but had a lot of interviews and meetings that went on into the evening.

Thursday came and I finnally got a call from a very fatigued sounding father. He said 'Charlie, I can't be long because my phone's nearly out of battery and my charger isn't working. I'm stuck in a strange town called Cergy, on the outside of Paris and my map has stopped making sense. I don't have any money left and my banks cards won't work in France. Can you call one of your mates in Paris to pick me up, or look on the net and find out how to direct me out of here?'

This is a classic my dad move. Nice one dad. :-)

I was running late for a meeting with the potential directors of my next music video but couldn't just leave dad stranded in Cergy. I called the only person I new who might have a vehicle to pick him up - my tour manager - but the van was broken down. I looked online to get directions from there to my house, but they were way too complicated to explain on a phone call that was in risk of lasting only a few minutes. I called him back and he told me to look in his emails for the address of Camille's parents which was apparently somewhere on the outside of Paris. He said, 'text me the address - I have to switch off my phone to preserve the battery.' I couldn't find it but I did find the number of her mum, Florence. I called her and the first thing she asked me was Where's your father?
I explained and  she immediately said 'well, I will have to go and pick him up! We can't leave him all alone in Cergy, like a hobo!' We laughed. Very ironic. Next, was the challenge to arrange the meeting point. I said the train station in Cergy. After checking on the net she said theres three of them. We chose one. We texted dad to tell him wait at that one. Florence drove to find him. She arrived and called me to say I'm here but there your father isn't. I had heard nothing from him. She drove around in search, but with no joy. Maybe he's at one of the other stations. Station 2 - no dad. Last chance - station 3 - no dad. She drove for 2 hours in Cergy, looking for him. No dad.

We agreed that there was no use continuing to look and she should go to Camille's for dinner. Camille was waiting to cook. Half an hour later I get a text from dad. I'm in Sartrouville. Tell Florence I'll be at her house in 30 minutes. I call Florence and tell her where he is. She said 'but I've just arrived at Camille's. He's miles away from me! Camille has just started cooking. I won't be back for at least an hour (11pm) ' I said, 'don't worry. Have dinner and I'll tell him to wait for you.' I call him and he say's he's in a Portuguese bar, somewhere on her street. I tell him 'Dad, whatver you do, stay where you are and don't move!' I call her back and she doesn't know of any Portuguese bar but say's 'ok, I'll just have to look for him. Later, she calls me back to say she's looking for a Portuguese bar on her street but can't find it. As we're talking I get a text from dad to say that he's somewhere near Camille's house. Unbelievable. Papa G really is a rebel. She goes back to look for him with a good sense of humour about it all, thank god. I forgot to mention that by this time I had apologised about 20 times on behalf of the G.

I left her to do the last trip - hopefully - and put some music on. When I next looked at my phone I saw that she'd called. I tried to call back but there was no answer. Then there was an enormous thunder storm with very very big hails stones - like golf balls. Painful ones, infact. One hit my foot. I tried to call her again. No answer. I started to get a little worried. It was 12.30 and I had heard nothing for an hour. Was I going to sleep without knowing?

Finally, however, Florence called back to tell me they were back and safe. Ahhhh.

So, to accompany the crazy circus that is my life at the moment, I have these wonderful family episodes - that is my reality.  Funny how the roles between who are the parents and who is the children reverse as you get older.

More adventures to come...

Love,
Wingchung