My addiction continues. On Sunday I wrote another 1,875 words for my new book.
Pip tells the story in his blog. he tells the story of another time travel adventure with his rock and roll star granddad - Trickie Dickie.
Yuk ! I woke up to the smell
of bacon filling the house. It was half past five. My Dad eats bacon sandwiches,
what was he doing cooking bacon at half past five ? My Dad is a doctor, he
spends his day saving lives. How could he start his day cooking and eating a
life someone else has killed ? I am a vegan.
Now I am awake I am writing
the blog. The first bit.
You know I am not clever. I am
not smart, I am not smart enough to make a smart phone work. Besides smart
phones are banned at school, smart phones are banned at school on the days I do
not bunk off. I don’t think that Trickie Dickie uses a smart phone but I bet
The Brothers Boring do.
I don’t use social media. I
know people would poke fun at things I wrote if I did. I do use YouTube, I didn’t
use it a lot but now I do use it now to listen to music. I do have an e-mail – pjohnson76349@gmail.com but nobody ever send me one. I
had one this morning.
Hi Bro
I know we are not close, not
friends as brothers should be and I know you do not even like me but I just had
to send you this.
I just loved your guitar
playing last Sunday, OMG you were amazing. I have been telling all my friends
about my talented younger brother. Now I can show them your three video’s on
YouTube – The Amazing Guitar of Pip Diamond. Where did you find that car to
film them ?
Pip Diamond you and your
guitar are so special.
Keep rocking…
Alex
What video’s ? I know what video’s but how did they get on
YouTube ? Who put them there on YouTube ?
When did Trickie Dickie upload them ? I took a look. It was not difficult to
search Pip Diamond and guitar.
There were three video’s, all
had been uploaded yesterday. THREE STEPS TO HEAVEN had already received 34,621
views. GROOVY KIND OF LOVE had 72,491 views. ORANGE BLOSSOM had 152,988. All
were increasing in number as I flicked from one to another.
Thank you Big Brother Alex for
telling me about them, without your e-mail I wouldn’t have known.
What am I going to do today ?
I am not going downstairs until Dad has gone to work and the stink of his bacon
sandwich has gone with him. I will write what I did today this evening. I think
I will probably go to school but I am going to go early, I do not want to be mobbed
by people as I go in.
I went early and now at the
end of today I can write what happened.
As I arrived WAS was getting
out of his car.
“Pip, what are you doing here
?”
“Coming to school Mr Simson.”
“Why ?”
“That is what I am supposed to
do Mr Simson, isn’t it ?”
“But your Granddad wants you,
he phoned me at home before I left and said if by any chance you turned up at
school I was to tell you to go over to his house as quickly as you could.”
Dickie had WAS’s home phone
number ? So the two had arranged for me to bunk off school again.
Pappy Newman drove into the
staff car park in his knackered old Ford Focus,
“Ah Mr Newman, can you please
do me a favour ? Can you drive Pip over to his grandfather’s home ? Save him having to use the ‘bus.”
“Of course Mr Simson. Jump in
Pip.”
This was crazy, utterly crazy.
Headmaster Simson telling Teacher Pappy Newman to help me bunk off school !
“You are not a lot of good at
Geography are you Pip ?” Pappy asked once we were on our way.
“I aint much good at anything
Mr Newman.”
“I would not say that but I
would say Geography is not your strongest talent Pip. Do you know how many
countries there are in the world ?”
“I don’t have a clue.”
“There are one hundred and ninety five countries in
The United Nations. Pip, one day you and your guitar will be a sensation in
every one hundred and ninety-five of them of them.”
“Will I ?”
“You will and so it would be a
good idea if you knew where they all are.”
It was Nan who met me. Nan
? I have kind of got used to calling her
husband Dickie but would I ever manage to call my Mum’s Mum Ruby ?
“So you are back from Barbados
?”
“I haven’t been to Barbados.”
“Africa then ?”
“I haven’t been to Africa.”
“Where have you been ?”
“Don’t I get a kiss from my
Grandson ?”
I did give her a peck on the
cheek. Dickie came into the hall.
“As you can see Ruby is back
home. She has been a very busy lady, she’s been to Thailand and to San Francisco.”
“Don’t forget Sheffield.”
“Ah yes, The Steel City. Very
important Sheffield.”
“And now I am coming with you
both on another journey this morning,” she smiled.
“Are we going in the Aston ?”
I asked.”
No reply.
I looked at Ruth, was that
really my Nan ? What was she wearing ? And what had she done to her hair !
“That’s a bit different to a
DA,” Dickie laughed.
Never mind her hair, mine was
down to my shoulders. Why did I have coloured beads around my neck ? Most certainly
my hair was no longer a duck’s arse. Not
a duck anywhere in sight but there were a lot of arses, some people obviously
thought it was too hot and so had taken all their clothes off ! Ruby, Dickie
PLEASE keep your clothes on. Pip Diamond had every intention of remaining fully
clothed. This crazy costume would be super glued to my skin.
“Who are these people ?”
“Who are they ? When are they
? We are in a place called Bethel in New York State America Ruby said.
Dickie continued. “Musically
and socially this is one of the most famous places there ever will be.”
“We are at Woodstock,” Ruby
said. “There are half a million people here.”
Why have some of them taken
off their clothes ? I wanted to ask the
question but did not want to know the answer. Instead I said, ”Where have they
all come from ?”
“All over the country to be
here for a music festival. This is August 1969, Wednesday 16th August
1969. Then organisers expected thirty thousand to turn up, half a million are
here. Here in peace and in love.”
Dickie made a fist, lifted two
fingers up out of the fist and said, “Peace and love.”
Around us hundreds copied him.
“Half a million people,”
Dickie said again. “And not a single fight, nobody was injured at all during
the three days. Just peace and love.”
“There’s a funny smell.” I
said.
“For a teenager Pip you are
very naive. That is week, pop, whacky-backy, cannabis !”
“Ah !” So that was the drugs
bit. I could see the sex bit. All around me even though we were away from the
stage I could hear the rock and roll.”
“Time to move on I am afraid,”
Dickie said. “Time to bid farewell to Woodstock.”
“I was there last week,” Ruby
explained, “in 2017, but now we are going to San Francisco fifty years earlier in
The Summer Of Love.”
“You can hold on to your
clothes, your beads and your hair. If you don’t you will look out of place.”
I liked having long hair even if
it did keep blowing in my face. Others had theirs tied with a band. Ruby
produces something and placed it round my forehead.
“Welcome to San Francisco, The
City By The Bay. Welcome to The Summer Of Love. Welcome to the most famous bridge
in the world.”
I wish I had paid a little
more attention to Pappy Newman’s Geography lessons.
“To your right Pip is the
Pacific Ocean. To your right is San Francisco Bay. Over there is the prison
island of Alcatraz. Look to the shore, look up above the buildings to the
hills. At the top is Golden Gate Park or sometimes called Hippie Park. That is
where we are going ?”
“How are we going to get there
?” I asked.
“We are going to walk,” Dickie
explained. “We are going to walk !”
We walked.
“This is one of the biggest
city parks in the world.”
There were people everywhere
but not as tightly packed as they had been in the other place. Some of them
wore clothes just like the ones we were wearing, others were naked. I started
to no longer notice who was clothed and who was unclothed. It didn’t matter.
I have absolutely no idea at
all where they came from but both Dickie and I had guitars, six string acoustic
guitars. Dickie began to strum. I had not heard the song before but quickly
picked it up and joined in.
All the leaves are brown - And the sky is grey - I've
been for a walk - On a winter's day - I'd be safe and warm - If I was in L.A. California dreamin' - On such a winter's day
I am not a clever person, you
all know that, but back in Woodstock and here now in Golden Gate Park I thought
I had a little hint about the song and what everything was about.
Stopped into a church - I passed along the way - Well,
I got down on my knees - And I pretend to pray - You know the preacher like the
cold - He knows I'm gonna stay - California dreamin' - On such a winter's day
It was gentle, it was not the
fired up rock and roll I have become used to playing and singing but I loved
it.
All the leaves are brown - And the sky is grey
Very soon people started to
gather round us and listen to the music. One girl came towards me, she took a
flower which she was wearing in her hair. She pushed the stem into the band around
my own hair. She then went to sit back down again.
The music changed.
If you're going to San Francisco - Be sure to
wear some flowers in your hair - If you're going to San Francisco
- You're gonna meet some gentle people there
I had never heard the song
before but I instantly knew every word.
For those who come to San Francisco - Summertime
will be a love-in there - In the streets of San Francisco - Gentle
people with flowers in their hair
Dickie and I played together.
The girl got up again and this time added two more flowers to my hairband. I could
smell them.
All across the nation - Such a strange vibration
- People in motion - There's a whole generation - With a new explanation
- People in motion - People in motion
Ruth had some bells, small
bells on a string. She started to dance slowly among the people. The music
changed again.
Drop your silver in my tambourine - Help a poor
man fill his pretty dream - Give me pennies, I'll take anything -
Now listen while I play - My green tambourine
I did not learn the song, again I just knew it.
Again Watch the jingle jangle start to chime - Reflections
of the music that is mine - When you toss a coin you'll hear it sing
- Now listen while I play - My green tambourine
This was beautiful. Beautiful
music and beautiful people.
As I explained before, I
completely stopped noticing in our growing audience who was wearing clothes and
who was not.
For those who come to San Francisco - Summertime
will be a love-in there
And then in an instant the
music ceased. The people were gone. Our clothes had changed. We were hoke
again.
“Dickie I need to go to school
tomorrow, I can not bunk off again. I must go to school. I have an assignment
to do for Mr Wild and I have to hand it in at his English class tomorrow.”
He thought for a moment. “Fair
enough but Ruby and I need on Friday. Friday is very important. You go and do
your English homework if you must but we have a very important journey to
undertake on Friday.”
Homework ! Does nobody know that in Year Eleven we do
not have homework, we have assignments !
So here I am again in my room
writing my blog. I am trying to get my head round what happened today and am
trying to get the music of today out of my head. I have completed my assignment
for Mr Wild, I hope he will like it. Now I’ll check how many people have
watched my three YouTube video’s during the day.
I DO NOT HAVE THREE YOUTUBE
VIDEO’S ANY LONGER ! I HAVE FIVE !
Now seriously, how on earth
did two more video’s get added. I watched them both then pinched myself hard as
I tried to stop dreaming. I was NOT dreaming. I was singing California Dreaming
!
And there was then fifth video
also in San Francisco. There was that girl putting flowers in my hair. My hair
? No it is back to normal, no flowers.
Both new video’s had only been
on YouTube for a few hours but both had received more than one million hits !
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