Painting Wooden Houses

Lucianne, Liora and I, boarded a plane to Vancouver in the early winter of 93. We arrived in the city after a traumatic stopover at Seattle airport where the customs guys took one look at me and decided they didn't want me in their country. Luckily I had my surrogate family with me and they gave in when they realized we were all together and we really were just on vacation! We got to Vancouver and I have to say I was pretty over-awed by the sheer scale of the place. Hsving only experienced Europen cities this was something on a whole different level.

By way of kind and distant relatives we managed to slowly get to grips with the place and eventually ventured over to Victoria, the capitol of British Columbia. We were told it was more English than England and in some respects this was true, the streets were curvy not grids and the buildings downtown in the inner harbour were splendid old victorian affairs. I instantly loved the vibe of this place and of the island in general. Problem was I had arrived with just 500 hundred quid after selling all my worldly goods back in Sussex.

Luckily for me Lucianne my girlfriend had a credit card and enough good sense to find an apartment where we hunkered down and figured out what to do. The immigration had given us a 6 month visa so we had time enough to get things together. I had my guitar so I figured I could at least go busking. You need a license in Victoria, and you get a numbered badge, mine was 007 which made me very happy!

Anyway, I ended up painting big wooden houses for cash which was great plus I had a bit of busking money too so I could get by, I remember using a food bank for the first time in my life and could hardly believe how cool that was, this is all back in 93, what a civilised country Canada is.

So, one day I pick up this little blue fanzine called 'muse' run by some dude called Derek, a wonderful pro-active young lad trying to make things happen in the Victoria music scene, and in it I find a load of classifieds at the back, one of which was looking for a 2nd guitar/vocal, 'that's me' I thought. I went along and met Kathy and Stephan and we just kinda clicked straight off, it was so great to find some musical kindred spirits so far from home. We got a little set together and went out playing in the bars and busking outside the liquor store. I eventually did my driving test in Vicky and ended up driving around in a wonderful beat up old toyota corolla..what a machine!

I made some great friends in that beautiful place whom I will always remember with affection. I have been back there for a visit since but you know, life moves on and things change. I'm still in touch with Kathy and she tells me Stephan has recently shown up with a remastered version of this cassette. Maybe I'll get to hear it someday.

My visa ran out and I had to decide whether to stay or go I opted to go because I was feeling a little homesick and I knew that if I blew out my air ticket I'd become an illegal immigrant and have to work for cash for the rest of my puff with no way out of there. So that's how I ended up returning back to England for the next episode of my illustrious music career.