It was the 27th of July 1969, The funeral was much the same as any other really, The four all-bearers all immaculately dressed from head to foot in black, Slowly strode in perfect time to "The Thresh-hold Of A Dream" by The Moody Blues, The small but respectful congregation lined either side of the path leading to the tiny freshly dug grave at the far end, All with clasped hands and heads bowed. It would be obvious to any onlooker that this was to mark the passing of someone very special.
As the small casket was lowered into the ground some of the congregation sobbed, The possessions of the deceased were now in full view, A small book, walking cane, hat, and a few other bits and pieces.
Yes, It was just like any other funeral really, All except every thing was tiny, Everything had bee painstakingly hand made including the coffin. The strangest thing about the whole scene was the coffin was only six inches long, And the body inside was a blackened rotting pear.
The six residents of 7A Queens Road were an odd bunch to say the least,They were from every walk of life, Nick was a very well spoken upper class pilots son from Farnborough just outside London, John was a six foot two obese scouser who worked in computers, The others had no idea what computers were really, only that they provided the endless supply of paper to draw on the back of. Tony was a Yorkshire lad who worked for Cadburys making instant mashed potatoes, It was called "Smash" and every cupboard in the flat was full of it. Steve was just loaded, His Dad owned a few Hotels and he didn't do anything accept pull endless wads of cash out of his pockets, Roy and Phil were the only ones with long shoulder length hair, They had been mates ever since they were kids, They were the most important of all as they scored all the drugs, They were the only ones who did not look like police.
It was late Friday afternoon, Steve, Roy and Phil had just got back from town, As usual they had been to "The Old Shambles" in the center of Manchester, This was where all the Musicians, Students and Hippies hung out. They had been there to get the weekend shopping, On this occasion six tabs of "White Lightening" an ounce of bush and three cases of beers all set for the coming weekend.
All three were now sat in the front room of 7A laughing and starting to drift away, The remaining three tabs had been placed on a plate, A scrawled sign on the kitchen door read "Your Tea is in the oven", The others arrived home from work at various intervals, went straight into the kitchen without a word back into the lounge and said "Hi Guys".
The usual party games followed accompanied by beer,sweets and Pink Floyd. Later on we would normally end up in the back garden on the lawn, At the end was a small orchard with apple and pear tree's, On this particular evening all the tree's were laden with fruit and you can imagine that this was a source of amazement for us.
At some point someone shouted, "Hey guys look what I found" It was a deformed pear which looked just like some strange little guy, The thin end was bent double and looked just like a comical head and even had a little face and nose.
Everyone was fascinated by this little guy and everyone fell in love with him, Needless to say when we went back inside we took in with us, Hey! he ain't got a name and he's butt naked, someone shouted, Let's call him Brian, "Yeah Brian the Pear, let's make him some clothes".
Before the morning came Brian was resplendent in his new attire, black tank top with silver stars, bright yellow bow tie, two piece Levi suit and even a tiny black cap with a hole in the middle, (To accommodate Brian's stalk you see)
We all loved Harry and when he wasn't asleep in his shoebox house he was placed on the mantelpiece so we could all see him, One day we were all sitting smoking spliffs and drinking beers and Stuart went to say hello to Brain, Hey look guys Harry's turning BLACK! After we worked out this was not a change of race we figured poor Harry was DYING!, We put him in his bed in his shoe box house and did all we could for him but poor Harry just got softer and blacker until we decided he was dead, We made him a tiny coffin and laid him out dressed in all his best clothes, And this is where we came into the story.
I think you may agree that this story is over the top, And you will also understand why Andy Mac named us "The Crazy Gang", There is however a strange twist to this tale, About thirty odd years later I knew someone who bought 7a Queens Road and had converted it back to a single house, It was amazing to see the place again, I looked around the house and then we went into the orchard, I remembered Harry's funeral as if it was yesterday, Making my way to the exact spot where we buried him I was stunned, From the ground had grown a beautiful stout pear tree! I thought of the Moody Blues track we played at Harry's funeral, "As new life will come from death, Love will come at leisure, Love of love, Love of life and giving without measure, Gives in return a wondrous yearn, Almost sinned, Live hand in hand, And together we'll stand.......On the threshold of a dream.
This little ditty is just one of my magicwardrobe websites crazy but true stories. Crazy Gang? lets face it if we were all as crazy as this we wouldn't have to worry about the rain forests would we?
Ride On Brothers.http://www.magicwardrobe.co.uk
As the small casket was lowered into the ground some of the congregation sobbed, The possessions of the deceased were now in full view, A small book, walking cane, hat, and a few other bits and pieces.
Yes, It was just like any other funeral really, All except every thing was tiny, Everything had bee painstakingly hand made including the coffin. The strangest thing about the whole scene was the coffin was only six inches long, And the body inside was a blackened rotting pear.
The six residents of 7A Queens Road were an odd bunch to say the least,They were from every walk of life, Nick was a very well spoken upper class pilots son from Farnborough just outside London, John was a six foot two obese scouser who worked in computers, The others had no idea what computers were really, only that they provided the endless supply of paper to draw on the back of. Tony was a Yorkshire lad who worked for Cadburys making instant mashed potatoes, It was called "Smash" and every cupboard in the flat was full of it. Steve was just loaded, His Dad owned a few Hotels and he didn't do anything accept pull endless wads of cash out of his pockets, Roy and Phil were the only ones with long shoulder length hair, They had been mates ever since they were kids, They were the most important of all as they scored all the drugs, They were the only ones who did not look like police.
It was late Friday afternoon, Steve, Roy and Phil had just got back from town, As usual they had been to "The Old Shambles" in the center of Manchester, This was where all the Musicians, Students and Hippies hung out. They had been there to get the weekend shopping, On this occasion six tabs of "White Lightening" an ounce of bush and three cases of beers all set for the coming weekend.
All three were now sat in the front room of 7A laughing and starting to drift away, The remaining three tabs had been placed on a plate, A scrawled sign on the kitchen door read "Your Tea is in the oven", The others arrived home from work at various intervals, went straight into the kitchen without a word back into the lounge and said "Hi Guys".
The usual party games followed accompanied by beer,sweets and Pink Floyd. Later on we would normally end up in the back garden on the lawn, At the end was a small orchard with apple and pear tree's, On this particular evening all the tree's were laden with fruit and you can imagine that this was a source of amazement for us.
At some point someone shouted, "Hey guys look what I found" It was a deformed pear which looked just like some strange little guy, The thin end was bent double and looked just like a comical head and even had a little face and nose.
Everyone was fascinated by this little guy and everyone fell in love with him, Needless to say when we went back inside we took in with us, Hey! he ain't got a name and he's butt naked, someone shouted, Let's call him Brian, "Yeah Brian the Pear, let's make him some clothes".
Before the morning came Brian was resplendent in his new attire, black tank top with silver stars, bright yellow bow tie, two piece Levi suit and even a tiny black cap with a hole in the middle, (To accommodate Brian's stalk you see)
We all loved Harry and when he wasn't asleep in his shoebox house he was placed on the mantelpiece so we could all see him, One day we were all sitting smoking spliffs and drinking beers and Stuart went to say hello to Brain, Hey look guys Harry's turning BLACK! After we worked out this was not a change of race we figured poor Harry was DYING!, We put him in his bed in his shoe box house and did all we could for him but poor Harry just got softer and blacker until we decided he was dead, We made him a tiny coffin and laid him out dressed in all his best clothes, And this is where we came into the story.
I think you may agree that this story is over the top, And you will also understand why Andy Mac named us "The Crazy Gang", There is however a strange twist to this tale, About thirty odd years later I knew someone who bought 7a Queens Road and had converted it back to a single house, It was amazing to see the place again, I looked around the house and then we went into the orchard, I remembered Harry's funeral as if it was yesterday, Making my way to the exact spot where we buried him I was stunned, From the ground had grown a beautiful stout pear tree! I thought of the Moody Blues track we played at Harry's funeral, "As new life will come from death, Love will come at leisure, Love of love, Love of life and giving without measure, Gives in return a wondrous yearn, Almost sinned, Live hand in hand, And together we'll stand.......On the threshold of a dream.
This little ditty is just one of my magicwardrobe websites crazy but true stories. Crazy Gang? lets face it if we were all as crazy as this we wouldn't have to worry about the rain forests would we?
Ride On Brothers.http://www.magicwardrobe.co.uk
1 comment:
Nice to see you here sandwich. Keep posting x
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