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Belgium Blog It's time for the Belgium Fuel Blog. After many months of e-mail exchanges between myself and the head of the official Metallica fan club the time had finally come for us to pack our overnight bags and head for Belgium.. Once again we hired a van from Lye Hire, also known as Bri Hire with the amount of times we've hired from them.. Unfortunately our favourite cruise-ship Lollipop was out at sea and we took control of her sister ship Choc Ice. We all met at port Bowling Green Road for our embarkation at 7.30a. We have five hours to get to Dover in order to catch the ferry to Calais at 1pm. Once again this was our first return to Belgium after our successful support tour with Megadeth.. We stowed what gear we were taking in the hold and boarded. This was to prove more difficult than we ever could have imagined due to the fact that the main passenger door wouldn't open. We had to climb over the front seats in order to open the door. Was this an ominous sign? We settled into our seats and it was time to depart. The mood was good even though there were a few tired eyes. Ed had had a gig the previous night and I hadn't slept due to jet lag again.. Choc Ice was captained by Brian with Nick as his co-pilot, Eddie, Abbz and myself spread ourselves out on the remaining seats... Nick was also in charge of the Dee Jaying Choc Ice has no CD player so it was back to cassettes with a selection that Brian and Nick had brought. Anybody remember them...?? Anyway as per usual there were cries of "what no Genesis" coming from the back row followed by moans of I can't listen to that rubbish. Snoring soon followed. After a couple of hours of travelling we pulled into the services for a pit stop, refreshments and to stretch our legs.. With this all accomplished it was time to get back on the road towards Dover. This soon fell by the wayside.. The passenger door would not only not open again but when we did finally get it open it came off it's rollers. Well, we huffed and puffed, pushed and pulled and still couldn't get it back on the roller. Nick was lying on his back on the front seat forcing the door up with his legs while we all tried to get it back on it's roller track all to no avail. There was a lady in the van parked infront of us watching all the commotion and laughing to herself at this Keystone cops escapade.. After 20 minutes we finally managed get the door back on the roller and headed for the coast. Nick was now piloting Choc Ice with Brian as Co-pilot. We pulled into Dover with a good hour to spare.. We checked in and headed for a quick snack or so we thought. Now, in the US Burger Kings are normally pretty efficient with taking your order and giving it to you.. if we waited 15 minutes for our order I think that would be giving the staff a compliment this was not the epitome of fast food. Ed was not amused either as he wanted to by a guitar magazine but the price was £5.95 I had to agree him that's almost $11.00. Anyway with our food finally on the table we chowed down and headed back to the van.. We loaded ourselves on to Choc Ice only to have the passenger door fall completely off the van.. What the F*&^. We struggled to put the door back on and once this was achieved there were chants of Lollipop, Lollipop. We boarded the P&O ferry and headed for the lounge.We managed to get a few Zees on board the ship before we pulled into the port of Calais. Nick was piloting Choc Ice and I was now Co-pilot. We had a 90minute drive to Beselare in Belgium. We had arranged to meet Bolle (head of the Belgium Metallica chapter) at the hotel in Ypres and true to all his e-mails he was there waiting for us. We checked in and headed for the show. We we're greeted by Lindsay (Bolle's wife) and Rueben and shown into the dressing room. The venue was a community hall and the support band 'Metal Militia' had already set-up. We had arrange to use part of their back-line and I was to use their drum kit. However I had decided to take my own. I think their drummer was glad I did.. Once sound-check was over we headed to the restaurant for our meal. Bolle had organised a wonderful meal for us at a local establishment. It was very laid back and seemed to take forever to get our meals. However once they arrived all was forgotten. The food was marvellous. Now it was back to the hotel to change and go through our warm ups. I was now driving Choc Ice and we headed back to the show. When we arrived back in Beselare there were 350 people at the show... What a turn out for us.. We stormed through our set with Raging guitars, Thunder drums, Pulsating bass and Seductive vocals. There were cymbals crashing, water splashing and Cameras flashing during the 95 minute set and the Beselare crowd lapped it up.. With the show over it was time to meet the fans and schmooze. Brian conducted an interview while the rest of us broke down the back-line. Photos soon followed with all the Belgium crew and fans. We made many friends that night. We said our farewells and with the time approaching 3-am it was time to head back to the hotel.. With our return ferry crossing at 3.55p we able to have a lie in, which we took full advantage of. I can only lie down for five or six hours due to the Titanium in my spine. I can can honestly say I have the Metal in me..LOL. I drove Choc Ice back towards Calais and we were getting low on diesel. Bolle had given us directions through the countryside which was very picturesque however all the gas stations were closed. We weren't to concerned we still had a quarter of a tank. Any way we thought we'll get some on the highway.. This was to be more difficult than we thought. We passed no gas stations on the E40 in Belgium and when we entered into France we felt sure we would soon find diesel. Well, we did and we went straight passed it. We somehow managed to pass the sign for gas (if there was one) and I was overtaking trucks when we passed the entrance to the services.... Okay I thought we'll surely pass another one. Wrong!!!. The fuel light was now flashing.. How ironic we had had just played a fuel show.. Would you Adam and Eve it. Not one gas station after the one we missed.. The port of Calais was approaching. Diesel would have to wait until England. Once on board the ferry we settled down with a few beers, music videos and the usual duty free shopping.. There were lots and I mean lots of college students on board and the eye candy was everywhere. We arrived at Dover and it was time to disembark. The traffic was slow moving and Ed was demanding Five live for the Villa game. We managed to tune the radio to placate Ed's request and some of Choc Ice's crew promptly fell asleep. However, Abbz was now my co-pilot and our main concern was finding Diesel. Karl: "Ah Ha. a Gas station". Abbz: "It's on the wrong side of the road Dude.." Karl: "I'll get to the next Island and turn around" Abbz: "It's blocked off" Eddie: "Villa, Villa" Karl: "Okay there has to be another one" Abbz: "How many miles due you think we have have Chap"? Karl: "I don't know. The fuel gauge is no longer flashing it's permanently on. Did you know there's an exclamation mark next to the fuel icon?" Eddie: " Pass the ball you w*&^%$" Abbz: "There's another station" Karl: "would you believe it, it's on the wrong side of the highway" Abbz: "There's an Island up there." Karl: " Okay I'll ...... not bother the Island is closed off.. Oh Shit.... Abbz: "How many miles"? Karl: "We'll have to get off at the next exit.. Eddie: "Villa, Villa, Villa" All I can say is that the next eight miles were something from a Twilight Zone episode with nervous glances being exchanged between myself and Abbz. The next exit approached and there was no way I could go back to the gas station we had previously passed.. The only option was to head down into the village which was five miles away and hope for a gas station. At last a gas station sign.. Could you imagine our faces when we pulled into the drive way only to find it was now a used car garage.. Thankfully a local chap said there was one a gas station 2 miles down the road. It was down hill and I coasted all the way. Eureka, the oasis was where the guy said it would. We rolled into the BP station and I filled Choc Ice up with diesel. Manchester City score and there's a loud diatribe from Eddie in the back. Abbz now had the wheel and I was co-pilot.. All was going smoothly on the return journey until the London car park (M25).. Ed was no longer interested in the game as it kept fading in and out and Villa weren't playing that well. It was back to cassettes and suddenly a voice from the deep "this is crap.". followed by "it's better than what we had yesterday". Any way the banter went on, discussions on Genesis's best album, the merits of AC/DC and Led Zeppelin's reformation... I think we had driven to Belgium in less time than what we were on the M25. Darkness was approaching as we hit the M40 and the mood was quiet. We dropped Eddie who was still going on about the lack lustre Villa performance off at his home in Selly Oak and continued our journey home. The time was approaching 10pm when we pulled into the port of Bowling Green road. We disembarked and Abbz and Nick headed home. Pete met me there and I loaded my drums out of Choc Ice into his car. We were home.... Holland next week... I would like to thank Bolle, his wife Lindsay, Reuben and all the people at the Beselare show for making us feel so welcome. See you all again soon. Peace from DHQ |