Aaron Connor (25 page)

A clock was sitting on a
bedside table. The clock said that it was 3:00pm. It was then that
I realised how much has happened in that one day. There was still a
lot more of the day left to have a look around the Festival. Lying
on the bed was a copy of the Festival brochure, inside the brochure
were lists, days and times of all of the acts that were going to
play during the week long run of the Festival. There were hundreds
of fresh bands that I hadn’t heard of. My first instinct was to
look to see if Purple Skull were playing. I was disappointed when I
couldn’t find them on any of the lists. After having a good look
over the brochure, I handed it over to Lizzie to flick through.

We didn’t stay inside the Tepee
for too long though, as we wanted to catch some of the action
inside the Festival. Once we knew where our accommodation was, we
left it and ventured out of the V.I.P sector and into the main area
of the Festival.

The only was I can describe The
Occasion, is that it was completely and utterly mad. It was
bonkers, in a cool way though. There were tents pitched up
everywhere, all of them had bizarre and interesting things inside
of them. I saw one tent with lots of people sitting crossed legged
on cushions, they were all smoking from huge shisha pipes. The
smell of the many flavoured tobaccos filled the air and they mixed
to together to create a strangely wonderful scent. We passed tents
selling beads, crystals, incense and herbal medicines. Another tent
we passed was full of mats for meditation and praying.

This world was mad, unusual,
different and fantastic. I loved every second of it. The main thing
I loved about these people is that we had something in common. We
were both considered social freaks, even though we all have the
same blood pumping through our veins. Just because we have
developed our own culture and way of life, the mainstreamers want
nothing to do with us. I almost felt a sense of unity as I walked
through this brilliantly beautiful world of spiritual expression. I
felt such an emotional connection with these blokes, who had
created an entire Festival in which they can celebrate who they
are.

Outside of these iron walls,
these kinds of people would be scorned, frowned upon and mocked. In
here, everyone who enters can be whoever they really are in their
hearts. It was so thrilling to be apart of this social revolution.
We saw eccentrics, transsexuals, homosexuals, pagans, beatniks,
female impersonators and many more people allowing their real
personalities out. It was all so modern and liberal. No one cared
about how others looked. No fights broke out over race, religion or
sexuality. There was no hatred. There was only acceptance and
peace. The world inside these walls was how the world should be
outside the walls. The world needs more love. The world needs less
hate. The world needs more unity. The world needs to move on from
dated philosophies. The world needs less censorship. It’s all good
for me to say these things, but what difference would it make? Oh
well, it’s always nice to dream and hope that such a utopia will
appear. It probably won’t. The hope that it might happen puts my
faith back into humanity. The only time I would lose hope
completely is if, B.E.N stops all programming to show the nuclear
emergency broadcast.

We kept on walking through this
collection of brilliant eccentric wonder, all the time completely
fascinated by it. Music was playing loudly from all directions. We
passed stages where bands were playing their hearts out. We passed
couples of all sexualities kissing on the grass. We saw people
creating art on canvases with many spectators watching them
work.

The two of us were so
completely absorbed by everything that, at first, we had no idea
that there was a man walking beside us trying to gain our
attention. He was shouting at us and waving his arms. Eventually he
came up to us and put his hand on my shoulder. I turned to see a
very broad face, covered in scars, with shortly cut hair and a
brutal expression.

“
Mate” he
said, he spoke in a very deep voice and spoke with a strong cockney
accent “Are you Aaron Connor?”

“
Yes” I
replied, “do I know you?”

“
No” he
replied, “but I know you. My cousin told me all about you. His name
was Joe. He’s a theatre director. He told me about how you got him
out of a fix up in Scotland”

“
Yes, that’s
right” I said,

“
I also hear”
he continued, “that you two are on a journey across the UK, to try
and help as many people as you can, right?”

“
Yeah”
answered Lizzie,

“
Well, I might
have a little job for you in London” he said, “for security reason,
I’d rather not tell you what is until we get into London. We’ll go
tomorrow, so you can at least enjoy the rest of the day here at the
Festival. I’m know that it may be a bit short notice, but you’d
guys would be a massive help. So, will you do it?”

I and Lizzie looked at each
other. We shrugged and turned back to the large man. The man smiled
and shook our hands enthusiastically. His grip was very firm, our
hands were practically buried within those huge hands. He put a
hand into the inside pocket of his sheepskin jacket he was wearing.
From the pocket he took out a large cigar as thick as a log. From
another pocket he took out a cigar cutter and a lighter. He cut the
end of the cigar, lit it and began to smoke from it.

“
Hold on lads”
he said, “I forgot to introduce myself. My name’s Barry, Barry
Pepper”

“
Nice to meet
you” I said smiling,

“
Where do you
want us to meet you?” asked Lizzie,

“
As early as
you can” answered Barry, “go to the car park. I’ll be there. Have
you got some transportation?”

“
Yeah” I said,
“We’ve got a Moped”

“
Cool” said
Barry, “You can follow me to London. We’ll go to my flat in Soho,
when we’re there I’ll explain what I want you two to do. Is that
ok?”

“
Sounds fine”
I said,

“
Very good” he
replied, “I’ve got to meet someone. So, I’ll see you tomorrow. You
better turn up”

“
We will” I
assured him, “see you then”

“
Right” said
Barry as he walked away.

At the time we were very happy
with the fact that we had yet another person to help. We didn’t
know what a huge mistake that would become. The problem was that we
trusted people too easily. We had no idea what it was the Barry
would possibly need a hand with, all we knew was that we were
finally going to get to see London. We walked away in high sprits,
now with something to look forward to.

On one of the stages was a Ska
band playing some Madness tracks. We stopped to have a listen as
they were good. I love being in an audience of a Ska band. Within a
Ska band audience you get two-step dancing, the jumping, the
shoving, the laughing, the bouncing and the hopping. This was no
exception. The entire crowd was pulsating to the beat of the music.
Everyone looked like they were having a bloody good time. Once
again, people of all shapes, sizes and races were all mixed
together in that crowd, all dancing with a care. Me and Lizzie
looked at each other, shrugged and joined the dancing crowd,
ignorant of the huge mistake we’d just made and how much trouble we
were about to get into.

CHAPTER TWENTY – ONE

It was getting dark and people
were heading towards a lake. The lake was in the centre of the
field in which the Festival was being held. We didn’t know why
everyone was going there, all we knew was that something pretty
cool was going to happen there. Once again we just went with the
flow and followed everyone through the maze of tents, flags and
caravans. The crowd led us to the lake where we had to cross a
temporary floating bridge to get across.

As we walked across on the
wobbly bridge, we passed a huge Mark Twain style steamboat/hot air
balloon that was floating in the lake. It was a beautiful piece of
artwork. After doing some research about it, I found out that the
centre piece in the lake is different every year. Other years
included a giant moth, a pirate ship, a castle and a London style
red bus. It’s tradition at the end of every year of the Festival,
to set the centre piece on fire and blow it up with fireworks. We
weren’t going to be there for that now because of Barry.
Nonetheless we were going to be able to see the Opening Ceremony,
which was also going to take place on this centre piece.

The bridge was horrible. Not
only did it wobble when you walked across it, it nearly capsized
because of some kids who kept jumping on it. It was made of grey
plastic and felt like you were walking over loads of petrol
containers that were all tied together. The plastic was so thin, to
keep it afloat I guess, that it bent inwards slightly when you
stepped on it. It was very unnerving. Thankfully it didn’t take us
long before we were on the other side of the lake on solid
ground.

We joined the rest of the crowd
who were gathering to watch the centre piece from the side of the
lake. The sky was still growing darker. We had no idea what was
going to happen or why everyone seemed so excited. Very soon we
were completely cocooned in eccentrically dressed people. Literally
everyone at the Festival had come to stand on this small area
beside the lake. It began to feel cramped. The thought process I
had was that if it did come too crowded, just jump into the water
in front of me. Problem solved. Having that thought in mind stopped
me from getting panicky and claustrophobic. I grabbed a hold of
Lizzie’s hand so I wouldn’t loose her. She gave my hand an
affectionate squeeze, which made me smile subtly in darkness.

Techno music suddenly started
to play from speakers at full blast. Onto the boat came several
people wielding poi, hula hoops and sticks. They all got out
lighters and ignited their items. Soon there was an incredible
display of performers with the fiery objects, flying and twirling
around their bodies in time with the music. The crowd cheered and
clapped along in time, me and Lizzie joined in as we were
mesmerised the performer’s skills. No matter what they did with the
fire, or where they put it, they were so well trained and skilled
that they didn’t get burnt even once.

It was pretty good. I’d never
seen anything like that before and wasn’t expecting it. It was mind
blowing. The act ended with one man coming out with a torch on
fire, he blew into the fire at incredible force and propelled it
forwards at an incredible distance. It looked like he was a fire
breathing dragon, it was amazing! When this man finished his act,
all the fires were put out at the same time by dropping them into
buckets of water. Fireworks set off from the boat and illuminated
the sky in dazzling colours. Soon the music stopped, the fireworks
ended and the ceremony was over.

There was much applause,
clapping, whistling and whooping from the audience. Once it had
been confirmed that it was the end of the ceremony, the crowd
dispersed once more and went back to their personal business. We
did so as well and had a lovely stroll along the edge of the lake
with our arms linked.

It was a lovely night. It was a
lovely break. It was like a very brief little holiday before going
back to our mission the following day. We had that one night all to
ourselves, to enjoy every moment of freedom and to reminisce about
all that we’ve been through so far.

I finally had a moment in which
I could really think about everything we’d done, the places we’ve
been to, the people we’ve met and the friends we’ve made. Even
though we were two very small people in this enormous universe, we
both felt that we’d really made a tiny difference.

There was a hand full of people
in the United Kingdom who now knew one fact because of us: Not all
Chavs are bad. Hopefully we’ve convinced them how much that word
can hurt their fellow human beings. I just hoped, with all my
heart, that the people we’ve come across will not look at a
“hoodie” in the same way again. No longer will they feel hatred or
fear when they see someone wearing a tracksuit. No longer will they
ridicule and make fun of us. Hopefully, they now know that we are
people.

We are people just like them.
Money and social background shouldn’t make any difference to the
relationships between us. We live under the same sky. We drink from
the same water. We walk on the same ground and the same soil. We
are all the same, no matter where your clothes were bought or where
you came from. I just hoped that this trip was really worth
something. Even now, as I’m sitting here writing these words, I’m
still not sure if it was all worth it. Only time will tell.

I and Lizzie headed back to the
Tepee after at least a few hours of wondering around. Our legs were
tired from walking and the sky was almost black. We were ready to
get some rest for the journey ahead. Neither of us had ever been to
London. We’d only seen it on the television and in films, so we
were excited to see the iconic city for the first time in real
life. Both of us wanted to be wide awake for that, so the memories
would be clearer in our minds for the future.

Wondrous things still passed us
as we made our way back. It seemed to us that this was the party
that never sleeps. More people in bizarre costumes were hanging
about in tents chatting. Some more live bands were playing, which
we could hear muffled behind the canvas walls as we walked by them.
A couple of drunken chaps wondered merrily by with no sense of
direction what so ever. Colourful lights blinded our path and good
music was deafening our ears.