An unexpected meeting
By Len Morgan
I've met more people over the last nine months
(walking my dogs) than I've met over the last 20 years living in
Hullbridge. There seems to be a friendly atmosphere (almost wartime
comradery) did we need to endure such adversity to bring out the best in
us? There must be a million stories out there...
I’ve not left home other than dog walking, most
of the people I’ve met recently have been on YouTube.
So, I got to seeking old acquaintances from my
youth. In my teens I was a singer with
a pop group in Barking, ‘Tony Nelson & the Colts’ we played local pubs,
clubs, & Weddings, but we split up in the 60’s and went our separate
ways. I hardly remembered their names,
but slowly through the mists of time, they began to return. It’s quite a process trying to remember a
forgotten name:
I start by picturing
faces, and when I have a likeness firmly in mind I begin to compile the
information I recall, adding little details as I go. Then two days later, in the middle of the
night, I wake up with a first name ‘youreeka’.
I write it down then a few weeks later I read what I’ve written and the
Christian name just pops into my brain by osmosis (the gradual, often unconscious, absorption of knowledge or ideas
through continual exposure rather than deliberate learning). It’s not a fast process, it takes weeks but
eventually, it comes. What can I say, some people have quick brains, mine works by
slow assimilation.
So with a name in mind, I Google it and I’m
astounded at how many people have the name ‘Paul King’. So I trawl through the entries, looking for a
UK
resident, view pictures looking for somebody my age, with vague similarity to
the 15-year old I knew 60 years ago.
All those old fogies, why couldn’t they have stayed
young & handsome like me? Then I
look in a mirror. So, I gave up and
went back to walking the dogs, maybe I’d try the other members of the band when
I get time.
June said, “the kids are getting tired of the same
old walk, let’s take another route for a change!”
“Okay, to be honest, I was thinking along the same
lines.”
So, we varied our route, wishing everybody we met a
good afternoon, as usual.
One chubby old baldie said, “Aint you Tony Nelson?”
(stage name).
I stopped two meters away, “How d’you know that?”
Then I looked closer ”Stevie Oliver?”
“That’s me,” he said. He was the group’s bass player.
“Can’t believe you live two hundred yards away from
me.”
“The others don’t live far away. Paul King has a guesthouse in Shoebury, and
Glen Dethridge has a string of pet shops in Essex,
If you can play rhythm we could reform the old group…”
“You’ve stayed in touch with them?”
“Of course, we meet up on Skype on a regular basis, here’s
my email,” he produced a piece of paper, got a pen Tony?”
I produced a pencil. Now when Covid is over we plan to meet every Thursday for a Jam session.
June still want’s to know who this Tony Nelson is!
Len Morgan