Paul Album Signing HMV London Friday 18th Oct.
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hey C O'S hehe
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I know it is late coming but here is my report on meeting Macca at this signing: Meeting With McCartney 18/10/13 As it got nearer and nearer the time for this signing I was still undecided how early I should go. I talked to people on facebook and tried to find info from HMV but no-one seemed sure how many people would get to meet Paul or how anything was to be managed. In the end I decided I would have to sleep the night on the street to be in with any chance. At 13.30 the day before the signing I arrived in London complete with my wife, my 8 year old son, my sleeping bag, my chair and a bag of food. I was pleasantly surprised to see only about 20 people in the queue. I set up my chair and settled down for a rather long wait. The man in front of me was Japanese but had travelled from University in Liverpool for the signing and the father and son behind me had both travelled from Stockholm in Sweden just for this. Behind them were a group of 3, one of whom had just found out he had won a gold wristband. There had been 60 gold wristbands allocated for competition winners. I had tried to win one of these. I entered a competition on Twitter by Paul and another one on Absolute Radio; I was not lucky enough to win one myself. About 4pm there appeared to be quite a lot of activity in the area where we were waiting (by Boots) and no-one was quite sure what was happening. The manager from the store come along the queue and explained that until 8am next day HMV was not involved as such but she also explained to us that although there would be black wristbands issued she did not know how many or if any would get to meet Paul. Therefore any wait we were prepared to do had to be on that understanding. There was loads of speculation as some people had been told that 100 would see Paul; others heard that 60 black wristbands would be issued and others had heard that he would sign for one hour only. We all interpreted it in our own way. Finally the activity was explained, we could not stay queuing where we were ? I hasten to add that we were currently queuing along an outside wall of Boots under cover in a small walk through precinct under a shopping centre, with access to tea/coffee/burgers/muffins/sandwiches etc ? an ideal place in the warm and dry??We had to move outside to the street?..not just by the buildings, no we had to move to the roadside of Oxford Street. The staff and security were good, they ensured we all moved in the order we were queuing in and all retrained our place the queue. We were all unsettled and unhappy. However as we settled down and started to sort ourselves out we all started chatting to each other and passers-by were intrigued as to why we were there. My wife and son were still with me at this time and we decided that before they left that my wife would sit in the queue and my son and I would go and get a hot meal and drink. It was to be my last true break for nearly 24 hours. At about 6pm the Manager of HMV supplied all those in the queue with pizza. There were about 45 people at this time and it was very thoughtful of them. My wife and son left to go home at this time. I thought that the next 12 hours would drag but actually quite a lot was still happening. Rush hour kicked in and everyone wanted to know what we were protesting about, these questions continued well into the night. At 11pm a lorry drew up and started to unload and set up the stage for the next day. This took nearly 3 hours. By this time even the waffle shop we were queuing outside had closed and nearly everyone else was asleep. I could not sleep and just kept reading, listening to music and posting on Facebook. 3.30 to 5am was the hardest time; I really questioned whether I wanted to do this! Between 5am and 7am we all went to get breakfast and to stretch and generally find some sort of normality. We had to pack all our goods up as we knew HMV would shortly be opening and issuing the wrist bands, although we still had no idea how many. By now the queue had doubled in length and was approx 150. Just after 8am the staff of HMV came out and started to put a wrist band on each person in the queue in order. Once we had a wristband we could then enter the store. This kept us all in our queue order. We were taken straight down to the basement and this was where we were to remain for the next 7 hours. Initially it was not too bad but there were an extra 125 people down there (that was how many wristbands issued) and after an hour the air conditioning packed up. In addition to this customers were trying to browse down the aisles too. Eventually the atmosphere became unbearable. We could leave at any time and come and go as we wished. However we were warned to only pop in and out as we needed to preserve our place in the queue and if the crowds outside led to a Health and Safety situation then the doors would be shut and we would be locked out ? wristband or no wristband. At about 12 noon we heard about the concert being played in Covent Garden at 1pm. We were all desperate to go but equally worried we would get locked out and not actually meet Paul. I popped upstairs and there was hardly anyone around, the friends I had chatted to all night and I all discussed at length what to do and in the end we decided not to risk it. Others did leave and went to the concert. A while later I went upstairs again and there were people everywhere, it was nearly impossible to get through security and back to the basement. At 2pm all the gold VIP competition winners met upstairs and queued ready for the signing. I did not see Paul arrive but he arrived slightly early as we all heard his arrival with a very large cheer from outside. Once Paul had started working though the VIPs we were taken upstairs in batches of 10 ready to queue for our signature. I was really quite excited by this time, it seemed as if I was actually going to meet him. Paul was in great form and seemed genuinely happy to meet his true fans. He had a smile and a handshake for everyone. As I approached him he offered me his hand and shook my hand. He then took my album to sign and asked me my name. While he was signing we chatted. I told him I loved the new album and my favourite track was Alligator, he seemed pleased to hear this. I then left very happy. I went straight home believing Paul would be signing for another hour or so as I as No 25 out of 125 with wristbands. However I found out afterwards that after me he only did about 6 more signatures as the hour he was staying for was up. There were some very unhappy and upset people left behind. Although HMV staff had made it clear all along that no wristband was guaranteed I think we all believed that once the wristband were issued we were going to meet Paul. I actually queued for 30 hours and made some good friends and enjoyed a sense of camaraderie that I have not experienced before. In all a good experience.
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Wow! You certainly are dedicated! One question--you said between 5 & 7 am you went for breakfast. So you had no trouble leaving alone & getting back in line as your wrist bands were numbered, right? I've never met Paul, but I'm afraid I'm too old to handle the long wait overnight. You were very lucky to get in to see him.
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Nancy R:
Wow! You certainly are dedicated! One question--you said between 5 & 7 am you went for breakfast. So you had no trouble leaving alone & getting back in line as your wrist bands were numbered, right? I've never met Paul, but I'm afraid I'm too old to handle the long wait overnight. You were very lucky to get in to see him.
Hi, No the wrist bands were not numbered, but we all made friends in the queue and looked after each others places if we wanted to go off to get food or toilet etc. I think at 46 i am feeling like i am getting too old now!
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That's great that you all looked after eachother & yep...add me to that aging list.
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Boggle:
Nancy R:
Wow! You certainly are dedicated! One question--you said between 5 & 7 am you went for breakfast. So you had no trouble leaving alone & getting back in line as your wrist bands were numbered, right? I've never met Paul, but I'm afraid I'm too old to handle the long wait overnight. You were very lucky to get in to see him.
Hi, No the wrist bands were not numbered, but we all made friends in the queue and looked after each others places if we wanted to go off to get food or toilet etc. I think at 46 i am feeling like i am getting too old now!
I'm 12 years older than you and young at heart, but the body says "No!"