Chapter 12.7 – The Bushweeds Autumn Tour 2023: part VII – Rags to riches, or so they say.

Rags to riches, or so they say, you gotta
Keep pushing for the fortune and fame
You know it's, it's all a gamble when it's just a game
You treat it like a capital crime
Everybody's doing their time

-"Paradise City", - Guns N' Roses

Tuesday – September 27^th

 

Early morning after their first night in the city, relatively speaking, as people who had to go to work this morning had already been at it for an hour or so.. but nonetheless. The building wasn't looking so bad from this angle and now that the sun was rising to shine some light on it.. oh, who am I kidding. It still looks old and worn and is just as awful as ever.. but it was probably both nice and modern for its era.. at some point in time...

Even though the place as filthy as frolic everyone in the band still took the opportunity to sleep out until they were fully rested and then some. Merete had to ponder for a while if she should risk going into the kitchen to make breakfast... what if she made something and everyone got sick as a result of the downright despicable state of pretty much everything in there..?

..but she was hungry, so she decided to risk any way. If she just made sure to cook it long enough... what could possibly go wrong then..? Besides, in spite of the hideous appearance of whatever it was that had stuck to the walls and the refridgerator, the oven for some reason or other, actually wasn't that dirty.. it just looked old, but was otherwise somewhat clean.. perhaps the cleanest thing found in the entire house...

 

The waffles didn't turn out half bad either, but still... it was do and dare! Here's to not getting sick and having to spend the night at the hospital instead of playing a show...

 

Gerda was just a tiny bit shameful as she woke up, and felt like sitting alone on the bed for a while, pondering, before she dared venture out to join the others.. They couldn't stay here, even if they were only meant to be in town for a short while to play their gig and move on, so she had to make things right by finding them a better place to spend their next night..

 

Kajsa wanted to check up on Sam to see if he was ok.. they had given him some flak yesterday about his driving, though rightfully so, she still wanted to make sure everything was alright. It appeared to be no problem with Sam, as he was already up and ready to go into the kitchen to sit down and play some computer games.. and Kajsa just couldn't help but to once more be appalled at the state of the bedrooms..

 

In the meantime Gerda had dared venture out of the bedroom to sneak past Kajsa and head out to try her luck with the breakfast, while sharing her shame and concern to Merete.. She made a promise that she would immediately go on her computer to browse Simb'n'b once more to see if anything better was available.. within a decent enough price range of course. Nothing could be worse than this dump, she thought..

 

When Kajsa came out to eat, she had the same suggestion, not knowing what Gerda just had told Merete.. they had to get out of there ASAP, before they ended up contracting a disease just from breathing the air of that place...

Even Sam who had the whole time tried to keep positive about to the group had to admit that the place was trash.. Gerda still felt humiliated as she silently went around the table to do everyones dishes, before sitting down on her laptop to start looking...

"Hey guys, I think I found something..." Gerda said from down on the floor. "Judging from the pictures, it looks squeaky clean, and the price isn't half bad either. It even says it has its own balcony for making food outdoors.. only downside is that it's right next to a road with heavy traffic, so there's going to be a lot of noise and pollution.. but surely, it can't be worse than this..? There's number on the page.. I'll give them a call.."

It would be an exaggeration to say that Kajsa was impressed, because she wasn't, as they shouldn't have ended up here in the first place if only Gerda could have been a little more critical and not just going with the first and worst choice she could find.. but at the same time, she was feeling a little better now when she saw that Gerda atleast took the initiative to try and fix the situation.. and yeah, it was probably like she said.. there wasn't much that could be worse than this, so it could only go one way now..

 

Gerda and Kajsa didn't hesitate one second to get out of there as soon as they had reached an agreement with the host to rent this new apartment for the following night. Their new apartment had a little less of a central position as they had to drive out of the main downtown area to reach it, but that was irrelevant as long as the place was clean and tidy...

As soon as everyone was back in the car again, it was time to go.. bye bye dump Gerda thought to herself, imagining that the best thing that could happen to it now was to just let it burn, before building something new and better on the lot.. the place in this state was unlivable, and had detoriared pretty much beyond repair.. it was surprising that the electrical wiring still worked somehow and that the place hadn't just caught fire already...

The host had told them that their new apartment was just by the busiest road crossing in the city, "Denmarks Square", and from their location they just had to drive out on the main road again to head westwards across the Newstead bridge, and then once they reached the crossroads make a right turn towerds Sunshine Bay.. they just couldn't miss it...

 

"Ok, so we just follow the road the same way we came into town, past this spaghetti junction and then..." Gerda began.

"Then make a right turn towards Sunset Bay.." Sam chipped in, trying to help..
"No" Kajsa said from the front passenger seat, "You drive across the bridge.. and then make a right turn towards Sunshine Bay..."

"Right.. right, got it.."

 

"Yeah, yeah.. I think l see it now. She told me it was the tallest building in the area.. It has to be the brown one almost straight ahead there.. so I just make a right turn at the next intersection."

"Yes... how did we make it this far again..?" Kajsa wondered as they crossed the bridge..

 

It was just up this hill, and to the right, and then again the first one to the left after passing the hedge. They just couldn't miss it..

--

 

Made it! ;) Now they were all eager to head inside to see what new was in store for them.. was this apartment really better than the previous, or had they ended up in yet another dump? Oh, I bet you can feel the tension. ;)
 

 

Merete had already managed to catch a glimpse from the pictures on the SimB'nb ad that their new location had a relatively new and modern stereo, and if there was one thing the world couldn't get enough of it was good music and partying.. everyday and any time, there was always a reason to party, and getting out of a dump was definately one...

 

"Well, this wasn't so bad" she thought upon entering the apartment. "Clean, simplistic, but tastefully decorated, modern and sleek.. " It was a completely different world compared to the junkyard they just left behind.. she could even feel a slight lemon like smell underneath her nostrils as if the room had just been cleaned.

 

Well, this was perfect! Let's turn on the stereo and dance! ;)

Sam didn't need to look to hard to find the new apartment. All he needed to do was to follow the sound of hip hop music being blasted at full volume.
"Heeey, Sam! Look at this place! Come on join the party! Let's dance!"

Sam wasn't really to keen on dancing, even though both Gerda and Merete asked him to join in.. The apartment was nice and clean, sure, but he would much rather break it in by playing some computer games and leave the dancing to the girls...

Kajsa was the last of them to check out the apartment after having stood outside for a while just to gaze at the surroundings. This was a city, by the coast, yet it was surrounded by mountains on almost all edges. It wasn't quite what she had expected, if she had to be honest. Sure enough, they had some hills surrounding their hometown too, and if they went to the mainland to Cyme Ixotic they could see some mountains around the town, but none where as close to the city as here..

 

Once inside though, the first thing she did was to walk directly over to the stereo to change to her favourite classical tunes before she could allow herself to join the fun.. This hip hop music was much to monotone and simplistic in nature, with its typical lyrics about women, expensive cars and other such things.. That was not for her, she would rather let loose and do the smustle dance to the intricacies of an extensive piece by Simard Wagner...

Somehow the other band members (except maybe Sam) had no objection to this and still danced along happily. They had with time gotten used to how this worked.. when Kajsa decides on something, that's usually how it goes... and, well, whatever floats their boats.. the most important thing now was that they were out of that nasty old hellhole and not also not stuck in a metal cage on wheels and had finally had a day off to have some fun. ;)

Of course, since they had already traveled so far to get here, they wanted to spend the rest of the day to check out what the rest of the town had to offer. They didn't know excactly where
to go, but Kajsa had noticed this park next to a lake right in the middle of the downtown area on the way there, and suggested they go there for a start.

What Kajsa didn't know, but would soon enough find out, was that inbetween the trees of this park was an area of stone and concrete simply known as "The Festival Grounds". On rainy days it was usually only a place one would hurry across, but on this like this one with the sun shining, it was usually a place of celebration and life – something which the inhabitants of this city really enjoyed too. ;)

After parking the car by the sidewalk, Kajsa spotted this concrete slab among the trees and led the gang in that direction. It looked to them as if this was the centre of the city, where most things would be happening during daytime, as they got closer and heard the music blaring from the speakers and the howls and the screams from the temporary ghost house.. yes indeed, they had to have discovered the citys festival grounds. ;)

Running onto the festival grounds. If the band had read up on some facts about the city prior to their arrival (which they hadn't done of course..), they would've known that the small lake by the festival grounds is known as the little Lungstead lake¹⁾ and that until 1926 it was connected to the larger Lungstead lake via a short strait, but as the city grew the strait was filled in and replaced with an underground culvert system.

Kajsa felt proud of herself now that she had led her band this far. This was as far south as any of them had ever been before, and it already felt like they had been on a real adventure. They were already more than halfway through their tour and though the response they had gotten while playing on the venues had been mixed and the audiences had been small, they had still managed to gain enough reco
gnition to become more well known around this part of the country. She thought she could already hear people on the festival grounds saying their bands name....

 

This could only mean that a bright future was ahead of this band, if of course, they could stay clear of one of the dangers that loomed that had lead to the downfall of many a great artist... This band liked to party, there was no doubt about it, and Merete already felt like she wanted to warm up before tonights concert by having a drink or two... but there was no such thing being sold at the festival grounds, so she would have to wait which was probably for the better. ;)

 

Not very surprising, it was the front woman of the band that everyone really noticed the most, locals and local paparazzis alike, while the rest of the band so far was a little more anonymous still..

"Has Gerda Botnen from "The Bushweeds" come to our town!? And visiting our festival grounds!? I can't believe it.." the locals gasped in shock, joy and awe.. Kajsa was right, she could hear the name of her band being spoken, but as she was usually sitting behind the drum kit at every show, it wasn't her name that was on everybodys lips...

 

..but that didn't stop her from partying and dancing to the music. Also, there's another thing about the people of this city, which you may notice from this picture.. they really like fireworks. ;) The festival grounds is already lined up with them, because once a year in november they have their annual festival of lights with a massive fire works show right there at the festival grounds.
    Unfortunately since the band visits in september, we're about a couple of months to early to witness the show, but the city is waiting for it and is prepared.. of course, the city council will use any opportunity it can to light up fire works, so it's not only during late autumn, but usually also after the local football team has had a home victory.. and that's another thing about this town. Do not badmouth the local football team, unless you want to leave town with a black eye or two! ;)

 

On the other side of the festival grounds behind the ghost house Sam has asked Merete for a slow dance. Sometimes even the front figure of the band has to accept being pushed aside as Gerda stands there glancing at them, hoping to get her turn to dance with Sam as well.. I just hope that there won't be any romance brewing in the band, because that's not really something I want to see, but then again.. but then again, I suppose if some trouble should arise, they could always look for a new keyboard player.. or bass player.. it's not like it's uncommon for bands to undergo line up changes during their existance.. or worse, split up due to "creative differences".. be that as it may...

Well, anyway... Kajsa got some recognition too as this local woman finally noticed that she was standing there dancing in front of the bands drummer. She probably had the time of her life now that she eventually realized that it wasn't just one band member hanging out, there were more of them. "Did the entire band just now choose to hang out at the festival grounds at the same time as me!?" Oh poor lady, she was having the time of her life. ;)

 

Gerda got some more recognition as this woman passed her by and wanted her to join in for an eating contest. Not from the one she had hoped to get it from, but it was what she got..

 

So she might as well join in.. atleast she was certain she was going to win..

 

..and Kajsa was still dancing happily along, basking in the sunlight from the paparazzos flashing camera.."Yes, you may have this photo.. how do I look? Will you print it on the front page?"

That's what Kajsa hoped, but there is of course the odd chance that the paparazzo would find this story more interesting..

Gerda didn't get any recognition at all now, nor did she win the eating contest as victory went to this woman on the left who was super excited to have beaten a celebrity and won an entire months supply of blueberry pie...

She wasn't going to let that kill her mood though.. what would she have done with all that pie anyway? So she went on to do some dancing on her own, while Kajsa had moved on to critique how the decorations of the festival grounds.. she wasn't very impressed... "Generic, mass produced cheap decorations! It's the same everyewhere we go! Disgusting!"

..and hey, what do I see? Here's a guy where their band merchandise already! Why didn't you notice him Kajsa? :P Interestingly he seems to be the most unaffected by the bands presence, as i
f it's an everyday thing for him to have bands hanging around here and there..

..but Kajsa has no time to notice him, because they have a show to play, so it's time for her now to round up her band once more and head to the venue.. all the band members are ready to go as the bus the venue has ordered arrives to pick them up, except of course..

Gerda. Still dancing happily by the ghost house.. even without having a dumpster nearby she still manages to be the last one to get that they have to leave, and Kajsa is forced to shout for her once more..

 

"I'm coming! I'm coming! Jeez, what's the hurry all the time!"

Well Gerda, you have a concert to play.. is being the frontwoman already getting to her head? ;)

After having told the bus driver to honk a few times to make sure Gerda knows she has to show up, Kajsa now contemplates to instruct the bus driver to just drive and leave her behind as the band heads to the venue to rehearse and warm up before the show. Maybe that will teach her a lesson...

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Footnotes:

1) The little Lungstead lake (Norwegian: Lille Lungegårdsvannet) is a real lake in the city of Bergen, Norway