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

Chapter 12.6 – The Bushweeds Autumn Tour 2023: part VI – Old, derelict and dreadful..

 Monday September 26^th

 

Last nights rain had turned into rainshowers who, in spite of letting the occasional ray of sunshine through, was still doing their best to drench the small town of Pleasantview, making this monday morning seem even more monday-like...

 

Nonetheless, the barkeeper was already up cleaning the bar and getting it ready to serve the guests at his motel, and the usual regulars that would show up a little later in the day..

 

Merete was the first band member to wake up, feeling surprisingly fresh and well rested, even though the beds were admittedly of a cheap kind and the mattress was just a little to hard.. and though she knew that another long – and judging from the sound of dripping water from the gutters outside – rainy day in the car was ahead of them, she was still feeling very optimistic about today and the future for herself and the band..

 

..before she walked out of her sparsely furnished, but relatively well decorated room to occupy the only shower on the lot, leaving the remaining band members waiting outside by one of the small tables, the only one of them that was under a roof... It was pretty clear that the owner had been cutting corners here and there to save money, such as on furniture and bathroom facilities..

Nothing in excess! And judging from the shrieks and moans coming from inside the bathroom, he was probably looking to save a few pennies on the electricity bill too..

As Sam was the last one to use the shower, he definately felt it.. it remined him of how his dad and his sister had pranked him for his 10^th birthday, by turning the kitchen and laundry room faucets on full steam, using up all the hot water just when he was about to shower.. this was pretty much the same feeling...

 

..after everyone was clean and fresh, everyone but Sam sat down to eat each their plate of yoghurt for breakfast from the motel room refridgerators. While they sat down eating, Kajsa made an admittance that if she wasn't in a band, she would've chosen to be a painter instead, maybe even studying art at the local university college in their hometown, and maybe one day she would, but for now her focus was solely on the band and them making it big, hopefully..

 

Sam, who has had enough of cold stuff for a while, said he wasn't feeling hungry, and instead went downstairs to talk to the barkeeper about.. the weather... "Is it always grey, cold and rainy in this town?"

Apparantly that question hit a sore spot in the barkeeper. They were just unlucky to come here on the one day of the year where it rained. It wasn't usually like this, not at all.. they didn't call it Pleasantview for nothing!

 

Right.. Well, Sam didn't excactly believe in what the barkeeper said, and as soon as the other bandmembers were downstairs they all agreed that maybe it was time to get moving again.. maybe the weather was a little better once they had crossed the mountains and made it to the coast..

 

..because there wasn't really all that much to do around here, and the weather just kept getting gloomier and gloomier. Even Merete who woke up feeling like sunshine this morning was starting to get a little down.. It seemed to them now that the place didn't at all live up to its name, and maybe it was one they had chosen to cover up that this place was nothing but a depressing small village by the foot of some mountains.. or worse..

 

..apart from the monotonous hum of the engine, the constant back and forth motion of the windshield wipers and the tires rolling across the wet road, there was a pressuring silence in the car as everyone sat there in their own thoughts while the car moved on towards the mountains and the coastline on the other side.. they didn't share their thoughts with each other, but somehow all of them felt that there was something more to this town than just being a cozy place by a river, something that wasn't supposed to be talked about..

It was only around noon, but it already looked like night was falling, and the trees along the sides of the road started to feel a little ominous.. it was as if they slowly creeped in on them from either side whispering to them somewhere through the wind and the rain that they needed to get away, because something bad was about to happen in town this night..

-----

..then followed several more hours of driving through valleys and past mountains, and stopping at yet another strange town in the middle of nowhere to stop and have a bite at some dusty old roadside inn straddled with paparazzis.. It's amazing sometimes isn't it, how they manage to creep and crawl their way into the most distant and unavailable crevices of this world, with their cameras and notepads always at the ready to make life more miserable than necessary for a traveling group of people only seeking to entertain people and perhaps make a little cash from it... I'm telling you, celebrity life may just be a tad overrated.. and these guys aren't even there yet..

..there were a couple more valleys and some road tunnels they had to pass, before they finally were back at the coast... The town of Pleasantview and whatever was about to happen, or perhaps happening there right in this very moment, was for them now long gone.. who knows what it was or what it wasn't, but maybe it would one day be one of those things that someone would decide to write a book about.. or something...

The weather hadn't improved much on the way, as they had hoped, but atleast the landscape had opened up a little bit.. the trees weren't as intimidating out here, and the valleys seemed a little less claustrophobic, and the lights beaming from the downtown area gave them a renewed sense of hope..

 

Even though it was Gerdas car, Kajsa had ended up taking charge of who was driving when and where, and had allowed Sam to drive the car this last bit into town.. something she started to question when he struggled to keep the car in his lane on the motorway and came to regret when he was mere seconds from ramming into a taxi on his way into a roundabout..

The screeching sound of tires breaking on wet asphalt and a long car honk was heard over Kajsa shouting from the backseat...

"Sam! SAM!! You were supposed to YIELD for that car!! What the hell is wrong with you!? Can't you read signs!?"

    Sam didn't know what to say after having just missed slamming into a taxi...

"Sam!" Kajsa continued after the car had stopped abruptly choking the car engine "Just.. start the car again and get us out of here.. safely, please.... We can't be standing here in the middle of the road.. and as for the rest of the tour, I think the rest of us will take over the driving from here on..."

"..and maybe you should consider taking some driving lessons when we get back home.." Merete said after the shock had began to settle. "I know it's been a long day of driving in the rain, and we're all tired, but how could you not see that taxi?"

Sam kept silent for the remainder of the trip while he did his best to navigate the city streets to locate the Simb'n'b apartment they had rented for their stay..

 

He felt shameful, but still a little at ease that atleast there was, for some reason or other not much traffic on the city streets this evening..

"Must be due to the rain.." he thought to himself while still gripping the steering wheel hard with his knuckles and tapping the brakes lightly before every road crossing and turning his head to glance around every corner.. just in case...

 

"Well, this must be it..." he said after making a slow left turn, finally breaking the unpleasant silence that had been in the car since the near incident. "It's uh... probably nicer on the inside than it looks.."

 

Kajsa kept her mouth shut this time, but was a little disgruntled at the sight of the dilapidated building in front of them.. She had trusted Gerda with the organizing of accomodations for them, but now she had her regrets.. did she really have to do everything herself..?

 

"You know, this place really looks like a dump... " Merete told Kajsa as they were about to head up the staircase to the top floor where their apartment was.. "I know we have to rent for cheap, but was this really the best you could find?"

    "Well, uh.." Gerda began before setting her foot on the rusty staircase "..it uh.. it's probably not that bad, and it has a very uh.. central location.. kind of.."

"Yeah, central location for rats, hoboes and homeless people, probably..."

 

Sam was already pretty disgusted by the state of the building, but a little relieved he wasn't the only one who could mess up... The place smelled bad, the floor felt strangely soft in spots as of it was about to give way and collapse, and everything looked like it was just.. clad in filth and dirt and watcher knows what...

 

..and the apartment inside wans't much better. How do walls even get to look like that? They had the appearance of having belonged to a heavy chain smoker on steroids running a slaughter house at the same time. The entire building gave the impression of having been built by, and furnished with, pieces and furniture found on the nearest landfill! Never in his life had he seen or imagined such a filthy, downright disgusting place...

..and that couch! He would probably need to buy a new pair of pants just from thinking about sitting on it.. gross!

 

He had agreed to join for a chat with his friends back home as soon as they had arrived in the city, and once signed up, he just had to let them know what a whole they had just moved into.. The best thing about this place was that after they had spent a couple of nights here and played their show they would leave and never to return.. atleast he wouldn't..

Gerda wasn't feeling to proud now that she had witnessed first hand the state of the building, but it was to late in the day now to find something better as they were all pretty much dead tired.. She tried to cheer herself up a little bit with the fact that atleast the rooms had bunk beds in them.. rusty old bunk beds that were probably left overs from the nearest prison.. or asylum or something.. well, as long as the house didn't prove to be haunted too, she could atleast convince herself that she had found somewhat of a bargain..

Merete was following just behind her to pick the top bunk, thinking it might have the benefit of being free from cockroaches and other insects.. and she didn't see any spider webs, so it had to be.. not good, but alright.. somewhat..

 

Kajsa went in to inspect the room.. She thought it might have been some kids room or something once given the hideous art on the wall, but it looked like it hadn't been in use in decades..

She didn't want to go to sleep in that room, so she went into the open kitchen and living room to brave sitting down on the chair to watch the news on tv before checking out the master bedroom to see if it was any better.. She knew how everyone in the band like bunk beds, so she told Sam that he could have the remaining one in Gerda and Meretes room..

Not much to cheer about she thought, but Sam was still Sam, and sometimes that was all it took for him to feel like he was living in a party, despite the grim appearance of the circumstances..

"Heey, top bunk! Maybe this place isn't so bad afterall.." Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Sam. ;)

 

After having made sure that everyone else were now allocated to the kids beds, the only real adult of the band (atleast that's how she saw it right now) went for the master bedroom, hoping to find something that looked a tiny bit better than everything else, but... instantly regretted her choice.. She didn't want to think about the slobs that had to have lived here before, and she could only hope that the bedsheets weren't as dirty as they looked and that she would surive the night without getting lice or being bitten by something nasty...

 

"Uggh.. do I really want to do this? Maybe it would be better to just sleep on the floor..."

 

Ah well, I hope you can still get a good nights sleep somehow.. don't let them bite to hard.. ;)

 

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