Jefer

Baby jefer Hey guys.....here it is! The whole thing began on the Saturday a week before the event. I had found out previously that Ewan was going to be in Glasgow doing a talk about his book. Intrigued, I decided to have a look at train times. My heart sank as I read the webpage… .it would take about 22 hours to travel from Worcester to Glasgow because apparently people don’t like going to Scotland on a Sunday.

Feeling a bit dejected I decided to cheer myself up by looking at a few Ewan sites – yummy! Then I saw the words – London and Ewan. My eyes lit up but as I read more closely they started to fade again. It was on a Monday at 7pm and my lecture doesn’t finish until 6pm…No form on transport would get me there in time. I decided to look on Ewan’s imdb page when I saw the post about the book signing. To check that it wasn’t a joke I quickly checked the Waterstones website – it was really happening!!! It was on a Tuesday, when I don’t have any lectures so I decided to take my chance and go for a it – knowing that if I didn’t I would be regretting it for the rest of my life. Not wanting to go on my own, I decided to ask my friend to come with me. She got my text up at Highbury (Arsenal) and was apparently screaming in the middle of the high street! She had to ask for the day off on Monday and by Tuesday cover had been found – she was coming!

Moving forward to the night before ED (Ewan Day!), I was feeling all cool, calm and collected until someone in my flat mentioned my going to London.‘What you going there for?’ The lad behind me asked in his slightly Brummie accent. ‘Book signing, Ewan McGregor.’ I told him shortly…Some people don’t seem to like him and whenever I tell them about it I go into as little detail as possible until I know their feelings.‘Oh, right….Isn’t he supposed to be gay?’ He asked after a short pause.I whipped round in my seat. ‘He is not gay!’ I hissed and then explained how he was married and stuff. Then he and this other guy began saying that didn’t matter and how did I know he wasn’t if I hadn’t s*****d him. I took real offence to this for two reasons – 1. He’s married with kids and 2. I’m a Christian and don’t have sex outside marriage. So I was sitting there with tears running down my face, I think it was all getting to me. I woke up the next morning at 6.05 am…My train was leaving at 7.45 so I needed to be ready.I caught the train and rolled into Paddington at about 9.45. My friend was meeting me at Oxford Circus so I quickly hopped on the tube and went to meet her.

When I arrived, I found her and we headed towards Waterstones to find out what was going on. I explained to her that we might not be allowed to take photos as other people had been to similar things and they hadn’t been allowed. We arrived to find the book at the front of the shop. Michelle ran up to the counter to ask what was going on about queueing and stuff. The staff told us we could buy the book now and then go downstairs to queue. They warned us that no photographs were to be taken.We decided not to go downstairs straight away as it was only 10.30. Instead we headed to Wesley Owen, a Christian books hop about 2 minutes north. We looked around and eventually I bought a book. Michelle told the man at the counter that we were going to see Ewan. He told us that his friend worked there and that Ewan was being really horrible and not allowing photos. Of course me and Michelle jumped to his defence, saying that if he said ‘no’ at one place he can’t say ‘yes’ somewhere else. He went on to say that last week Ewan had actually been into their store next door, which sells music. Apparently he walked straight back out when he realised it was a Christian shop – hahahhaha! It was now 11ish so we decided to head back. Going downstairs, we could see a table set up with a few copies of their book on it. We could see a few people waiting around so we asked them if they were waiting for Ewan. They said yes so we decided to join the queue. In the queue we met a nice lady and her son who were getting the book for her two daughters. As the time seemed to drag on I was feeling more and more nervous. I was flicking through the book but not really taking it in. A guy came round with tickets – I was number 20! At 12.30 there was a buzz of excitement and my friend let out a little scream! She goes ‘There he is, there he is!’ But I couldn’t see him. The queue got up and we moved fairly quickly toward them. I was feeling so nervous that when Michelle was babbling away I was just telling her to ‘shut up!’
As we got closer a woman was showing us where abouts they were going to sign and to make sure that we held it open. A big guy , probably their security guard, took the book off me and handed it to Ewan. Ewan signed it whilst he was talking to another girl and then passed into onto Charley.When the girl moved on Ewan looked up at me, smiled and shook my hand! He said hello and I honestly have no recollection of what I said back to him! I think I said ‘hi and thank you’ I was just too gobsmacked to think let alone form sentences!
Charley was signing my book. Then he looked up, shook my hand and said hello. I said hello back, thanked him for signing my book and then took it off him. As I took it I said, ‘I’ve started reading it, it’s a good back.’ ‘Oh thank you!’ He said and smiled at me again! Michelle had an absolute blast with Ewan. She handed him an envelope and told him that it was from a friend of hers who loved him but not as much as her! Then she asked him if he supported Celtic or Rangers and he told her that he didn’t really like football. As she walked away he said to her, ‘I suppose I’d better say Celtic so as not to offend you!’ (She was wearing a Celtic footie shirt.)Then it was over. What I had expected to take ages had only taken 8 minutes – from arrival to book signing. What now, we wondered. Michelle really wanted a picture on her phone so she was going to try and take a sneaky one! A lot of other people were so we thought we could. A woman who worked they walked by and Michelle told her that she had shaken his hand! She smiled and said that she saw. We said that it was a shame about the photos and she said that they were a bit miffed about it. Then she went on to say that ‘officially’ she should be telling us not to take photos but ‘unofficially’….We understood what that meant! Michelle tried to take one but just before hand you could hear a camera phone noise and a man said in a loud voice that photos were not allowed. Dejected we decided to go. As we headed to the escalator I suggested that we try and get one going up but we couldn’t see him! Once outside we realised that we had time to kill so decided to potter around London for a bit. After a while I suggested that we go back, just in case we can catch them at the end and possibly get photos done then. But unfortunately, they had left. On the train home I started to read the book, properly this time. It is an excellent book and I have already read over 100 pages! It gives a real insight to the preparation, the journey, their love for bikes and other aspects of their life. My day had been just less than 12 hours, cost me over £50 for a ten second moment with Ewan. But I wouldn’t change it for anything.