Tales
of Paul (part 4)
We had to wait until march 2001 for another chance to meet Paul when he announced he was going to do a book signing at WH Smiths in Church Street Liverpool on the release of his poetry book Blackbird Singing.
I wrote a poem just for Paul and printed it out. I planned to give it to him if / when I met him. You can read the poem at the end of the tale.
My plan was that we get up at 4 am and travel into town for 5am but Jayne wasn’t too keen especially as it was bitterly cold outside and the weather forecast said it was going to snow. We delayed our journey by an hour. However when we got there the queue was already right half way up Church Street. It was bitterly cold stood out in the street and it started to snow a bit too.
We got talking to some of the others around us and even felt cheery despite the cold weather. As time went by (Paul was going to be at the shop at 1pm) town started to fill up with workers and shoppers and the queue lengthened too. At ten o’clock someone went for drinks for us to try and warm us up. By 11 am we were impatient and the staff at the shop opened part of the gated area ready for people to meet Paul. We were just outside the railed off area and were still feeling cold but optimistic. Then time sped by Paul’s PR man Geoff Baker walked up the road past the queue on a mobile phone. People tried to jump the queue and then it was 1pm. However it was not until 1.20pm that the announcer said and here he is Sir Paul McCartney. We all cheered even though we could not see him. All excited at the thought of meeting him. The queue started to go down and Jayne and I started to feel a rush inside us.
We were about 3 metres away from the shop entrance. We could see Paul sat at the table signing away. I counted 20 people in front of us and thought ‘this is it’ and turned to Jayne to say something. At the very same time a voice piped up from the side of the gated area, “sorry but Paul is finishing his signing session now, he will not be signing anymore”
Jayne and I looked at each other. This was the closest we had got to actually meeting Paul. We had stood out in the cold since 6,30 am, been snowed on and all for nothing. Then Paul came out of the front to wave to us all and people who had not queued up, but had just stood there watching, got to shake his hand and have things signed by him. We felt cheated. It was so unfair. Then we realised that he must be leaving by the back door of the shop so we raced around there and waited with about a hundred others. A few minutes later his driver appeared and people were saying to him ‘please give this to Paul.’ So I took my poem out and handed it to him asking him the same. He put my poem on the front seat of the car. A few minutes later Paul came out waved a quick wave and dived into the back of the car and the car drove slowly out. As the car passed me Paul looked and waved, then he was gone, yet again.
We went home to try and get warm again and watched it all on the news reports. That night I wrote another poem. Which you can read after the first one. I printed them both out again with the intention of sending them to his office in London, but I have yet to send them.
Jayne and I both said we will get to meet him somehow and fully intended to do so and our opportunity was just around the corner. However that is yet another story.
A POEM FOR PAUL by LYNN KILPATRICK
I waited
for hours in the bitter cold
To purchase a book from a store
Queuing up
for hours with others
Even though
my Nan asked ‘what do you want to do that for?’
No one can
understand
Except the
others in the queue
The reason
I have done this
Is quite
simply YOU.
The things
you have done for this city
And the
career you have achieved
With hard
work you did it
And also
because you believed.
I admire
you for this and more
You have
got a gift that is so rare
And once
again you have put Liverpool first
This shows
us that you care.
I missed
out on the ‘Beatlemania’
Being born
in June ‘67
But started
following your career
When I
became eleven.
Your pop
songs and your classical works
Have over
the years inspired me
To
overcome all my problems
And to
write poetry.
So this is
why I waited
So I could
say thank you
By writing
this special poem
And waiting
in the cold to catch the flu.
But it was
all worth it
For it
might have made my one of my ambitions come true
Not to
stand in the freezing cold
But to
finally get to meet you.
Another opportunity passes me by
Alas it was not meant to be
I’m beginning to wonder if
I will ever meet
Sir Paul McCartney.
Waiting for hours in the
snow
Chilled from head to toe
Hope and anticipation of
what was surely to be
Once again ending in
misery.
I have failed again on my
fourth try
On the outside of the ‘in
crowd’ looking in
I act and appear normal
while inside I cry
For no matter what I do I
just can’t win.
Waited for hours, afraid to
go
Feeling cold with morale
low
Negative thought ‘it is
never to be’
Is this my everlasting
destiny?
To be so close to my goal
And failing once again
Disappointment fills my
heart
Leaving me in pain.
The signing stopped when I
was just 20 people away
I prayed and prayed that
you would stay
A quick glimpse of you was
all I saw
Before you were ushered
back in through the door.
I gave my poem for you to
the man in your car
Just for you to read, I
hope you did
But maybe I failed again at
that too
And it is now under some
dustbin lid.
I bought your book after
you drove away
And read through it within
the day
Inspiration ran through me
once more
Even though the pain still
felt raw.
I know deep down in my soul
I will get to meet you one
day.
But at this moment in time
It is just beyond the
sunshine ray.
One day my ambitions and
dreams will come true
And I will no longer be
left feeling sad and blue
My heart will stop being
full of pain
And gone will be the
thought ‘I've failed again’.