United Kingdom to France · 1979
How I Met Your Mother
In 1979, I was living in the UK and, along with some musician friends — including Berni Bills on bass and acoustic guitar, and Dave Dunmour on keyboards — we decided to buy a VW Kombi and a caravan and tour around Europe. We started in France, travelling down the west coast and stopping near Perpignan, where we did some grape picking. From there, we drove along the Mediterranean coast before heading up the Route Napoléon, with the intention of eventually playing in Geneva.
Unfortunately, just as we arrived in Grenoble, the van decided it had had enough. The engine was completely kaput, and we didn't have the money to get it repaired. So, rather than give up, we found a campsite where we could park the van and caravan and decided to look for somewhere to play and earn enough money to keep us going.
This was September 1979. We found a restaurant called Les Enfants de la Balle, and managed to get work playing there four nights a week. The gigs went down really well with the locals and students — Grenoble being a university city — and we had a great time.
Then winter arrived. The temperature kept dropping, eventually reaching around minus 15°C. Our little caravan had absolutely no heating, which made for some very uncomfortable nights. Berni, our bass player, had by then found himself a girlfriend and sensibly moved in with her. Dave and I, meanwhile, carried on freezing in the caravan. One morning I actually woke up stuck to the side of it. There was ice inside!
By the end of the year, we had had enough. We decided to return to the UK and planned our final gig for New Year's Eve, December 31st. That night, we were playing a great gig. At around the same time, a young nurse called Danielle had just finished a twelve-hour shift and was walking home from work, exhausted and wanting nothing but to get home and go to bed.
As she passed a bar, a friend spotted her and called out: "Come in! I'll buy you a Kir Royal for New Year!" Danielle agreed, although she said she wouldn't stay long. Two drinks later, she left the bar — but was intercepted by another friend: "You can't go home now! It's New Year's Eve! There's a band playing just around the corner. Come on, just for a little while!" And so, reluctantly, Danielle came to see us play.
After the gig, I met her at the bar. I was, to put it mildly, rather tipsy. I walked up to her and said: "Hello, I'm Antony. What's your name?" "Danielle," she replied. I looked at her and said: "Isn't that a boy's name?" Yes. That was my opening line. What a pickup!
I have absolutely no idea what she saw in me that night, but somehow we got to know each other. And despite all the things that could have prevented our paths from ever crossing, we are still together today, nearly fifty years later, with three children. Sometimes life seems to have a plan of its own. I suppose you could call it destiny — and somehow, despite my terrible opening line, it worked.
