In 1971, another girl and I, having planned a “Beatles” trip with time to try to find Paul in Scotland, ended up staying at a bed & breakfast in Campbeltown, Scotland. ” No kidding?” I said” “Then the shipmate tells me that Paul was there and had autographed some of the guy’s.military ID’s! “Ya, well I got to meet Paul’s back field gate guard… or more likely some old Scottish gent who happened to be in the back 40 of his own land, grouse hunting! Well, returning to the base I hear a buzz about Paul MacCartney being allowed to park his jet at the base.
TAVERN TYCOON BUY PROPERTY DRIVER
The driver said that I didn’t have to pay for the ride as I guess since I didn’t get to fulfill my plan but wanting to leave a good impression as a US sailor I insisted and paid the fare. Home or not, my quest was over and I said to take me back to the base. The old gent then said that Paul wasn’t home which could jive with what the earlier in the week cabbie said about Paul flying over the town when he leaves or returns to the area. The two men say hello and the older gent asks what brings us out here? The driver tells him” The Yank wants to see Paul MacCartney! Well, as they both had a good chuckle at my attempt, I quickly realized that my chances of seeing the farm was far from happening. After a brief ride, I notice that the cabbie is pulling up to a stone wall which had an older gentleman, with a shotgun no less standing by an entrance that seemed to only lead into a vast field. I should have know it was a long shot when the driver asked me where I wanted to go and when I told him he asked “Why?! and saying that I don’t want to go there, that there’s nothing to see!” I felt confident though and said that’s where I wanted to go, figuring that perhaps I could see the famed farm. Not that I wanted to impose on him but one always here’s of the unexpected meetings with clebs, and how can it happen if you’re not there?! So stocked up with a camera and soda, I hired a cab to take me to MacCartney manor. It was when the story of some of the guys getting to dance with Paul’s daughter at one of the pubs, along with a cab driver pointing out Paul’s jet as it flew over the town that I thought that this trip could be more memorable than expected! It was about the last day that we were there, that I had made the decision to find out where the Winged Beatel had his home. I had heard long before the trip that Paul MacCartney had a home in Scotland.
I felt honored to be able to interact with someone who lived there in Campbeltown (which was not too far outside the base) as I knew that it would make for a great memory and it did.
I said that I was and he started telling me of a time in years past that he had visited Philadelphia. It was a sunny day, and a gentleman who was close by asked me if I was from America. The pub) and having a beer, and seeing one of my shipmates sitting at a booth trying his hand at Haggis.On another day I wandered down the street and ended up around the docks, it was about noon time I guess because they started to play what seemed like the Scottish National Anthem over the speakers there, as I found a nearby vendor and got fish n chips for lunch. I do remembering one day stopping into a pub ( and come to think of it, that might have just been it’s name too. I just felt so much tradition walking through town, seeing what looked to be older buildings and cobbled streets. What a great place, like stepping back into history although it had all the modern offerings. The initial pan was for most of us to scope out the surrounding area and head into town. I tried to get my bearings and try to make the best memories possible during to brief time in grand ol’ Scotland.
The barracks were something out of the past but were more than comfortable to lay our heads down at night. When we finally arrived, it was about mid morning and the weather seemed dreary and damp. It was a pretty long flight over there and tried to sleep most of the way there on the floor of out NAVY aircraft. In 1984 when I was towards the end of my enlistment in the US NAVY, I was fortunate enough to score a 4-5 day liberty pass from PA.
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