memphis

i got the greyhound bus from knoxville to memphis. had never taken a greyhound bus and so it was a new experience for me. the bus station in knoxville was about a 20 minute walk from my hotel and i had my big heavy bag with me. i was cursing my friend as i walked in the hot tennesse morning but i got there eventually and it wasn't in the best part of town. it was to be an 8 hour trip to memphis with a couple of stops on the way in nashville and jackson.

there were lots of diverse characters as i stepped onto the bus and i tried to pick a spare seat beside someone who didn't look like they might be an axe murderer. i ended up sitting next to a guy who was travelling from somewhere in virginia to phoenix to go to a new school to study animation and graphic design. i have friends who do that kind of thing and so it was good to have someone to talk to and make the journey a little less boring.





i also texted my friend who had gone to st louis and told him what time i would arrive and the address of the bus station that i would be arriving at in memphis, and to let him know to pick me up there at 5.30pm. the hotel i had booked was about 14 miles out of town and the least he could do was pick me up and take me to the hotel seeing as he had the car and would be passing through.

just before my bus got to memphis he texted me back saying he was still a couple of hours away from memphis and that i should get a cab to the hotel. i couldn't believe he was pulling this shit. its a 4 hour drive from st louis whilst i had an 8 hour bus journey and he still couldn't make it there before me and was telling me to take a fucking cab??!!. i replied that i would be in town getting a something to eat and that he should pick me up. fucking asshole!!. there is taking the piss and then there is taking the piss after you have already taken the piss. this was that.

i found a nice bar on beale street called rum boogie and got a seat at the bar and ordered a delicious burger and watched the ballgame on tv and had a nice chat with a couple of people sitting at the bar and the lady who worked there. thoroughly nice people unlike my humourless, unpunctual, fat-ass of a friend.

i know it sounds harsh but i was very angry with him. i would have loved to have seen his reaction if i had decided to take the car for a couple of days and made him make his own way to the next city on his own by bus. actually a couple of days later i suggested making an unsheduled stop in oklahoma city as we passed through it (to see nine inch nails again) and he was clearly put out at the thought of it and kept asking why? and what for?. i didn't end up doing it but he was less than accomadating and receptive to the idea. i didn't put up much resistance to his idea of going st louis so it was quite surprising how he reacted to my proposed change of plan which involved no extra driving or a detour. a bit selfish i thought.

after a couple of hours my friend turned up at rum boogie, ordered some food as i think it may have been a couple of hours since he had last had food, and off we drove to the hotel.

that day i had mostly been listening to........people