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Entry Seven: a summary of events that occurred on February 25th, 2005

Dearest Tour Diary:

I had left my wet socks on the radiator to dry overnight. When I woke up they were still wet. When I woke up I was wearing my coat, hat and mittens. I had built an igloo around me too keep warm. However, I was not warm until Shawn made us the BEST oatmeal ever. I don't know if it was so good because it was so cold, or if it was so good because there was so much of it or if it was so good because it was SO GOOD. Whatever the case, I have never enjoyed hot cereal going through my innards more than on this morning the 25th day in Februrary.

As we were about to bust out of Manchester, Shawn noticed a big dent in the side of our car. OH NO! Where did it come from? Was our car self-destructing? Was the evil fate stepping in to strike a blow against the good fate, the fate of rock? In the ten minutes we had left in Manchester, we hired private detectives to analyze the situation, but no answer could be found, so we busted out with our palettes hankering for the next taste of England.

And what did we taste next, you ask? We tasted a school! A school founded in 1531 by the king. It tasted as good as the oatmeal. Today was a good day for eating, my friends.

So on the edge of Chester, Cheshire we set out to find our new friend, Saral in his school. The lobbyists in the school lobby pointed us in the direction of Saral and his cronies. They were dressed in stripey suits when we came upon them, and we looked pathetic in our road warrior outfits. But looks did not matter here. Here, education and rock music would become a single entity, and suits and jeans would become one. Saral got his friends to skip classes all day to help set up for the rock show that would change the course of educational history. When we arrived, we assisted in acquiring a drum set from the school drum teacher, so that Ernie would be able to rock full force, on awesome student model drums.

We ate lunch in their amazing cafeteria that served 13 course meals. I told you it was a good day for eating.

After lunch we rocked, andeverybody danced and it was beautiful. It was just like watching the "Smells like Teen Spirit" music video with everyone rocking out in their school uniforms. It was sharp. Rock Forever!

We rocked so hard that the school was demolished when we were done. We crawled out of the rubble and the sun shone upon us, the victors and champions of rock and education. Take that royal dead dude from 1531. Who owns your school now? Schools need more rock shows.

The rest of the afternoon, we made our way around Chester, mailed some stuff royally, and then we drove off into the setting sun back towards Oldham. We met with good ol' Dan and went to buy groceries. That night we'd cook a Sicilian dish that's been a favourite in the DeGeorge family: Pasta Fagiole. It's got pasta and cannellini beans and awesome sauce made with loving DeGeorge hands. Cooking is a lot like rocking. You need to put everything you've got into it. Actually that's probably a bad analogy, because say if I was on a camping trip and in my backpack were marshmallows, pudding and fish, and that was everything I had, I don't think a combination of all those foods would be appetizing. No it would not. Marshmallows and pudding might be nice, but the fish? No. Not the fish.

After the dinner, we watched Wizard People, Dear Reader. What Harry and the Potters tour would be complete without it? After watching Wizard people for the two thousdanth time, I took a shower, while everyone else started watching Football Factory. I came back to the television to be educated in the ways of London football fans. They seem to be a lot harsher than Boston baseball fans. I guess American's are just wussier. I fell asleep, in front of the fireplace. That was cool. I mean warm.

-Joe

Could it be? Is this the end of the tour diary? NO! There is still Entry 8!