Ernie
2002-02-26 || 7:27 p.m.

Rebecca was just on the phone to her friend Eleanor and they were talking about people signing things and signing your arm. Years ago when I was at school and mad on the Smiths I met Morrissey and he signed my arm. I didn't wash it for a week. I took some photos of it but went to a weekend party at Bournemouth and lost the camera. The party was good though. It used to happen every August bank holiday. Someone put a big DJ deck on the promenade and anyone who fancied it partied on the beach. The music was very eclectic. I can remember them playing everything from the Clash and The Jam to jazz funk and soul/disco.

I don't remember there being any trouble although there was a fair amount of stealing. If you got very drunk you would only have the clothes you were standing in by the end of the weekend. It was funny really. Me and my friend Claire went. My mum had a friend who had married an older man and they moved to Bournemouth. Her friend and the man (Ernie) got divorced and for some reason - I can't remember why- me and my friends ended up going there to stay with him in the summer for a few years in a row. This particular bank holiday his holiday flat was rented so he said we could stay in his flat. When we got there he said we could have his bedroom and he would sleep in the front room. I went into the bedroom and all over the walls were naked pictures of my mum's friend!!! I had to sleep looking at these. There were too many to cover them over to any extent. It was quite freaky.

He used to write to me too and to Alain's sister. The last time I saw him must have been about 1987 when he had lung cancer and me and Sarah went to visit him in hospital. He died soon after. What really upset me about him was how much he obviously loved my mum's friend and how much she treated him like shit. She had a son called Robin who was in my class at infant school. Ernie said that when Robin was a teenager he would ride his motorbike all over Ernie's garden to deliberately ruin all his plants. Robin always was a spoiled little shite.