Weird memory from when I was 16 - got stranded in Belgium by a bus company

WiresDreamDisasters

One time my cousins invited me on a "booze cruise" - everyone at the local pub club together and hire a bus and drive out to Dover, and get on a ferry and go over to Calais, buy a ton of booze, then travel to Belgium for the lols, then drive back.

Well that was the plan.


But these fucking boozy arseholes, acting like proper dicks on the bus going down there... smoking when they weren't supposed to, shouting abuse at the driver, and just generally being miscreants....


.... so we get to Calais, load up the bus with tons of wine and beer and it's party time, on to Belgium!!!!

We get there and have a few hours to kill, so we figured we'd walk around the town we were in. Fuck knows what it was called, I was 16 and was green behind the ears and the balls.

We eat some chips, have a laugh on the streets. My cousin buys an E from some dude on the street, and his girlfriend is super pissed and doesn't want him to take it. But he does anyway.

Then we get back to the bus.... or I should say, where the bus was. But it had disappeared. Proper Bill Cosby Ghost Dad levels of disappearance.

So after some Nokia 5110 phone calls.... turns out the bus driver was so pissed off with everyone, he just bailed. Left the entire bus contigent in Belgium and fucked off back to the UK!!

We ended up having to get a hovercraft from Belgium back to Southampton, and then a £200 taxi from Southampton to Nuneaton, arriving at 6am or something ridiculous like that.


3 weeks later, all the beer I bought was delivered by someone from the bus company with a sneer.

hash tag... the Midlands....

fastonebaz

The only interesting point is that that your Nokia 5110 probably still has 10% battery left. #goodtimes

Sassafras

Wow!
Living the dream!

EricTheWeary

Our student at work* is Belgian. I keep thinking I’ll mention my memories of the place but those are primarily of going along awful concrete motorways on the way to/ from places in the France and the Netherlands and how expensive Bruges was. Perhaps I can use Drew’s story as an ice breaker instead. 

* mostly people on Teams at the moment.

WiresDreamDisasters

fastonebaz said:

The only interesting point is that that your Nokia 5110 probably still has 10% battery left. #goodtimes

I can't think of a good joke to respond with. Darnit.

Nitefly

Haha, the booze cruise - another win for Brexit LOL 

WiresDreamDisasters

I fucked up a part of my story. We didn't eat chips. They were frites.

artiebear

Must be a Belgian thing. I played guitar for the headline act at a festival in Antwerp many years ago. Artist was fine to work with, great band but an absolute gangster of a manager. I'd done the UK/European dates a few weeks earlier and had to pull the stunt of refusing to get on the bus for the Belgian date until I had the long overdue payment for the previous work.
Gig was a pain in the arse due to a certain Swedish band on before us who messed with our preset up gear. I ended up up being dragged of their guitarist before I did some damage 1/4 of an hour before we went on.

Having decided that was my last gig and being noticeably pissed off the MC for the festival took me out a drink after the show and there was my introduction to the wonderful world of Belgian beers. I finally bowed out of the ongoing session sometime well into the next morning, couldn't find the hotel and having eventually done so discovered that everyone had gone. I made my way, hungover but happy back to the UK and was glad never to work with that particular act again.

Kittyfrisk

Reminds me of when I was driving buses & once got a right load of mouthy, snotty pissed little arseholes to take to Belgium.
Still makes me laugh...

Sassafras

WiresDreamDisasters said:

I fucked up a part of my story. We didn't eat chips. They were frites.

With mayo or mustard?