Day 16

Life is just a fantasy. Can you live the fantasy life?

I woke up this morning with a bit of a sore head but after a quick paddy and some breakie in Exeter Family diner I was sorted right out.

We said goodbye to Mark & Em and jumped back in the car to drive the forty (or so) miles to Lancaster. Along the way we stopped off in the Record Connection in Ephrata for a bit of a schniff around. The shop is amazing - over 100,000 records, CDs, cassette tapes and even 8-Tracks.

And it has this dude:

When we arrived he was talking / shouting to a punter about several different bands before he brought up Aldo Nova.

When the guy didn't remember him, he ran into the other room and returned with his Fantasy LP. He lashed it straight on to the turntable and began telling this dude Aldo's story. He reckons that he is the greatest musician to ever live. Anyway, we had a look around and bought a few CDs since most of the stuff was only five dollars. What a
bargain!

As we drove from Record Connection to Lancaster, we decided that the KISS dude must be one of the happiest fuckers we will ever meet. He is stuck in 1983, listens to really bad hair metal and thinks Aldo Nova is the pinnacle of musicianship. But it doesn't matter because he is giving it large and having a great time. I have not seen passion like his for anything in a long while. So fair play to him and in his words, "dude, I will see you again later"...

We arrived in Lancaster to meet my grandparents. We chatted with them and had a fabulous home cooked meal of meat loaf like only a grandmother can prepare. Nicely fed and content, we drove into Lancaster city to meet some of the lads for a beer.

They chose a new(ish) pub called Annie Bailey's - Lancaster's newest (and possibly best) Irish pub. They told us that they didn't choose the spot because it was Irish but because it was the coolest place to drink in town. Paulo and I liked the bar but generally don't go to Irish pubs outside of Ireland and I think that maybe we expressed our feelings / opinions in a bit of a snobbish way. But the beer and company was great once again. Paulo was the designated driver but I enjoyed a few pints of Dogfish Ale that went down a dream.

We parted company around 11:30 and were in bed by 12:00. The days are just flying by...