This story really is a great one to see just how kind George was, even in the late 1970's. The story is from the January 1979 issue of the Harrison Alliance.
We think it’s pretty exciting!
By Sue Link
August 19, 1978
When our original plans of going horseback riding in Hyde
Park fell through (we didn’t call a week in advance for reservations), my
boyfriend Danny and I decided to forget about anymore sightseeing plans and
venture out t Henley once again (our first time had been earlier in our trip),
so we found ourselves on a London street corner hoping to find a British
Railways station nearby. Lady Luck
smiled on us, for we rounded a corner and Paddington Station stood in front of
us. We inquired about trains to Henley
and found that one left within the hour, with a transfer at Twyford station for
the train that actually went to Henley.
Upon our arrival at the Henley train station, my excitement
began to grow, and as we walked up Hart Street toward Friar Park, I told Denny I
was certain something was going to happen.
It wasn’t long before my feelings were proven to be correct! Denny and I weren’t at the gates more than
ten minutes when we heard the sound of a car downshifting, coming down the
driveway, and even before seeing the car, I knew it was George.
We weren’t in a very strategic position when George first
drove out, so I had to be content with just waving, but when George looked over
he smiled a gorgeous smile and waved back!
He waited long enough for Denny to snap a picture, then pulled across
the intersection and disappeared down Paradise Road. My first thoughts were, “He’s home! He’s gone
out, so he has to come back. He’s really
here!” I couldn’t believe had just
driven away, for my constant fear was that he would be elsewhere in the world
while I was in England. Of course, my
thought then turned to, “Oh please let George come home before it gets
dark!” as neither Denny nor I use
strobes on our cameras and neither of us had high speed film for shots without
sufficient lighting.
Lady Luck smiled upon us again, for George wasn’t gone more
than five minutes. We once again
recognized the sound of the Ferrari (Ferrari Dino, very rare, very expensive!)
before seeing it. He pulled across the
road into the driveway, stopped the car, and waited for us to come up to
him. Needless to say, my heart was
beating a mile a minute, for the moment I’d been hoping for, for fourteen years
was now actually happening!
George looked really fantastic that day. His mood was very up and he smiled that
gorgeous smile a lot. He was dressed
casually, wearing a weird dark blue and white print shirt, beige corduroy
cut-offs and sneakers. I failed to
notice if he wore the rings he usually has on, but he did have his neck beads
on and his gold earrings, and of course, the ever present mirror lensed
sunglasses.
We exchanged hellos and from then on, George got more
answers from us than we did from him.
He’s more soft spoken than I had expected him to but, but I could have
listened to his voice for hours.
His first question was, “Where are you from?” and when I
came back with “Pittsburgh” George sort of shrugged and gave me the kind of
look that said, “no one comes from Pittsburgh” and I never hated Pittsburgh
more than I did at that moment. His next
question was if we were on holiday and were we staying in the city. I told him we were staying in London proper,
but I liked the country a lot better, to which George replied, “Yeah, I like
the country more, the city is okay, but
I haven’t lived there for years.”
George then proceeded to ask, “Have you been on the river
yet?” I told him no, but we’d planned on
a river trip before we left for home. I
did mention that we had experimented with driving and that it was the most
terrifying experience of my life. George
laughed, saying, “It’s easy really, ya just have to remember to drive on the
wrong side.”
Denny then spoke up and told George he liked the car, and
typical men, they started to talk cars; George said he hadn’t had the car very
long (it was a sharp car, but I was more interested in the driver!) and it was
a five speed. He made Denny’s day by
saying, “The next time you’re over, why not take a better look at it.” When they’d finished their car talk, Denny
asked if he could take pictures and George said, “Sure, take as many as you
like.”
While Denny took the pictures, I asked George if he’d gotten
the gifts we’d left the first time we were in Henley ( a hard carved plaque
saying “Music is love in search of words” meant a lot to me, a mother of pearl
necklace for Olivia and sleeper outfit
and little giraffe for Dhani) and he said “gifts? Which ones?”
When I told him what they were he nodded and smiled, “Oh yeah! That was real thoughtful of you, but I
thought they came through the mail.
Yeah, they were real nice! Thank
you.”
I asked him if he was recording and his answer to that was,
“yeah, well, I was, but stopped when the baby came. All that’s left to do is to remix it
though.” We congratulated him on the
arrival of Dhani (pronounced “Danny” I’ll never forget how he said it) and said
how excited we all were when we heard the news.
He gave a big grin and said, “Thanks, we think it’s pretty exciting.”
When I asked if he had an idea when the lp would be
released, he looked at me and asked, “What’s this?” I looked back at him, not understanding what
he meant, so he asked, “What’s this, August?”
Here he was asking me what month it was when I couldn’t even remember my
own name! I stammered out, “August? Oh uh..yeah…” (I wasn’t sure!) He smiled
again and I got a free concert as he sang “With a little luck---it’ll be out in
September, once the remixing is done.” I
came back with a very intelligent, “Oh.”
Not thinking to ask if he had a title for it, but I had figured we’d
kept him long enough.
“Well, uh, we don’t’ want to keep you from what you’re
doing…” I started, to which George said,
“It’s okay, really.”
I stepped away from the car and said, “No, we won’t keep
you. Say hello for Olivia for me.”
He put the car in gear as he replied, “Yeah, I will. Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you
later.”
He started to drive through the gates, slowed and shouted
back, “Enjoy your holiday!” and waved again as he left.
As I watched the car disappear, I couldn’t believe that
George had thanks US for stopping by when we had imposed on him in the first
place!
I do know one thing for sure, George has given me so much
and loving him has made my life so richer, that no words can express it, but I
know all of you who love George know exactly how it feels. Om Shanti.
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