Due to my long-term involvement in the “ABBA Fan Community”, I’ve met people from all over the world. Last year for example as I travelled around Europe I met Marco and Sandra in the Netherlands, and caught up with David (France) and Gustav (Sweden). It’s a part of my life which, I guess sounds a bit odd to a lot of people, but it’s really enriched my life in many ways. And today I met Mikey, who would have to be one of the loveliest ABBA fans I have ever met. Originally from the United States, but now living in the Middle East, he has been visiting Australia for the last couple of weeks.
And today, a group of ABBA fans, united through our membership of ABBAMAIL (and now ABBA Village) got together with him for a drink or two, or twelve. We kept ourselves nice, I swear. The venue was the Central Hotel, a newly opened pub near Central Station. The bar staff are great. The food tastes great and is well-priced. And most importantly, they have regularly priced beers. $10 jugs. Although I suspect it’s mostly subsidised by the poker machine room upstairs, it’s great to find a local pub that doesn’t charge an arm and a leg.
Mikey arrived early, not realising/forgetting (?) Sydney and Adelaide (where he had just been), were on different time zones. And so for a while it was just Graeme, Mikey and I have a chat. And guess what? Mikey is very very charming. He can hold a good conversation. And he seems genuinely interested in and excited about life, the world and all it has to offer. It was a real pleasure to meet him today. I don’t have much else to say about day, except it was really great fun.
