Memories II

|22| • Miami Beach •

It was safe to say that we really enjoyed our time back together in the gorgeous Toronto hotel room. And not just there. I had arrived on a day off, so we enjoyed our time together for that evening. The following day I told Brian to just treat me like a puppy who had to follow him around all day. I had experienced the slow tour life back in the UK but this was different, and it felt different too. Luckily Brian had enough time to explain their routines for me once again. It took a bit of getting used to, especially the frequent travels.

The day after Toronto we flew to Massachusetts in the US, another first in another foreign country for me. The city wasn't really well known, but a couple of days later we were in New York City and that was a famous city. A place I would have loved to spend exploring, but it was a strict schedule. We arrived there shortly after noon, which meant Brian only had very little time before he had to go soundcheck, and I knew he wanted it to be good because it was Madison Square Garden they were playing and it was a huge deal to them. Had it been any other venue, Brian might have been fine with a couple of hours of driving through the city for sightseeing with me, but he didn't have the nerve for that. I could tell easily, so I didn't even bother asking.

However, I still wanted to see a little bit more than the inside of the venue, so I told Brian I'd be asking his driver to give me a little tour. He was fine with that, he even seemed a little relieved about that. Maybe it was good for him to not have to worry about me all evening. He instructed his driver to take good care of me when they got dropped off at the venue, before I got my little sightseeing tour. I really enjoyed it, I got to see things I had only ever heard about in stories and it was amazing. I honestly couldn't believe I was this lucky. I was back at the venue in time for dinner and the show of course and that was just an amazing end to an amazing day.

It continued like this, if we were in a city that was interesting I got the driver to take me on a sightseeing tour. Brian joined if he had time, probably mostly to spend time with me but that was perfectly fine with me. And just like that, the first week and a half of me on tour with Brian passed quickly, but I was having a wonderful time. Surprisingly, by the time we arrived in Miami on February 12th, the critics in the States had formed a very clear opinion of the band after a month on tour. It had been building up more and more, but basically they were tearing down Queen, while praising their Irish support band Thin Lizzy more than anything. I was a little shocked to read some of the things they said in the newspapers, but Brian told me he wasn't surprised. Apparently the press really never loved them. And yet, somehow they managed to keep their heads high and keep rocking, because the venues were still so full.

The concert in Miami wasn't until the 19th, so we had a few days there to relax, as a mid-tour break. They were going to film a music video at the end of the following week, the video for Brian's song Tie Your Mother Down which I loved, so I was looking forward to seeing the video shoot for that song. Who would not be excited about that? But until then, we had time off. They had a few press appointments which I knew Brian was not looking forward to after the reception they had gotten, but apart from that we were free and I was so excited to be spending this time in Florida. Florida. Me. Never would I have dreamed that I'd be here, not to mention the fact that I had a world-famous fabulous incredibly attractive rock star by my side. I still had problems to actually fully comprehend that and I wasn't sure that I ever would.

This winter was, as Brian had told me, a particularly cold one, which meant even in Florida it got cold - for Floridian standards. For British standards it was still quite warm and actually a nice temperature, especially since before we had been stuck in the very snowy northern part of the country. That had actually been incredibly cold for most of the time. But in Florida it was nice, very lovely. Miami was huge, and we were actually staying in a hotel along the coastline a bit north of what I would probably call the city centre, in an incredibly fancy hotel right beside the ocean and I honestly couldn't believe my luck when the car pulled up there and Brian informed me that we would be staying there.