I have loved the 'Tales of The City' books since i first read them in the early nineties, during that time I worked in hotels, the life within the gates of Barbary Lane was not too dissimilar to the life i was leading in hotels. I know it sounds like a stretch but we were a young group of people living under the one roof sharing our day to day adventures. We were a mixed bunch some gay, some straight and some unsure... So these books found me at a perfect time in my life. On occasion we would have 'Tales of The City' evenings - this comprised of a group of us getting together with wine and beer and spending the evening watching the whole of the first series all the way through. Lots of my friends then read the books and fell in love with the world as much as I did.
Now all these years later I have in my life my own Mrs Madrigal, a lovely lady called Margaret who either I have adopted or who has adopted me, she is 91, fit as a flea, great company and doesn't give a damn about who people are and who they love.
It was with great excitement that I called 'Gays The Word' on the morning the ticket sales were announced, hoping against hope that I would get to meet Mr Maupin surrounded by a group of friendly like minded people and hosted by the lads from the book store, as opposed to the cold walls of your average book signing. It took a while but I got through, Uli said how pleased he was that I had managed to get tickets.
Sunday 28th November, we wrapped up warm and headed off to the 'New Bloomsbury Set' Bar it was already jam packed when we got there. There was a 'Mrs Madrigal' selling cakes in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust. We weren't sure if they were laced or not... The audience, as expected, mainly comprised of men but there were a few token women. Armistead arrived at 7.30 accompanied by his husband Chris Turner. He was introduced firstly by Uli who shared all our sentiments by telling us what a life changing event it was to discover that there could indeed be a world where people like us could happily co-exist with straight people and have a wonderful life whilst we were at it.
Uli was followed by the Mayor and Mayoress of Camden, Amy Lame and Jonathan Simpson. Jonathon told us of a flight back from San Fancisco. He was reading 'Michael Tolliver Lives' he was sat next to an older lady who smiled at him when she saw the book, he naturally assumed it was because of the gay content but read on and when he got to an emotional part and actually shed a tear the lady looked at him and remarked: 'I knew you would get upset at that part!' Proving that Armistead crosses many boundaries - basically he writes a damn good book that is suitable for all!
Armistead then stood and read a part from the book that he said he wouldn't have been able to read at the normal book signings. For those who have read the book it's the Sound Of Music section :-) There was such a great atmosphere in the crowd, we have all shared this journey, after the reading he answered lots of questions from the group, ranging from how does he make all the characters so loving, to does he want to shave his moustache off for charity!
Armistead was very generous with his time and his answers. After the Q&A we joined the huge queue to get our books signed. I joined the queue at the end as I had bought ten books with me hoping Armistead would sign them all! About four of mine but also ones for my friends who enjoyed the book as much as I did.
I rambled on inanely to him in my nervousness but he didn't seem to mind!
So all in all it was a wonderful night spent with a rather wonderful man! Oh and if you haven't read the review yet check it out here. It's a wonderful book and I was very sad to read the final page and leave those friends behind until the next time.
