Posting without further ado before @missoneminute ex-communicates me, lol, but as previously mentioned, yesterday me and @jessinthesky paid a visit to Margate! We had no idea if Peter was even around – until we were a short distance from the Albion Rooms, and he sped past us in his red Jag in the opposite direction! We knew then it was just a matter of time before he came back, so we took up position in the lounge of the Smith Court Hotel (with a really excellent pot of tea I have to say) where we had a good vantage point of the road. After not too long he drew up right outside, but he sat in the car for at least 50 minutes before he eventually got out, which really heightened the tension, especially as we watched the time tick down before we had to leave to catch a train, haha! 

Eventually he got out of the car, and he was with Rafa from the Puta Madres. Immediately we could see him talking to an older lady, so that bought us some time! When we got there he was asking for her details, and he took out a typewriter, rested it on the roof of the car, and – I kid you not – started typing on the back of an old photo of himself. Specifically, the one of him lighting a cigarette off the guitar. That just amused me so much, I can’t even tell you, haha. Turned out the lady was the proprietor of a nearby hotel that the Puta Madres plan to do a show at this week, along with a few other venues around Margate, including the Tom Thumb Theatre across the road from the hotel, and somewhere in Broadstairs. So watch out for those if you’re in the area!

He said hello to us as soon as we showed up, and when he concluded his business with the lady, I went up and asked him if he could write out the words @missoneminute wanted (on the back of my ticket for Carl’s show the previous night, haha). He did so graciously and carefully as I fumblingly tried to explain the significance, and he said he really liked that particular line too, and he started to sing it and the following lines from the song as well, all soft and musing. 

He realised we’d come from up north, so I said I was originally from Wakefield but we live in Sheffield, and he was like, that’s not that much closer! I was kind of impressed he knew where Wakefield was tbh, lol. Oh and he complimented my shoes sometime around this point too, haha. I was consciously trying to remember the things I wanted to ask and to keep the conversation going, so I asked what it was like inside – I meant the hotel of course, but he answered as if I’d asked about his car, which we were still standing beside. I didn’t know if that was because he didn’t want to answer about the hotel, or if he genuinely thought I meant the car, but I went along with it and asked him if he’d sold the one that was for sale before. He said he’d sold all three, or hoped he had, because they were there before and gone now, so he hoped they hadn’t just been towed away, lol. He said he’d been “practically giving them away” and I said I wished I’d thought to ask before, I could’ve made him an offer, and I think he said I should’ve, lol. 

I tried again asking about the inside of the Albion Rooms, knowing it would sound like we were angling to get inside, but tbh I thought fuck it, you can’t just walk away, keep it going as long as you can! If he’d been evasive again I wouldn’t have pressed it, but he pretty immediately invited us to go in and have a look, so I don’t think he was too put out!

@jessinthesky said we’d been to see Carl DJ’ing the night before, and he said “Where, in China?” Again… not sure if joking or not, lol. I asked if the other Libs had been around recently and he said no, he hadn’t seen them for a bit. I think he said the Puta Madres have been staying, and he’s been in France recently too. I asked him how the solo record was going and when they planned to release it – he said it was pretty much ready to go, they’re releasing it themselves, he wants to put it out asap but Jai wants to do a pre-order thing, so could be soon!

Before he let us into the Albion Rooms, he insisted on showing us a contraption he made that he called a husky sled, which was kind of a cross between a scooter and a go-kart, with a rope attached across the front, so I fully expect to see him racing across the beach on that on Periscope at some point, although “it’s got no brakes.” Jess mentioned his Segway and he said it was a bit slow, haha. Explains the lack of brakes on his creation, ha. I said that last time we saw him he’d lost Zeus, and did that happen often? He said “He gets out when he can”, haha. 

The basement of the Albion Rooms is still a building site, apparently, but we had a look round the ground floor! Peter let us in and immediately greeted the dogs and started petting them, which was extremely cute! He just told us to go through the door straight ahead and have a look at the studio, haha, so we did! But we had to “keep our hands in our pockets”, hahaha. I took a few photos that came out really shit cos I was trying to be sneaky, even though it wasn’t like anyone was watching lol, but I’ll see about sharing those later. The studio looks great! It’s obviously been in use, and there were some notes of Peter’s around, but we didn’t stay in there ages, didn’t wanna take the piss!

The hallway and front room were absolutely chock-a-block with stuff, I mean I didn’t have a good look around, but the room looked smaller than I expected and I think that was just the sheer volume of clutter around, lol. It honestly felt like going into your crazy great auntie’s house, haha. There were dog bowls in the hall and I felt kibble crunch under my feet, lol. We petted Zeus and Narco and they felt very soft, especially Zeus! They were friendly and very happy to see daddy come home!

When we got back into the front room we thanked him profusely and I reminded him of the Twitter set list he started doing. He said he hadn’t had internet for a bit (maybe while he was in France, but he mentioned something about his phone but I didn’t catch what). He said he’d try and get back to it, “maybe tonight”, but I’m glad I didn’t put a bet on that, haha. I said I really would have loved to see him do B.U.R.M.A, and of course he looked at me blankly so I clarified it was by DPT and he said he’d have to listen to it. He said “I may yet surprise you!” and I said something cheeky like, “You like to surprise us”, which felt very bold lol. 

We’d already said we were leaving that day, but he said if we did want to stay, he did have a room available – £60, to which Jess said “That’s expensive, we’re northern!” His reaction to that was absolutely priceless, saying it was really cheap, he genuinely seemed a little outraged, hahaha. I got the feeling we probably could’ve actually stayed, if we’d given him the cash, lol. but it felt like it was time to wind up so we said we needed to go catch our train, and he gave us a big tight hug (both of us together, haha). Katia had come down and Jess said she liked her cat videos, and she said that Peter teases her for them, which he confirmed! Come on Peter everyone loves a cat video, haha. Katia let us out, while wisely keeping a tight hold on Narco so she didn’t make a run for it through the open door, lol. 

I’m so grateful we got that opportunity, and that Peter was so easygoing and friendly and happy to talk to us – it really did feel like another of those Margate Miracles, haha. If I remember anything else I’ll edit and reblog!