LESLEY KEATING: A white-knuckle pursuit ending with a lesson in trust

Last Monday, I was in a heaving, North London pub watching my daughter Eloise perform with her band. The popular pub was full to capacity, and afterwards I drove her home with her equipment
Picture: ShutterstockPicture: Shutterstock
Picture: Shutterstock

As I helped her in the green room – they’re never green, by the way, this one was black – my sixth sense kicked in as I said: ‘You have got everything, haven’t you?’

We made our way across London on the half-an-hour journey to Shepherds Bush, arriving at about 11.30pm. Then she uttered the dreaded words: ‘Mum, I can’t find my laptop!’

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It’s no exaggeration to say our eyeballs literally flew out on stalks like something out of a Tom and Jerry cartoon.

Initially unconcerned, we began to panic as bags and cases were opened, things flung around on the back seat. But the laptop – an expensive Macbook Pro which is essential for her set – was missing.

‘Ring the venue NOW’ I demanded, dry-mouthed, trying to quell the panic in my voice.

She tried, but no-one answered. Then she tried the promoter, but he was on the tube so kept cutting out.

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Finally the venue answered, explaining they were closing at midnight. There was only one thing for it. We bundled into the car for a white-knuckle drive back to the venue.

Unbelievably, in a room still packed to the rafters, her MacBook was sat there, on a table, waiting.

In a world where some people think nothing of taking what doesn’t belong to them, we can only assume that anyone seeing it wrongly assumed it belonged to the venue. It would have been so easy to just pop it under a coat and leave with it.

The sceptic in me is not so sure she’d have been quite so lucky if she’d left a gold bracelet on the table, but it’s taught me about trust and that you can’t always cynically second-guess the outcome of a situation.

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We finally got to bed at an eye-watering 3am, with alarms set for 7am – it was a ‘school night’ after all – but our faith in humankind was restored.

IS ORBISON’S HOLOGRAM TOUR A STEP TOO FAR?

I was flicking through a national paper and found myself looking at adverts for monster-sized UK stadium tours by current artists such as Demi Lovato, and a few older acts including ‘living waxwork’ Barry Manilow, soul legend George Benson and crooner Frankie Valli.

Suddenly, my eye alighted on none other than Roy Orbison. Wait – hadn’t he died years ago? How come he’s doing a ‘Live UK tour’?

My mind was boggling with images I’d rather not have conjured up, then I read the small print – ‘The Hologram UK Tour’.

What? Excuse me? Are his people serious?

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Sorry, but instead of this laughable way of cashing in – to coin the title of one of his hits – perhaps they really should have decided It’s Over.

THE DREAM ISN’T OVER YET FOR BILLY THE WHIZ

What’s the definition of true grit and determination? I’ll tell you. It’s 18-year-old Formula 4 racing driver Billy Monger, who lost both legs last year in an horrific trackside accident.

Unbelievably, he’s just taken to the circuit again, racing for the first time since his accident in a specially-adapted racing car.

‘Racing is the only thing that makes me feel truly alive,’ he explained.

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You’d have completely understood if the only wheels he’d ever wanted again were on a wheelchair yet, unbelievably, he’s racing again, literally months after suffering life-changing injuries. Nothing has put him off his dream.

It puts things into perspective when there are others out there literally having the vapours every day over things like ingrowing toenails!