How can a McDonalds be a sacred place? Did I have a near-death experience here due to how awful and unhealthy their food is? Well, nearly.
It's review #2,011 because that was the year when the following events transpired.
It's one of the only McDonalds I'll give a 5-star rating to, that's for sure. Here is the reason why.
It's right next to a major roundabout, that can whisk you away to either end of the country. No I didn't say whiskey. No, that isn't really the reason why. Here's the real reason.
In Fall 2011 I decided to attempt to tour the UK for the first time. I mean, music tour. For work. Playing concerts. That's what I do. It turned into an absolute nightmare for 4 or 5 very prounounced reasons. It also started off like a nightmare... losing my tour credit card on the day of the flight... missing the flight to the UK because I looked for it for too long... having to pay for the entirety of a new flight... landing in Gatwick with all my music equipment and having to lug it on trains and tubes and more trains all the way to Lichfield in the Midlands, where my dirt cheap car rental was waiting for me...
Then, for a brief time, things started going right for me. I got the car with no hassle. I drove it down the road to this McDonalds. I parked. I plugged in my computer. It worked. I got online. I said hi to everyone. I cried (I was so physically exhausted from lugging equipment that matched my body weight halfway across the country all day, I had welts all over me, lol). I did some promotion. I figured out a way to use my computer in my car. Everything was going right. Then I drove up to Bradford, bought a PA system, and was in Oxford 18 hours later for the opening concert of my tour, after stopping at Anfield on the way home - the home of Liverpool FC of course. For moral support.
Things didn't stay right for long. Within a few weeks the tour had become an absolute tragedy in terms of money and of events.
But I'll always remember how it felt to be in McDonalds in Lichfield, and to think that things were actually going right. For this reason it's a very special place for me, and if I ever come through this part of the world again, which I'm sure I will, I'll stop in this McDonalds, and use the wifi, and get an Orange Fanta, and reminisce about that moment. I'm sure there will be many moments like that again in future. But I'll never forget this one. read more