Our small adventure to Basildon to celebrate the  20 years of existence of  DM started on Friday 14 April 2000 at night by meeting at  9:30 pm at the Eurolines Station of Bagnolet . There Tibo, Franck, the 3 Ronca sisters,( Rose, Lorédana, Antonella) and the charming Céline were there. We already booked our tickets ( we could also " enjoy" the problems  of booking tickets of a poor indian guy who wanted to change his ticket for his cousin who wanted to go with his father but who wasn't with his mother … wow , well  i don't remember exactly  : "i want to change my ticket !!!" isn't it Tibo ? ;) ) Luc who got there late , couldn't get a ticket  in the same bus as  us  ( the number 3) and finally was alone  on the car number 5 …

The bus left around  22h30 to  Calais, during this long trip , we talked a lot about DM and  Recoil, Tibo made us his famous  quizz about remixes … like "from which song is taken the Hands and feet mix?" but also commercial references and tv references from the  3 sisters along the trip  … ( Céline can confirm ) the other poor travellers had to bear our presence in the car , hearing our jokes,  , our remixes questions  and some other stufff ( "getuppaa" et "qui veut un curly?") and of course our cover versions of some DM songs . Getting Tibo in total despair we didn't take the Ferry but the shuttle to go to England .

We arrived at  6h30 in the morning at the Victoria station in London where we took a breakfast all together while waiting the bus where Luc was.

After a long wait we decided to leave  to go to  Basildon by taking the bus ( as some had already booked their ticket by bus to Basildon ) We could find it  after some searches  the Greenline bus  ( the  number 721 to go to   Basildon) the  start was at  9h30 and it took about 2 hours for the bus to get to Basildon !!! ( nb : price of the ticket : £4.20)

Our small travel  by  bus allowd us to see a bit of  London and its neighbourhood  and we could also notice how much the Essex state  looked quite calm and  not really active  , we did understand why the guys from  DM tried to get some  occupation  …

We arrived at the commercial center of  Basildon where we decided to have a break for lunch before taking a taxi to join the place of  the convention ( the Forte Posthouse de Basildon) We tried the Mac Donald's from Basildon ( yes i admit we didn't dare taste the local food ) and we could appreciate hearing with pleasure the accents of people from ESSEX ;)) and we put quite a mess in the tables of the  Mac do didn't we  ?? ;) We also visited the  Virgin music store of Basildon and what a shame the Depeche Mode CD storage was quite empty and so  usual , and worse on a stand of presentation ofadviced albums  of the moment , "The Singles 81>85" and "The Singles 86>98" were just at the bottom of this stand  quite unoticeable!!! we changed it quite fast and put them on top  J

Gettin close to  12h30 after having eaten and getting back a bag from one of the Ronca sisters who did forgot it in the bus we headed to the  Posthouse in taxi . After arriving there we went to see  Lynn to see if something was planned before the night started , but nothing was prepared  … She was quite overwhelmed  and a bit panikced by everything that was going on before the night even started , they tore our ticket apart in 2 pieces , and we got an  envelop, with the  RCD of  OWILM + a DM  pin and the program for the night , with our famous yellow bracelet allowing us to enter the convention … as well as the different  bulletins to enter the polls and contests  that were going to happen during the convention…

We could find back  JB, Sandrine and their friend  Marcus ( they were there since Friday night) in the hotel entrance room , where we spent the whole afternoon speaking, and driking around some  drinks  ( Guinness , and other kinds of beers as well as some other beverages for others  ;) ) speaking of DM as well as some other news and adventures of everyone in  Basildon …

I also had the chance to finally meet some of the people i knew from the  Depeche Mode Message Board , who have gone to make a trip around Basildon , oone iof them already knew the historical places like the  Saint Nicholas School, and the old house where Martin used to live with his family  … as well as some other places , but i've got to admit the weather wasn't that much good for a trip  because it was raining and being cold ...