"The Pumphouse" Revisited.

If there are actually people out there that read this blog, some of you might remember my writing about one of the plays I was in in high school called "Charlies Aunt". This play had a character named "Lord Fancort Babberly" who was so fabulously Played by a guy Named Garry. Garry was a funny quick witted individual That always did well in school as far as I could see. In fact in junior high he appeared to be somewhat of a Nerd. But something happened over the summer between 9th and 10th grades. when we went back to school Garry had transformed into this long haired pot smoking Tie-dye wearing hippie. Some of the things Garry And I had in common were The fact that we were both in The Drama club and enjoyed doing plays and things like that and the facy that we both Liked to Get HIGH!. Garry had a group of friends that he always hung out with. One of these friends' Parents owned a house that had an early 20th century(or older) Three story Victorian pump house in the back yard. The third floor that used to hold the water tank back in the days of gravity fed plumbing became their club house. This is where they spent most of their free time during high school. According to one of them This probably saved their lives as it gave them a safe haven to experience what it meant to be a teenager in the early 70s.
They spent so much time there that they became known as "The Pump house Gang"

Well here's the point I have so ineptly been trying to make. The Last Time I saw Garry was about 32-33 Years ago. We shared a house briefly after high school and worked a summer or two at a local winery and then He went off to college. several weeks ago I joined "Facebook" When I chose a network one of the first things that came up was a list of "People You Might Know". Low and behold the first name and picture on the list was my old friend Garry. I put in a friends request and waited. Two days later I get a response saying that my request was excepted and sure enough there was Garry's email address and everything. Now after that many years I figured we would email back and forth a few times and that would probably be the end of it. Well as it turns out, he is living On St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. But get this, He writes me an email on or about Sept 10 saying that his daughter lives right here in Fairfield and not only that he will be here on Sept 24. So I email him my phone number and tell him to call when he is in town. Now after that many years one would think that the chances of someone you knew 33 years ago actually taking the time to call while they are in the area , well to make a long story short he called on the 25th in the AM and we met at a local Mountain Mikes Pizza and shared a pitcher of beer and a lot of memories. I really enjoyed seeing him again. Oh yea, He was a little surprised that I remembered that "Pumphouse gang" Thing and told me that he and the guys actually still have reunions and a web site. I went to the site and there on the home page was a photo of all these guys from my youth. Wow what a blast from the past that was. Kinda makes me feel old. anyway Here is the link Just because it is interesting
And To Garry, if you ever read this, Thank you for caring enough about an old friend to take the time. A lot of people say they will, But they Don't.

www.thepumphousegang.com