Hangover is gone. Sanity is back and life seems to be normal again.
The past five or so weeks have been fun, exhausting and nerve-wracking. I survived! My day started at 5 am, but I kept hitting snooze until 6. Bad idea. I was running behind as it was and I was still a bit unsure about my costume. I knew what I was going to be wearing, but not sure if I could pull it off in a way that people would recognize me.
I dragged my butt out of bed and started to dress. Then I did my makeup and added my accessories. It was all coming together well and I was dead chuffed with the results. Then I climbed into the Freddie-mobile to go to the local radio station for 7 am. Played Queen the whole way there and even though I was tired, my nervousness kept me on my toes. I was 30 mins late but the radio hosts didn't mind. They played 'I Want to Break Free' before the interview and took some pics afterwards. It was good fun and it was a great way to start the day. Got a lot of text messages afterwards from people who had heard me and that was also a huge boost. Then it was off to work to make blueberry pancakes for my colleagues. HUGE DISASTER!! I didn't have enough batter to feed all 13 people and felt really bad... sooooo I will make it up to them next week with something sweet. Then it was a staff meeting with the big, big boss and people found it hard not to laugh when I tried to talk with my special Freddie teeth in my gob. Hard to take a woman seriously when she is dressed like a man trying to dress like a woman. :)
I had to cut out of the meeting early as I had to make my next appearance at Centralförådet. I strutted my stuff, smiling and waving to people doing their jobs at Stora Enso Skoghall. People smiled and waved back and some were afraid to laugh. I gave them an approving nod and then their chuckles filled the air. It felt GREAT to make people happy. I climbed the stairs to the third floor of CF and found the offices were deserted. A bit worrysome because they were expecting me today but as I walked down the corridor I heard chatter coming from the conference room and realized 'SHIT' they are in a meeting!! I hesitated for a nanosecond but my feet kept going forward. I was greeted with applause and smiles and compliments. I presented them with a FFAD cake and they were super grateful! They took lots of pics and then I had to hurry along as the next department was already halfway through their cake and waiting for my arrival. They saw me coming from the windows of the first floor lunchroom and I could see the smiles and hands showing their support and approval for my FFAD efforts. It's all I have been talking about for the past 5 weeks. I passed this building to enter the bigger building on the left as they too, were waiting for me to make an entrance. They sat on the fourth floor lunch room and were already done with coffee break when I entered the room. There were only two women left but they knew of my project and had thoughtfully collected donations while the staff at Anläggningskontor enjoyed their FFAD cake. Thank you so much Madde and Linda!
I decided to take the opportunity to have a small slice myself before scooting over to Lilla Trädet, the first smaller building, to say hello. It was a very delicious cake. Very moist and not overly sweet. I thanked Anläggning and they thanked me and I hurried over to Lilla. My collection bucket was starting to fill rapidly and people were so eager to give they actually tracked me down in the building. I stopped in at ADD and met up with Gunnel, Kjell-Åke, Barbro, Gudrun and Morgan and posed for pics and chatted all things Queen before doing a short tour of the two storey building. Some very nice men from Eli department dropped some money in the bucket and listened while I explained what I was doing and why. For the first time in my life, men were actually staring at my face and not my boobs. This was probably due to the very full black moustache under my nose. My confidence was building more and more and I was really feeling ready to meet Karlstad. I left Lilla Trädet behind and climbed back into the Freddie-mobile. My next stop was Coop Extra Hammarö (a grocery store) to grab some lunch before meeting up with Helena and Tina from VF (local newspaper) in the town square.
Coop was very fun. People tried to stare without me noticing, but since I was aware of this I kept six the entire time TRYING to catch their reactions. It was a sort of game really. One man standing in line at the deli counter asked, 'Was it you I heard on the radio this morning?' ... of course my response was yes and I was proud that he knew what he was looking at. An elderly couple came to me and asked me if I was 'that fellow from Queen'. I responded and were even MORE proud of them for knowing Freddie from 'I Want to Break Free', especially since they were obviously over 75 years of age. :)
Eating with a moustache requires some technique. I removed my teeth because that was just impossible. I had to tilt my head back, open wide and kinda toss the food into my mouth if I didn't want sauce or food getting caught in the coarse hairs that were now extremely irritating my lips and nose. Disgusting! I don't know how men do it, but I think having a moustache is a bit high maintenence for me. I got enough food into me before making my way to 'torget' in town. I could feel the stares from nearly everyone in the square. From the politicians running for government to the newly hazed students from the university to the busy office folk just looking for a bite to eat. Guffe, who was accompanying me, walked so far away from me that I realized I had been talking to myself the whole way from the car to the town centre (1.5 blocks). Yeah, like I didn't already look crazy enough, I was acting crazy too.
I met up with Helena and Tina and we did an interview/photoshoot before I had to make my way to Maskerad & Vintage to visit the Marias. A lot of elderly people came forward and spoke to me about being brave and cheered me on. One man asked me to 'dust him off' and so I did. He rather enjoyed that. My feather duster is quite ticklish. You can read the article below. Sorry it's in Swedish but there are a couple of photos you can see.
Next stop, Maskerad & Vintage <
http://www.maskeradovintage.se> ! To the Freddie-mobile!! Was really looking forward to seeing them as I got some pieces of my costume from their shop. They had also called their contact from NWT (local newspaper), to meet this re-incarnation of Freddie Mercury. More questions and photos and Linn, who had JUST arrived in Sweden after spending a year in my homeland, dropped two Canadian five dollar bills into my bucket! SWEET!!! I haven't seen those in years and even though she is Swedish, it felt like she was donating a slice of home. I miss all you guys back in Peterborough! Know that I was thinking of you at that moment. Especially Chris and Tammy who were going to be tying the knot that night. I'm sorry I missed out on your special day but I raised a glass of champagne later in the evening for you both. I wish you all the best in the future.
After M&V, I went home to make a quick facebook update and freshen up my costume before the party at Jenny's. I ended up visiting my neighbour Gerd, who has just become a grandmother for the first time. I owed her an appearance because I had borrowed some pieces for my outfit from her. She was delighted to see me and took some pics. I was running behind again so I didn't end up rebooting my look. I decided to do that at Jenny's instead.
Party time! The rest is a bit of a blur but we drank, drank and drank some more while butchering the hell out of Queen's greatest hits with Singstar Queen. I kicked everyone's ass btw, not surprising though. I was also forced to sing with my teeth in and facing the wall so the others would have an advantage. One word ... FUTILE!! I still kicked their asses!!
Then it was time to hit the pubs! Even more blurry now, not only because of the alcohol but because my brown contact lenses were extremely dry after being in since 6.30 am. Probably not a good thing, but who cares! All in the name of charity and Freddie right? :)
I do, however, remember a LOT of men confessing their attraction to women with moustaches. Some even grabbing me and swinging me around the dance floor a few times. The dj played some Queen songs as requested by my party because I refused to dance to anything BUT! At one point in the evening, we were sitting at a table and when the bill came ... it said table #39! It was a sign! Then a middle aged couple staggered over to me, gave me high fives then kissed me on the cheek.
Met an optician in the stairwell of Harry's pub, who confessed he loved Queen as much as I do. He made a donation and we danced to 'I Want It All'. The night was becoming morning and I was tired! I had been awake for almost 24 hours. Jenny and I grabbed some kebab rolls before climbing into a taxi back to her apartment. I just wanted to eat, rest my tired, aching feet and sleep. And so we did.
That was the end of my adventure as Freddie for a Day, but I can say with enthusiasm that I WILL be signing on again next year with an even MORE outrageous plan to raise money for the MPT and have fun in the process. I thank you all who donated, supported, put up with and had fun with me on this project. I really hope I can look forward to the same outpour next year! I love you all!
This has been a very long post and I might still be a bit hungover as I am feeling rather tired now. So I will log off but not before giving you the goods! Pictures and links!
Again, a huge thank you and lots of love to you all!
Roxy ... Kimberly ... Freddie
Radio Värmland (Swedish)