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Jun. 21st, 2006 10:44 pmAn early start this morning as John the chauffeur was coming at 7.30 to take my mother and me to Hampshire County Council's civic day.
On arrival at the Great Hall in Winchester we were all offered breakfast of a bacon and sausage bap, a croissant, and a self-service selection of fruit. Not bad at all - all we normally get on civic days is a cup of tea and a biscuit! Over breakfast we met Jim and Maria from Test Valley for the first time in months. Maria was on her usual playful top form - she greeted me as "my boyfriend" and had me give her a continental double-cheek kiss when we met. Then she said "Meet my other boyfriend," indicating Richard from Havant who was on our table, and she flirted with both of us for a while before going to rejoin her patient husband in the breakfast queue.
The grub was superb. Richard had already put away 2 bacon and sausage rolls by the time Pat, the lady Chairman of the County Council, came round urging us all to eat more as the food wasn't finished yet. Richard didn't need asking twice - he headed straight for the servery for his 3rd bacon and sossie butty...
After breakfast we were all sat in a group, with the County Council Cabinet all standing behind us, for a photo call. The photographer called on us to 'smile' and took our photo NINE times! Then the Cabinet members left, and Pat told us we now had to have a photo taken of just us civic dignitaries. Again the photographer made us do it NINE times. Jo, Pat's PA, explained to us that some photographers like to do so many shots to increase the chance of there being one in which there's nobody looking the wrong way.
We were all ushered onto a coach and driven to Thruxton race track. There, we were given cups of tea or coffee and a quick introductory speech before being split into carloads, each carload assigned an ex-professional racing driver, and getting into Mazda RX-8s. My mother and I were grouped with Hilary (Richard's guest for the day), with driver Phil. We were taken for a leisurely spin round the go-kart course, then Phil told us he was going to demonstrate the car's Antilock Braking System. He explained that the ABS allowed you to swerve the car with the steering wheel after braking, but travelling at 50 mph you have just 1.1 seconds to apply it. So he drove towards a stationary lorry at 50 mph, then - sure enough - slammed the brake on and swerved out of the way. Naturally, it was a pretty juddering experience, but you had to take your hat off to the technology. Phil was amazed that none of us swore - he said that normally when he does that demo his passengers turn the air blue! As we drove on round the track, Phil confessed to us that the 'lorry' was actually an inflatable; looking back we saw that was indeed the case. He made us promise not to tell the people who hadn't been given the demo yet.
After that, each of us in turn (only one passenger at a time is allowed) was taken for a high-speed drive round the main race track. Phil rapidly accelerated through 60, 70, 80, 90 and covered most of the lap at over 100 mph. It was stomach-turning at times, but an amazing experience.
Next we were all taken up the air control tower and told the history of the airfield by Henry, the owner, as we looked out across it. When we were up there it was very windy. Finally, it was back to the main lounge for a talk and slide presentation on the British Automobile Racing Club - we were all glad to sit down and rest for that.
We said our goodbyes to the BARC people and got back on the coach to go to a golf club for lunch. Much to our delight, Maria and I were next to each other on the seating plan; as we went into the dining room, Maria said to me "You won't mind if I put my hand on your knee, will you?"
"Be my guest," I replied.
"Oooh!" she exclaimed, laughing.
We had a great time chatting and enjoying each other's company, in between her flirting with David from New Forest. After she'd jokingly waxed lyrical about his masculine charms, telling a mock-disappointed Tony from Basingstoke that that was why she preferred David to him, I quipped "You've got three boyfriends now, then."
"Four!" she corrected me, presumably counting either her husband Jim or Tony whom she'd so recently spurned. She added to me "When you get to my age, you have to take all that you can get."
"Yes," I nodded my agreement, prompting her to demand "Are you agreeing I'm now of that age?"
"No," I said smoothly, "agreeing with your philosophy of taking all that you can get." That kept us firm friends for the rest of the meal. Meanwhile during dessert she turned her attention to Jim, who was sitting next to Audrey, wife of Brian from East Hants (they've sat together at past functions and are quite friendly). She threatened them that if they got "up close and personal", Brian would kill Jim and she would scratch Audrey's eyes out...
After coffee and chocolate mints we were back on the coach for our last destination, the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens. As the coach would be leaving after dropping us there, Pat told us all to be sure to take all our belongings with us as anything left on the coach would be auctioned. Jim yelled out "Does that include wives?", David said no-one would bid for Maria, one man called out "Threepence ha'penny" and another "72 camels". Audrey told Maria she'd be better off selling herself on Ebay, to which Maria concurred, saying she didn't want to be bought by any of the men present. I swung round and chipped in "I was going to weigh in with a bid." Maria announced to the whole coach "Wilhelmus can buy me, he'll look after me. Not like Jim." At that moment, we pulled in at the Gardens.
Thanks to Thruxton overrunning we were nearly an hour late, so instead of the full 90-minute guided tour of all the Gardens we were given a 40-minute guided tour of some of the Gardens. They were beautiful, with lots of different kinds of trees and flowers and a delightful, peaceful lake. The guide, and Pat, exhorted us all several times to come and visit again one day, so we could see it all, and to come back again in winter when the Gardens are at their best. On our way down the Centenary Pathway, a Dutch couple approached Richard, my mother and I and asked us what was happening, so we told them that we were the mayors from all over Hampshire. I spoke a little bit of Dutch to them, which delighted them so much they insisted I pose with the wife for the husband to take a photo. At least he only made us do it once :) Photo call over, I bid the couple tot ziens, wished them good luck for the football tonight, and ran to rejoin the civic party for tea in the cafe.
We were absolutely stuffed from the meal earlier, but all felt we ought to eat something after the Gardens staff had taken the trouble to prepare tea for us, and the scones, clotted cream and jam did look rather tempting, so me ma and I managed a scone each. We chatted to Tony and his wife Margaret for a few moments, said our goodbyes to everyone and went out to meet John and our Mayoral car.
On the drive back we talked about the other functions we've got coming up, including a trip to the Hampshire Youth Games at Aldershot on Saturday morning. John told us we'd be leaving there at 2 pm, so I calculated "We'll be home for the second half of Germany v Sweden, then." My mother and John were unsporting enough to groan at that! Though John did then say he'd put 5 Live's commentary on the car radio so I wouldn't miss the first half. Then we talked about the Sultan Show on Sunday. John told us we had to stay till 4 pm to be there for the taking of the salute. I knew the Sultan Show will have a big screen showing England v Ecuador, so I said we'd see the salute, go to the big screen to watch the first half, then John could run us home during half-time. My mother said "That's putting an extra 45 minutes on our day!" but it struck John as an excellent plan - he said he'd watch the big screen with us...
Too full to eat anything this evening. Watched Netherlands v Argentina - not the classic game we'd been expecting, though it had its moments. While I might have preferred the Dutch to face Mexico, there was one reason for being content with the 0-0 draw. On Saturday night my mother and I are going to the Hampshire Police Choir concert, so with the Netherlands now meeting Portugal on Sunday at least I'll get to see them play :)
On arrival at the Great Hall in Winchester we were all offered breakfast of a bacon and sausage bap, a croissant, and a self-service selection of fruit. Not bad at all - all we normally get on civic days is a cup of tea and a biscuit! Over breakfast we met Jim and Maria from Test Valley for the first time in months. Maria was on her usual playful top form - she greeted me as "my boyfriend" and had me give her a continental double-cheek kiss when we met. Then she said "Meet my other boyfriend," indicating Richard from Havant who was on our table, and she flirted with both of us for a while before going to rejoin her patient husband in the breakfast queue.
The grub was superb. Richard had already put away 2 bacon and sausage rolls by the time Pat, the lady Chairman of the County Council, came round urging us all to eat more as the food wasn't finished yet. Richard didn't need asking twice - he headed straight for the servery for his 3rd bacon and sossie butty...
After breakfast we were all sat in a group, with the County Council Cabinet all standing behind us, for a photo call. The photographer called on us to 'smile' and took our photo NINE times! Then the Cabinet members left, and Pat told us we now had to have a photo taken of just us civic dignitaries. Again the photographer made us do it NINE times. Jo, Pat's PA, explained to us that some photographers like to do so many shots to increase the chance of there being one in which there's nobody looking the wrong way.
We were all ushered onto a coach and driven to Thruxton race track. There, we were given cups of tea or coffee and a quick introductory speech before being split into carloads, each carload assigned an ex-professional racing driver, and getting into Mazda RX-8s. My mother and I were grouped with Hilary (Richard's guest for the day), with driver Phil. We were taken for a leisurely spin round the go-kart course, then Phil told us he was going to demonstrate the car's Antilock Braking System. He explained that the ABS allowed you to swerve the car with the steering wheel after braking, but travelling at 50 mph you have just 1.1 seconds to apply it. So he drove towards a stationary lorry at 50 mph, then - sure enough - slammed the brake on and swerved out of the way. Naturally, it was a pretty juddering experience, but you had to take your hat off to the technology. Phil was amazed that none of us swore - he said that normally when he does that demo his passengers turn the air blue! As we drove on round the track, Phil confessed to us that the 'lorry' was actually an inflatable; looking back we saw that was indeed the case. He made us promise not to tell the people who hadn't been given the demo yet.
After that, each of us in turn (only one passenger at a time is allowed) was taken for a high-speed drive round the main race track. Phil rapidly accelerated through 60, 70, 80, 90 and covered most of the lap at over 100 mph. It was stomach-turning at times, but an amazing experience.
Next we were all taken up the air control tower and told the history of the airfield by Henry, the owner, as we looked out across it. When we were up there it was very windy. Finally, it was back to the main lounge for a talk and slide presentation on the British Automobile Racing Club - we were all glad to sit down and rest for that.
We said our goodbyes to the BARC people and got back on the coach to go to a golf club for lunch. Much to our delight, Maria and I were next to each other on the seating plan; as we went into the dining room, Maria said to me "You won't mind if I put my hand on your knee, will you?"
"Be my guest," I replied.
"Oooh!" she exclaimed, laughing.
We had a great time chatting and enjoying each other's company, in between her flirting with David from New Forest. After she'd jokingly waxed lyrical about his masculine charms, telling a mock-disappointed Tony from Basingstoke that that was why she preferred David to him, I quipped "You've got three boyfriends now, then."
"Four!" she corrected me, presumably counting either her husband Jim or Tony whom she'd so recently spurned. She added to me "When you get to my age, you have to take all that you can get."
"Yes," I nodded my agreement, prompting her to demand "Are you agreeing I'm now of that age?"
"No," I said smoothly, "agreeing with your philosophy of taking all that you can get." That kept us firm friends for the rest of the meal. Meanwhile during dessert she turned her attention to Jim, who was sitting next to Audrey, wife of Brian from East Hants (they've sat together at past functions and are quite friendly). She threatened them that if they got "up close and personal", Brian would kill Jim and she would scratch Audrey's eyes out...
After coffee and chocolate mints we were back on the coach for our last destination, the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens. As the coach would be leaving after dropping us there, Pat told us all to be sure to take all our belongings with us as anything left on the coach would be auctioned. Jim yelled out "Does that include wives?", David said no-one would bid for Maria, one man called out "Threepence ha'penny" and another "72 camels". Audrey told Maria she'd be better off selling herself on Ebay, to which Maria concurred, saying she didn't want to be bought by any of the men present. I swung round and chipped in "I was going to weigh in with a bid." Maria announced to the whole coach "Wilhelmus can buy me, he'll look after me. Not like Jim." At that moment, we pulled in at the Gardens.
Thanks to Thruxton overrunning we were nearly an hour late, so instead of the full 90-minute guided tour of all the Gardens we were given a 40-minute guided tour of some of the Gardens. They were beautiful, with lots of different kinds of trees and flowers and a delightful, peaceful lake. The guide, and Pat, exhorted us all several times to come and visit again one day, so we could see it all, and to come back again in winter when the Gardens are at their best. On our way down the Centenary Pathway, a Dutch couple approached Richard, my mother and I and asked us what was happening, so we told them that we were the mayors from all over Hampshire. I spoke a little bit of Dutch to them, which delighted them so much they insisted I pose with the wife for the husband to take a photo. At least he only made us do it once :) Photo call over, I bid the couple tot ziens, wished them good luck for the football tonight, and ran to rejoin the civic party for tea in the cafe.
We were absolutely stuffed from the meal earlier, but all felt we ought to eat something after the Gardens staff had taken the trouble to prepare tea for us, and the scones, clotted cream and jam did look rather tempting, so me ma and I managed a scone each. We chatted to Tony and his wife Margaret for a few moments, said our goodbyes to everyone and went out to meet John and our Mayoral car.
On the drive back we talked about the other functions we've got coming up, including a trip to the Hampshire Youth Games at Aldershot on Saturday morning. John told us we'd be leaving there at 2 pm, so I calculated "We'll be home for the second half of Germany v Sweden, then." My mother and John were unsporting enough to groan at that! Though John did then say he'd put 5 Live's commentary on the car radio so I wouldn't miss the first half. Then we talked about the Sultan Show on Sunday. John told us we had to stay till 4 pm to be there for the taking of the salute. I knew the Sultan Show will have a big screen showing England v Ecuador, so I said we'd see the salute, go to the big screen to watch the first half, then John could run us home during half-time. My mother said "That's putting an extra 45 minutes on our day!" but it struck John as an excellent plan - he said he'd watch the big screen with us...
Too full to eat anything this evening. Watched Netherlands v Argentina - not the classic game we'd been expecting, though it had its moments. While I might have preferred the Dutch to face Mexico, there was one reason for being content with the 0-0 draw. On Saturday night my mother and I are going to the Hampshire Police Choir concert, so with the Netherlands now meeting Portugal on Sunday at least I'll get to see them play :)
