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Aug. 28th, 2006 08:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eiffel_71Back on the mayoral trail again, spending the day at the town's Vintage Car Rally. On the drive there John, who's just back from a fortnight's holiday in Paphos, wound me up about Havant & Waterlooville's shaky start to the season and about my having to do the rally today instead of going to watch the Hawks at Eastleigh.
When we arrived, one of the organisers and the little Carnival Princess were waiting for us by the Public Address caravan. There was no sign of the Carnival Queen; after several PA announcements failed to get her to materialise, my mother was told to go ahead and open the rally without her. She said a few words and declared the rally open, then as soon as she came away from the PA area a lady collared her and started to bend her ear about the disabled toilets being too far away. Fortunately a lady organiser soon came up and listened to the lady with her, but while they were all talking Gran walked up. She'd been there since the fair started at 10 am and was a bit miffed that my mother hadn't let her know we'd only be coming at noon...
The first thing I noticed was a burger van with a billboard with lots of slogans on from the halcyon days of World Wrestling - "Can you smell what the Jock is cooking?", "Stone Cold Stunner", "The People's Elbow", etc. (Yes, I know the wrestler was the Rock - the burger van owner must be called Jock. Alas, we never got to pay it a visit.)
It wasn't long before the Carnival Queen arrived - she'd been being driven round the town on a vintage bus. I told her I was a friend of her sister (ExCrush), and she said she hadn't seen ExCrush since she was 5 and added "Small world, isn't it?" We were all taken for a quick look at some of the cars - there were some superb specimens from the 1930s and 1940s - then we said goodbye to the Carnival Queen, she told me to give ExCrush her love, and my mother and I were taken for the traditional drive round the town in a pink Cadillac.
The Cadillac was from 1960 and in immaculate condition, lovingly tended by Jo, its owner and driver. Jo told us all about it on the drive, and how she's one of a network of classic car enthusiasts in Hampshire and Sussex who all help each other out with maintenance and parts. When we got back to the rally, as I got out I noticed an old wireless radio, again circa 1960 with all the city names on the huge rectangular dial, lying on the passenger seat and remarked on it to Jo. She said she used to have loads of them - all still working perfectly - but had had to get rid of most of them to free space up so had just the one now. I love all that old stuff.
From there, we were introduced to a Malaysian lady novelist who lives locally and was selling signed copies of her new book. My mother bought one and we talked to her for a little while - I told her I'd stayed over in Kuala Lumpur on my way to and from Australia this year, and she said KL was much more cosmopolitan than her provincial home town where, while a lot of people have modern urban comforts, there are still some living simple lives.
Next we were led over to the organisers' rest bus for sandwiches and pop. There we met the brother and sister-in-law of a friend of my mother - they were involved in the organising - so the four of us all sat around chatting as we had our lunch. Of the limited range of sandwiches, the only ones I liked were cheese, so I had two of those. Just as the lady had filled my plastic cup with cola, John the driver appeared at the bus window waggling a can of Tetley bitter at me. My mother and I smiled and nodded to him, and he came on the bus saying he'd thought I'd like something stronger than cola. I took alternate sips of cola and beer. When we came out, John was standing by the Mayoral car - and he had a bloody hamburger!
We joined the next batch of fairgoers to take a tour of the town in a 1970s Provincial bus, complete with a driver in the busman's uniform of the day, big white badge and all. Among the crowd we met Bob, an acquaintance of the parents who'd been with us in Royan, and talked to him for most of the trip.
On our return we got to wander round looking at the old cars. Most of them were in magnificent condition and a lot of them are still driven in everyday life by their owners. Looking at the interiors with their still pristine old-style display panels and car radios, I vowed that if I ever do learn to drive I'll buy a well-preserved 1970s model. There were loads of Minis, many of them bearing insignia of different Mini owners' clubs; I looked around for one from the Welsh Rarebit Minis, immortalised by Dave Gorman, but didn't see one :(
Sue #3 from my office was sat in one of the cars with her boyfriend, who was exhibiting it, so stopped for a chat.
Our last duty was presenting the prizes - my mother handed out the winners' rosettes while I got to present the runner-up ones. Jo and her pink Cadillac came second in its category, so I got to hand her her rosette and give her a kiss; the PA announcer gushed with praise for the Caddie and made a few remarks about Jo being a beautiful lady to go with the beautiful car. My mother got talking to one of the motorcycle prizewinners and reminisced about how she once had a boyfriend who took her riding on the back of his machine, so the biker invited her to hop on the back with him and off they went round the rally area. The PA announcer said "The Mayor has been kidnapped!" then told any kids watching "If the Mayor comes to visit your school, be sure to remind her you saw her riding on the back of a motorcycle without a crash hat."
We said our goodbyes to the organisers, my mother stopped by the badger protectors' stall and bought a selection of their homemade cakes, then we made for the Mayoral car, where John waxed lyrical about Jo and remarked enviously about my getting a Cadillac ride and a kiss. "She's a nice lady," I agreed, and John shot back "Too old for you." As I'd say Jo's only in her late 40s - relationships with bigger spreads than that have worked - I'll put that down to jealousy :)
When we arrived, one of the organisers and the little Carnival Princess were waiting for us by the Public Address caravan. There was no sign of the Carnival Queen; after several PA announcements failed to get her to materialise, my mother was told to go ahead and open the rally without her. She said a few words and declared the rally open, then as soon as she came away from the PA area a lady collared her and started to bend her ear about the disabled toilets being too far away. Fortunately a lady organiser soon came up and listened to the lady with her, but while they were all talking Gran walked up. She'd been there since the fair started at 10 am and was a bit miffed that my mother hadn't let her know we'd only be coming at noon...
The first thing I noticed was a burger van with a billboard with lots of slogans on from the halcyon days of World Wrestling - "Can you smell what the Jock is cooking?", "Stone Cold Stunner", "The People's Elbow", etc. (Yes, I know the wrestler was the Rock - the burger van owner must be called Jock. Alas, we never got to pay it a visit.)
It wasn't long before the Carnival Queen arrived - she'd been being driven round the town on a vintage bus. I told her I was a friend of her sister (ExCrush), and she said she hadn't seen ExCrush since she was 5 and added "Small world, isn't it?" We were all taken for a quick look at some of the cars - there were some superb specimens from the 1930s and 1940s - then we said goodbye to the Carnival Queen, she told me to give ExCrush her love, and my mother and I were taken for the traditional drive round the town in a pink Cadillac.
The Cadillac was from 1960 and in immaculate condition, lovingly tended by Jo, its owner and driver. Jo told us all about it on the drive, and how she's one of a network of classic car enthusiasts in Hampshire and Sussex who all help each other out with maintenance and parts. When we got back to the rally, as I got out I noticed an old wireless radio, again circa 1960 with all the city names on the huge rectangular dial, lying on the passenger seat and remarked on it to Jo. She said she used to have loads of them - all still working perfectly - but had had to get rid of most of them to free space up so had just the one now. I love all that old stuff.
From there, we were introduced to a Malaysian lady novelist who lives locally and was selling signed copies of her new book. My mother bought one and we talked to her for a little while - I told her I'd stayed over in Kuala Lumpur on my way to and from Australia this year, and she said KL was much more cosmopolitan than her provincial home town where, while a lot of people have modern urban comforts, there are still some living simple lives.
Next we were led over to the organisers' rest bus for sandwiches and pop. There we met the brother and sister-in-law of a friend of my mother - they were involved in the organising - so the four of us all sat around chatting as we had our lunch. Of the limited range of sandwiches, the only ones I liked were cheese, so I had two of those. Just as the lady had filled my plastic cup with cola, John the driver appeared at the bus window waggling a can of Tetley bitter at me. My mother and I smiled and nodded to him, and he came on the bus saying he'd thought I'd like something stronger than cola. I took alternate sips of cola and beer. When we came out, John was standing by the Mayoral car - and he had a bloody hamburger!
We joined the next batch of fairgoers to take a tour of the town in a 1970s Provincial bus, complete with a driver in the busman's uniform of the day, big white badge and all. Among the crowd we met Bob, an acquaintance of the parents who'd been with us in Royan, and talked to him for most of the trip.
On our return we got to wander round looking at the old cars. Most of them were in magnificent condition and a lot of them are still driven in everyday life by their owners. Looking at the interiors with their still pristine old-style display panels and car radios, I vowed that if I ever do learn to drive I'll buy a well-preserved 1970s model. There were loads of Minis, many of them bearing insignia of different Mini owners' clubs; I looked around for one from the Welsh Rarebit Minis, immortalised by Dave Gorman, but didn't see one :(
Sue #3 from my office was sat in one of the cars with her boyfriend, who was exhibiting it, so stopped for a chat.
Our last duty was presenting the prizes - my mother handed out the winners' rosettes while I got to present the runner-up ones. Jo and her pink Cadillac came second in its category, so I got to hand her her rosette and give her a kiss; the PA announcer gushed with praise for the Caddie and made a few remarks about Jo being a beautiful lady to go with the beautiful car. My mother got talking to one of the motorcycle prizewinners and reminisced about how she once had a boyfriend who took her riding on the back of his machine, so the biker invited her to hop on the back with him and off they went round the rally area. The PA announcer said "The Mayor has been kidnapped!" then told any kids watching "If the Mayor comes to visit your school, be sure to remind her you saw her riding on the back of a motorcycle without a crash hat."
We said our goodbyes to the organisers, my mother stopped by the badger protectors' stall and bought a selection of their homemade cakes, then we made for the Mayoral car, where John waxed lyrical about Jo and remarked enviously about my getting a Cadillac ride and a kiss. "She's a nice lady," I agreed, and John shot back "Too old for you." As I'd say Jo's only in her late 40s - relationships with bigger spreads than that have worked - I'll put that down to jealousy :)
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no subject
Date: 2006-08-28 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 12:08 am (UTC)Kuala Lumpur was nice from what I remember, depite the monsoon that forced us to stay an extra night in the five-star Regent Hotel. What a hardship!
no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 12:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 07:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 02:24 am (UTC)