Woolacombe, September 2002
I'd only got 10 miles down the road when Stacey rang with the bad news that Jamie had suffered a blow-out at 65mph near Bournemouth. An ambulance was on its way and the weekend hung in the balance. He was put in the High Dependency Unit of Poole General Hospital and was deemed well enough for everyone to carry on. I continued on my way and picked up Louise in Salisbury and eventually got to the site at teatime. As the Modrapheniacs hadn't checked into their accommodation yet, Louise had nowhere to go so she came to our lovely caravan for a couple of Smirnoff Ices. Jo and Duaine joined us as birthday boy Lee opened his cards and pressies, the highlight being the Coventry City FC wrapping paper! The cake was a disaster as it had moved about on the journey and got a bit disfigured. I thought I'd got it sussed as the Camber cake for Barry and Gary had suffered from bad cooking facilities on-site. I'd therefore made the cake at home, but I obviously hadn't taken the winding North Devon roads into account....
We made our way to the do eventually and waited with eager anticipation for the evening's entertainment. We'd made an effort with our 80's outfits - Jo's grass skirt was a 10p bargain from a car boot sale. My bleached jeans and Scootermania t-shirt (cheers, Barry!) took me back 20-odd-years to the times when you could go to a rally and get very drunk, buy a few scooter bits, a t-shirt and a couple of records and still have change from fifty quid - those were the days....! DJ Andy played some classics, including the never-to-be-forgotten "Tony Blackburn" which should be re-released after its namesake's success on TV recently!
The first band, I Can't Believe It's Not Punk, were great - belting out some classics including Teenage Kicks, Ever Fallen In Love and Alternative Ulster. But the reason for our increasing excitement and ridiculous clothing was the next act. Smeg, lead singer with King Kurt was back on a rally and reliving some of their greatest songs to a very appreciative audience. Jo, the original Alcoholic Rat, was in her element, wrecking away just like the old days. It was fantastic, and he hung around afterwards for a chat and a few photos. The music continued with more 80's classics until it was time for bed....
Saturday dawned and we managed a very chilled-out day. Steve had picked up Jamie's scooter in his van so we checked out the damage. There was surprisingly little, and it started after a few kicks and after a slight adjustment to the steering, it could be ridden around quite safely. We considered putting it in the custom show, along with his club t-shirt and Chelsea shirt which had been cut off him by the paramedics, but decided against it! Jo made herself useful and cut Stacey and Rob's hair, making a very good job of both of them. We stopped by the pub in the afternoon where Steve entertained us with a coin trick which I won. The £1 I gained was soon lost to Gary though, who'd bet me that Pompey would lose. Sadly my boys let me down, for the first time this season, but we're still top of the league by 2 points!
On Saturday evening Stacey finally achieved her dream of getting up close to Buster's tongue. She still had a grin on her face the next day, which made it all worthwhile. I tried to persuade Smeg to pose for a 'normal' photo with me, but he took Buster's lead and tried to stick his tongue in my ear - not very nice.... I had a brief chat with Johnny from More Specials who'd earlier been hypnotised. He'd pretended to be a goldfish, making very gentle swimming movements with his 'fins', and said it had been a very weird experience. He's very excited about the band's new line-up and promised another chat in Pompey when they play there in October.
And all too soon it was Sunday morning. Another great weekend, only marred by Friday's crash. I popped in on Jamie on the way home, taking him some provisions to keep him going between meals (Stacey's biscuits saved the day) and it was a relief to see him sitting up in a chair, albeit very battered, bruised and aching. The bruising on his lung was causing the most concern, which is why he won't be home for a few days yet, but he'll hopefully be transferred nearer to us in the next couple of days.
