Sandford Rally, March 14th - 16th 2008

It was the first rally of the season and the first rally that I'd ridden to in a year too, so I was very excited.  We'd been planning to take the baby but were inundated with babysitting offers so left him in the capable hands of Auntie and Nanny.  Lee took my scooter to be MOD'd at 8.30 that morning so I was chewing my nails, hoping it would pass.   Luckily it did, so it was at teatime that we left, after Daniel's afternoon feed.  I'd already had a phone call from Rich saying that he, Champs, Nicki, Lofty and Rhona were already there, so that made me very keen to get on the road as soon as poss.  The weather had been bad all day, but it wasn't raining when we left, and it stayed dry all the way to Dorset which was a result.   It was weird though because we didn't see any scooters until we were about a mile from Sandford.   I was beginning to think we'd got the wrong date!  

As usual, Rick Kaye was on the gate so we said a quick hello, paid for our sparkly red wristbands and Rich got our keys for us and guided us to our caravan.   What a treat - it was brand new and had central heating, a flat screen TV, power shower and all sorts of other bells and whistles.  After a quick shower and slice of toast we headed to the do and found the Pacemakers, Detours and Choirboys all in the upstairs bar.

It was really nice to catch up with everyone again, and surprising how many people I hadn't seen in over a year, who didn't even know I'd had Daniel.   I was a real baby-bore, shoving my camera in everyone's face, showing them my photos of Daniel.   Campbell was especially interested in my breastfeeding habits, and was very keen to try some 'mummy milk' himself....  Hmmmm....   

Lee, meanwhile, went on a bit of a bender and had a great evening, spent dancing with Dennis, making love to Ted on the snooker table and sticking his tongue in anyone and everyone's ears!!   

At about 1 o'clock I thought we should call it a day, and we made our way back to the caravan....

I love this photo!!

I should have a caption competition for these!!

Saturday dawned and Lee was feeling rather poorly.   He thought he was dying, and insisted that it had to be more than just excessive alcohol consumption.   Yeah, right!   He was so poorly, in fact, that I couldn't even mention the word 'bacon', let alone think about cooking some in our van!   So I went next door where the Choirboys were very accommodating, letting me use their cooking facilities in return for rustling up some bacon sarnies for them too.   Gary and Lin arrived, it having been too wet the previous day for Gary to ride.  They were on Gary's new sparkly AF Lambretta which had got rather muddy on the journey so he immediately got the sponge out and gave it a clean, much to Campbell's amusement.   

I wandered up to the stalls on my own as Lee couldn't move, but there was nothing that tempted me to part with what little cash I had.  The rest of the Detours were in the bar upstairs already, so I joined them for a bottle of water as it was far too early for alcohol for me.   Champs had a copy of the Shed magazine and was fascinated by a topless girl who could hold a beer bottle in her cleavage.  He challenged us girls to copy her but we politely declined.   I was curious though, so took up the challenge later in the privacy of my caravan, and managed a washing up bottle and make-up bottle, not quite stretching to a bottle of beer!!!!!   Rich wasn't happy that I couldn't provide photographic evidence, I just had Lee as a witness instead....

We all then went to the pub just up the road, but couldn't believe it shut for the afternoon at 2.30!   I thought ALL pubs were open all day nowadays, but clearly not.   So I checked back on Lee who felt sufficiently better to take some Anadin which was at least a step in the right direction.   Another leap forward for the caravan was that it had digital TV so I settled in to watch Gillette Soccer Saturday while doing what Campbell had been fantasizing about all day.   5 ounces later, Pompey had beaten Aston Villa 2-0 so it was time to freshen up and then head out for something to eat.   Lee had surfaced by now and was well enough to come out, although he was going to stick to soft drinks as he couldn't face anything stronger.  The pub had reopened and was heaving but luckily we were fairly early so only had a 45 minute wait for food.  

It was a fairly subdued evening, we had a good laugh in the pub and then went to the do but it wasn't particularly busy.   Which was good in a way as it made it easier to get served in the bar.   The first band were a Ska covers band who had a guest singer, Johnny (ex-More Specials), for Little Bitch, which was great!  The evening livened up considerably when Ready Stead Go were on stage, when the owner of the Scum custom Lambretta took off all his clothes and posed on the balcony in view of all the punters below.   He had a very cute bottom, and luckily that was all I could see, and he quickly re-dressed before the bouncers came looking for him.   I was desperate for a dance by now so dragged various partners onto the dancefloor, including Rich, Woody and then Simon, Andy & Rich from Salisbury who in turn invited me to the Northern Room where we all shimmied away thanks to a generous helping of talc on the floor.  

Sunday arrived and all I could hear was raindrops on the roof of the caravan, which didn't bode well for the ride home.  Sam was due to play football at 10am so I was trying to get back for that, but we didn't end up leaving til 8.30 or so.   The weather was awful all the way home, and it was the wind that scared me most.  I hate riding with a crosswind and it was horrible going through the New Forest.   We got back at about 10.30 to find that Sam's match had been cancelled, not surprisingly, so I jumped in the bath instead.   It was the best bath ever, and once I'd defrosted I dashed round to my Mum's to get Daniel as I was really missing him by now.   He seemed quite pleased to see me too, although he hadn't missed me much over the weekend which was probably for the best.  It had been great to get away on our own though, although I don't think Lee will be drinking again for a while....

And here are Rhona's photos, taken before Choirboy 'clumsy' Phil managed to break her camera....