Big Andys Scootering Site

Deliveries done, i was home at 1pm and watched the tv as the super rams where robbed of a perfectly good winning goal in injury time by the ref blowing for offside as W.ham v Derby was live on sky whilst i waited for Dawn to finish work at 2pm. Although Dawn was not going to Morecambe she was coming with me to Goole to Nigel & Janices house as she was stopping with Janice over the weekend. So at just after 3pm we set off to Goole to meet up with Nigel & Janice arriving at 4:15pm and then myself & Nigel left for Morecambe at 4:30

An hour and 45 minutes later we were driving along Morecambe seafront looking for somewhere to park Nigels van, which was to be our mobile home for the weekend. We settled on the Aldi carpark as the shop was closed over the weekend and was just up the road from the Ranch House and the Carleton where the night time do's where being held. So van parked it was off to the Ranch House where we met up with the 8-10 of the Brewers who had made the journey up to the north west. Those in attendence were Ian & Bev, Steve Haynes, Dean Clarke, Nick, Roger,Bruce, Brew and a couple of other lads who had come up with them.Also in the Ranch, which was packed, was a few of the Wreckless Souls SC and some of the Blues SC from both Carlton and Edinburgh,including Andy H and also Earl, so i was kept busy for a while saying my hellos.

Just after 9pm we took the small walk down the seafront to the Carleton for the night time activities, which was starring a band called The Mods. I left Nigel talking to his mate Rory from Goole as i went off around the room saying my hellos to my ever increasing number of friends, including the lads from Ital Scooters, Lee & Steve from Lincoln SC, (another) Big Andy from down south west, the V.F.M. lads, several of the lads that were in Prague, the ii's Reet, Angel & Dunny, and also 3 of the Nottingham Gatecrashers SC. I also made sure i got my V.F.M. t-shirt for sunday night as there wasn't that many left and i would have felt naked without my t-shirt whilst working on Sunday night.

The Mods came on stage at about 11pm and my first impression was that they weren't exactly dressed like mods, infact they were a bit scruffy, but their covers of the usual hits from The Who, The Kinks, The Small Faces and such like wasn't too bad and seemed to go down well with the mods amongst us

Before too long it was kicking out time so Nigel & i went off to the late nite pizza place round the corner only to discover it was packed. We got half way along the queue only for the owners to declare they had no pizzas left so Nigel decided to get a kebab instead, but just as he got close to the front the owners declared that they had nothing left and were closing. So with Nigel moaning all the way, we set off back to his van, with Nigel rescuing a slice of pizza of a young gal who was also walking that way.

We awoke just after 9am on Sunday morning and we were soon off along the front to find breakfast then off to the trade stalls and custom show which were at the Platform which is the old railway station on the front. Having spent a small fortune on stuff for both mine and Dawns scoots and bumping into BigN and Dawsey of the ii, Nigel & i settled down in front off the Ranch for an afternoon of steady alcohol intake and sun burning as my head went redder and redder as the day progressed. I never gave it a thought, after all this was Easter in Morecambe where its cold and wet even in the hight of summer. We sat down with Dunny, Joy(mum of Dean from CSWSSC) and a couple called Andy & Donna. I had spoken in passing to them before but never really sat down and spend time with them so it was nice to chat to them properly. Dunny soon left us with the lad he had been talking to but Jimmy Jazz from Leicester surprised us all by phoning to say he was on his way and wanted to know where we were. Now when Jimmy rang again to say he was on the seafront i told him there was a parking spot right infront of us. This space was big enough for me to park my lorry in but being a typical taxi driver, Jimmy struggled to park his merc finally giving up and parking round the corner.

After a few beers we went for dinner but we all made sure we were in front of Jimmy so that we got some roast spuds before he ate them all. After that it was back to the van to get refreshed and changed ready for the nights festivities. We stopped at the Ranch again to meet up with Dunny and Andy & Donna, only for Jimmy to disappear. After several unanswered phone calls i gave up trying to find him as i had to report for duty at the Carleton, only to bump into Jimmy on the way out, so i told him if he was coming to the do, to come with Nigel and i would get them in as my guests for the night as i hadn't got Dawn with me and as Nigel had paid the previous night.

Bad Manners came on stage about 11pm and they were brilliant, the best i had seen them peform in a long time, infact we had our hands full keeping the crowd away from the stage, especially as Dave Gould who also works for V.F.M. but was not working tonight, kept on charging in to us until Mr Foster had a quiet word with him and slapped his wrists.

Kicking out time was at 1am so by 2am myself and Nigel were back at the van with Jimmy, who had vanished again earlier, fast asleep in the back of his merc. Nigel and i decided we would drive back now so as to miss all the traffic in the morning, and arrived back in Goole just after 4am

So that was the first national rally of 2004 done and although i missed Dawn and all my usual ii buddies it was a good weekend and i hope all the rallies have as much good weather as Morecambe did. And next its Tenby and Mark Evisons stag night, but alas, im not going. My next rally is Skegness but as thats about 7 weeks away i just might go to Blue & Golds SC do in Kings Lynn. We will have to see

Safe Scootering

Andy ii

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