Big Andys Scootering Site

8:30 soon arrived, so with Sophie packed off  for the weekend and the car already packed, i set of in the car with Dawn following on her scooter. Ideally i would have been on my scooter but having stripped it completely the previous week, i was still awaiting the parts so the car it was for me. The idea was that we met up with Nigel & Janice at the Campsite as they had set off far too early in the morning and were to arrive there about 9am.

    Everything was going great for the first 50 miles but then disaster struck as Dawns scooter ceased up and i was very close to running up the back of her. After several minutes trying to get it going again i rang Nigel to see if he would come and get it but he had already set up camp and couldnt move the van so Dawn set off pushing her scooter to the cafe about 1/4 mile down the road. Now i've taken a bit of grief of people cos Dawn pushed it and not me, but i did the gentlemanly thing and waved to her as i passed her in the car. Some lads from Leicester stopped to see if they could help her but by then i had ran (well walked) back up the road and took over the pushing duties, well riding as by now we were on a bit of a hill so i free wheeled it into the cafe carpark where several people including Steve Foster had a look at her scoot. The general consencious was that it was f**ked ( i could of told em that) and Steve suggested that the rings had gone, so Dawn sweet talked the cafe owners into allowing her to leave it there and i arranged with that brilliant bloke Nick from Ital Scooters to pick it up later.

    So into the car and we completed our journey to Skegness. On our arrival we soon found Nigel & Janice who had Micheal and his girlfriend Kirsty with them. Also there was Crash & Donna from Ipswich but i soon discovered that the ii had started camp a bit further up from us. Now the plan was to all camp together but the early ii arrivals ie Dunny and his brother Billy had set up further up and the other ii followed suite.

    We hung around the camp site for most of the day saying our hellos as people arrived with Richard & Kerry from the Brewers setting up their little camp village next to us ready for when Nick & Ruth arrived. The ii camp was soon taking up quite a big area as ii after ii arrived. When the scooter riding contigement of the Brewers arrived they set up camp near the entrance, so not only did the ii not want to camp with us but our fellow club members wouldn't either. I really must remember to change my deodorant for the Shires.

    Anyway 7 pm soon came round so whilst my fellow campers went to get something to eat i reported for duty at the Street (or as it was now called Shadows). I was working on both Friday night and Saturday night , so i was ready for a busy weekend.

    I was paired with Phillipa in the back room so was well positioned when Dr & The Medics came on stage. Now when i heard these were playing at Skeggy i was intrigued as to why they would do a scooter rally but in my humble opinion they were the best band of the weekend, they were really up for having a great time and didn't let the fact they have only had 1 or 2 hits stop them from achieving this. On the main stage tonight were the Stranglers, Who had insisted on only 3 security men behind the barriers but within seconds of starting we were all behind the barrier struggling to cope with the crush. From what i could see of them behind me i thought they were quite good. Ive seen them play better years ago but maybe its down to the fact that none of us are getting younger that they didn't seem to be 100% into it.

    Myself and Dawn finally got back to the tent about 4am and went straight to sleep only to be awoken about 8ish by some noisy git starting his scooter

    Breakfast eaten we started on Dawns scooter only to find that the rings had welded to the piston and had not disintigrated as suspected so it was just a case of a new Malossi kit which i would have to order so Dawns scooter was going back with Nigel in his Van come Monday morning. We then took a walk into town to the Custom show to buy all the bits i needed for both mine and Dawns scooters. Dawn then decided to go and have her hair done (so I-spy wouldn't call her hair bear), and Nigel and Crash went back to the campsite to fit a scorpian exhaust so i had a look around the stalls & scooters. Nigel from Lincoln SC (one of the rally organisers) asked me if Dawn could pull a pint and would she do him a big favour and work behind the bar that night as he was desperately short of staff. Anyway i caught up with Dawn and she said that she would so i set of to Wetherspoons to catch up with the VFM lads. Dawn soon joined us so we had a bite to eat then retreated back to the campsite to get freshened up for the night time.

    We arrived back in the Street just after 7 and Dawn was shown the ropes behind the bar and i went to get ready for my bit. Tonights entertainment included The Highliners and Setting Sons who were up on the main stage first. I got to speak to several people during the night who i hadnt yet seen over the weekend including Baggs from Blue & Gold SC and Mark the Mod and his son Luke from Loughborough. The Setting Sons were quite good but the stars of the night were The Highliners who were just MAD. They certainly had the crowd bobbing away.

    Sunday saw us setting off to Inglemells to meet up with Dawns Mum but what should have been a 10 min journey took us the best part of an hour as the traffic into & out of Skeggy was static and when we finally got there the heavens opened and soaked us. Well it wouldn't be a Skeggy rally without it raining on Sunday. At least it wasn't hailing like it did last year.

    We got back into Skeggy and went straight to the pub to meet Teresa & oajj but when we got there they had just left to go and get changed for the night but Mick, Dunny, Jimmy Jazz & Gary from Leicester were in there with Dean & Anne, Psychogaz, Mouse and Dave & Helen from K.O.R.SC. Dave entertained us by putting his hat down on the pavement outside and dancing around it as people passed by throwing money in his hat. One young lad was sent over by his mum to put some money in the hat, but Dave wouldn't accept it and infact grapped the money in the hat and gave it to the youngster and told him to treat himself, and so spreading the good word that us scooterists are not a bunch of yobbos.

    We arrived at the night time do a bit later than the rest as we had got back to the campsite a bit late after being dragged kicking and screaming into another pub by Lee from Lincoln along with the VFM lads. Tonights bands were Ultimate Madness & Blondish on the main stage and Fuzzy Duck in the back room. Blondish were first up and i thought they were ok but not brilliant. It takes more than the lead singer to wear tight black shorts and a blonde wig to impress me especially as i had a big crush on Debbie Harry (as did most lads) back in there heyday. Ultimate Madness were good, doing a good set of .....well Madness songs. The lead singer later joined me for a drink and eventually agreed to give Dawn his T-shirt. We left about 1 ish saying our goodbyes and by the time we arose Nigel & Janice had already left and Crash & Donna were just leaving.

    So a big thank you to all who made our weekend special, namely Nigel, Janice, Micheal, Kirsty, Crash & Donna (plus their 2 lads) all the ii (too numerous to mention) and all the Brewers who attended. (Richard & Kerry, Nick & Ruth, Bev, Cath, Andy & Karen, Roger & Steph, Nick, Delay, Mark, Dean C, Brewkit and Steve). Also a big thank-you to paul & Nigel of Lincoln SC for setting up the weekend it was much appreciated. Also big thanks to all those that helped Dawn when she broke down especially Nick from Ital for picking her scooter up.

    So we now move on to The Shires in 3 weeks time and i dont care if we break down on that rally as its only 10 miles from our front door so we can push the scoots if we wanted to. The only down side is one of our club members is getting married on the Saturday so we will have to disappear for a few hours to attend his reception. (bad planning or what). So myself and Pinkie (Dawn) will see you there

SAFE SCOOTERING

Andy

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