We left Leicester at about 3-00pm, after collecting DMs, Savage and Dunney on the way round the city. The plan was to meet the 100mph team and Andy & Clair at MacDonalds on the A14 at 4-00pm, which we almost managed. When we pulled in they were all enjoying a burger, so we had one too, knowing full well that we’d be hungry again within 15 minutes?The journey to Hemsby after that was pretty uneventful, the usual wee wee stops for the kids in the back, and the obligatory traffic jam on the A11. Anyway we got there, found the chalet (?) and got started on the beer.
Next it was off to the dos and the pubs, where we bumped into various reprobates form the chat room - ii. The dos were split between a Northern room and the live band room. For my part, I spent most of the night in the Northern room, where Jimmy James and the Vagabonds played an excellent set. Either side of this there was a solid collection of Northern sounds played by an equally solid selection of rally and Northern DJs.
Breakfast the next day was the usual nightmare, no non-stick pans, too small a kitchen, and no Jamie Oliver when you needed him, so not all bad then! At this point Sam decided to dish out the corporal punishment to guilty parties, with yours truly receiving a well-earned clip round the head. The day was spent chilling. If you’ve never been to Hemsby, just to give you an idea of the type of place that it is, when you leave the site and walk towards the beach, the first shop you come to advertises special rates for weekly hire of wheelchairs (which DMs appreciated), and the next shop specialises in sales of BIG sized ladies clothing sizes 16 – 30, sort of some the place up really. Next on the agenda was a trip to the Queen Vic to watch the mighty Leicester trounce a team in red & white stripes – well trounce may not be the right word, but they did win, and Akinbiyi scored, so you can tell how strange a weekend it was. The enjoyment was slightly marred by the battle of the bands taking place right next to us, although Clair did her best to hold up proceedings by flashing at the bass player through the window. Then we had the undoubted highlight of the weekend when Sam from the 100 mph team produced the Zippy, which they had won from one of the arcade games. Clair was so impressed that Andy had to spend 4 hours and £30-00 ‘winning’ one for her; still he managed it, and as Zippy so rightly said “You know I really am very clever!” A quick doze and a Pot-Noodle-A-Thon later and we were raring to go for the nighttime do – yeah right! So we put DMs into his wheelchair and hobbled to the do and carried on where we had left off the night before, with Geno Washington playing live in the Northern room. Better than excellent, and good to see kids up and shaking their stuff – there is a new generation of scooterists waiting to happen after all. This was followed by a Northern dancing competition, which was a great spectator sport and let the real movers and shakers do their thing to some excellent Northern sounds – tremendous way to bring my night to a close. The other room had Who’s Who as the main act, who I’m told were equally brilliant. And Olly became the new mod face as he and Sam danced the night away to all the top mod sounds and are now taking booking as the Mod Go Go do dancers for a do near you. Sunday was a write off in terms of doing anything worthwhile. Pack up, clean up, and go was the order of the day. Journey back equally uneventful, apart from the of course the usual wee wee stops for the kids in the back, and regular texting and calls from those who wanted the rally to last just bit longer and a lucky wee stop at MacDonald’s. We walk in and who was sitting there yes you guessed it ZIPPY with his own fan club Andy, Claire, Daniel & Megan. Was just what we needed to finish the day of nicely? Then back in the car and more texting. At the end of the day, a great run. Not everyone’s in favour of holiday camp runs, and I can see his or her point, but at the end of the day, it was better than playing Mr Semi-detached Suburban for the weekend. See you next
year!
I-SPY ii