Old Bob....behind the scenes
'Malc to Ernie, over and out!' its time for old Bob to hang up his keyboard for this year. Malc and Ernie have had their fun on the radios, the crowds have all been and gone and the committee are steadfastly trying to get rid of the 'hangers on', the litter and to face up to the fact that they will at some point have to return to their better halves, without the safety net of the Exhibitors gate cabin in which to hide! Old Bob couldn't resist a little insight into the first day before signing off.
The event starts with a safety briefing at '0 seven forty hours' on Saturday morning. The Committee hold each other up until the safety officer has been through the 'do and don'ts'. Then the battle of the yellow 'T' shirts and fleeces begins....'Mrs Biggins needs one because her cousin is a half sister of a man who shares the same name as the Chairman' Its Old Bobs duty to ensure that no one gets what they want so the committee join the field in bodies larger than their T shirts. Next up old Bob has to deal with the 'shouldn't have' brigade ... these are people who have a T -shirt don't want anyone else to have one! With the right amount of disinterest the power struggle doesn't last very long.
Once this is solved the Rally can begin in earnest....despite the 10:00 start the first punter arrives at 8:00 and the heat is on. Well actually the deep heat was on this year - returning from a stint in the carpark with a sunburnt neck - UN Mike was liberally spreading 'sun cream' on his ailing neck. It took less than a minute before the screams of pain began! Blame was soon allocated it was found that Mike had been 'Alexed' who in a grand feat of co-ordination had placed her deep heat in the middle of the suncream! Risk assessments will need amending next year.
Saturday morning is where it all comes together - its where we find that we have placed a formula one racing car next to the entertainment stage....just didn't it occur to us that it might be noisy! The generator on the Craft Marquee is scheduled to break down shortly after opening. Its only now that we realise that the donkeys aren't where they should be and that for the whole weekend it'll be 'Wheres the donkeys mister?' Old Bob will have to leave it there, so as the sun sets on another rally we leave the Rally folk to squabble across the air waves and decide how they could do better next year.
'Lessons Learnt' I think they call this in industry - most rally folk don't seem to learn their
lesson so doubtless they'll be back next year and Old Bob will be keenly observing.
Old Bob archive
OB
