Brighton Breeze 2007

A few scenes from yesterday, an overcast, but still fairly muggy day spent whizzing down (part of the way) from London to Brighton with the VW crowd -

- I think we passed two other campers on the way (but we did set off super early, *and* Colin the Camper can break the speed limit if he needs to, although on this occasion we sat just on it all the way down) getting to Brighton in record time -

- to find a nice spot (without paying the £32 to park right on the very front) just behind the drive (up a load of stairs, but it's good for your health!) -

- the strip was pretty empty at this stage -

- but most of the stalls were getting set up, so a bit of shopping (got a new RF aerial, some clothes and a little "paint it yourself" beetle money box -



- then just walked the front, admiring all the wonderful bugs and buses -






- including some insanely original work -



- some beautifully original work -


- and some just rather, well, interesting(!) work ;) -




- and some (more) that just made me laugh out loud -


- then we took a little walk along the pier (rude not to) -


- and shared a portion of chips sat on the beach -

- what a lovely day... ;) Oh, the strip at the end of the day (packed!) we literally filled the drive from the pier all the way to the marina end of the (appropriately named) Volks railway - looking first to the right-

- and then to the left -

- amazing!

Brighton Breeze 2006

So, just a few pics from today, set off super early this morning (accompanied by T&G) to witness the "Brighton Breeze" or what is effectively the VW version of the "London to Brighton" rally...We passed a few on the way -

- but the vast majority of the convoy were *way* behind us, managed to park right on the seafront, opposite a few cheeky non-payers who had probably done the same -

- and when we peered down to the venue, we had practically beaten the organisers -

- *e m p t y* but then, for the air-cooled lot, it's not a race, even though some of them can beat modern performance production cars down the 1/4 mile (with ease), the attitude is more one of rest and relaxation -

- so we walked down the front anyway, to find a bite to eat for breakfast passing one or two vehicles that could well have stayed the night -

- and witnessed the forced removal of anything that wasn't a Volkswagen from the front (hehe!)-

- so just a few of the early risers (I had set myself a little "Macro Mission" for this day, I've shot a lot of these buses before, so I was looking for some other way to approach the day, hope you approve ;) We'll get there in a sec, first, a great, and brave paint job which works really well-

-then a quirky T25 Herbie hybrid-

-and I love the bullet holes on de "Reservior Dubs" bus, not seen that in the scene before today, original (at least!)-

-So, we stopped at the "Madeira cafe" for breakfast, it's towards the "Sealife Centre" end of the strip-

- T&G kindly paid for the feast, and (had Flyingpops not been breakfast nosing, I would never had noticed, but the staff brought my plate out minus one sausage and one bacon strip(!)-
-compared to the others (that were eating meat brekkies) when I went to compain they were terribly nice though and brought it back to the table (with bonus double beans!), so, we sat and ate, and drank tea, and inhaled the exhaust fume as the quick ones started to chug onto the strip (interesting eyes!) -

- and, even before breakfast was done, the queue had really started to form -

- so, the Macro mission began -

- I took a lot of shots that weren't too (and they are all on the Flickr Steam), but it was the little touches, and the left of centre -

- and *mostly* close shots I was after today -

- a beautifully painted bug -

- an embroidered bra portion -

- (sorry, took about 90 pics today) the feel of being around the stalls, hey, every old bus needs some rubbers-

- some very funny t-shirts -

- and an absolutely classic photoshopper, I bought this piece, but he has other copies at various different sizes (on canvas etc.) being a London commuter this just struck a chord, find him here (awesome!)-

- an abstract macro (VW people will know what these are) -

- and, okay, not a macro, but *where* did all this tupperware come from...this stallholder must trawl the car boot sales... ;) -

- a "Big Trak"(!!!)...while I was framing the shot a guy behind me muttered "I remember them being a bit bigger than that", when I stood up (grinning) I said "Yeah, I know" (and motioned about the width of a door frame)..we parted grinning and shaking our heads... -

- Now, where did I spot this muddy little fellow? ;) -

- Not macro, a context shot (need a few!)-

-Hehe...very cool...-

-and thanks to whoever set this shot up for me ;)-

-Now, I wonder if a certain little cat was responsible for the mud in our "metallic pea" camper's eye -

-classic litho-

-couldn't resist this one-

-and this shot just begged to be taken-

-(zoom in to read, the occupants of the camper gave me a laugh and a wave when I finally managed to get my focus locked in! Felt like it took about 10 minutes!) -

- lovely reflection opportunity with all this perfect chrome -

- hilarious(!) -

- (hehe..) -

- (very cool) -

- By the time it came to leave the entire promenade was *full*, the queues were stretching the whole way up to the marina and we passed about 30 vans and bugs as we whipped up the road to Gatwick (on our way home!), I really think this event has outgrown Brighton, too much interest, far too much...-

- Oh and then we got home and it rained(!) lucky we missed it! -

In the breaks, during the late afternoon (lucky again!) we tidied up the front garden (my folks came round to help us out, bearing bedding plants and bulbs...yay!) and I paid them back by cooking up Thai for tea...

Chinese Grand Prix tomorrow...it's got to be a goodie! Tired now...might have to edit this entry in the morning... ;) Nite nite...

Oh, as I said, if you want to see all the other pictures from the Brighton Breeze 2006, just go here...