Thomas learns about headphones...

Well this is potentially quite useful for the holiday flights - over the weekend Thomas almost mastered the art (apart from the odd suck) of wearing a tiny pair of earbud headphones to listen to his baby Einstein...annoyance factor for other passengers -95% if we can get this nailed... ;)

Although, he has (admittedly) had some practice in this area at the drag racing... ;)

Bug Jam 24 - 2010

Okay, I know it's taken *ages*, but here are just a few pictures from the 2010 Bug Jam festival for your amusement -

- this year (lacking Colin the Camper) we opted to just go for a single day (the Sunday) as you can get a cheaper day ticket rather than having to pay for the full weekend, the only flaw in our cunning plan was trying to drive to the travelodge we were staying at on the first day of the school summer holidays...it took about 5 and a half hours *and* the post code for the hotel took us to a doctors surgery car park in the wrong town (even Google maps had it completely wrong when I checked on my mobile), we ended up having to call reception (who said "Oh yes, that's the right post code but it doesn't work with Sat Navs I'm afraid, you either end up there or at Waitrose") and they talked us in over the 'phone...*just* what we needed after hours sat in stationary traffic with a bored baby Thomas... ಠ_ಠ

Anyway, a fantastic (Rib eye steak) meal that night in the local American-style diner more than made up for it and we were up early (me managing to flood the bathroom when I had my morning bath and Thomas covering the floor in nectarine and squashed banana) so we beat a hasty retreat to Santa Pod with barely a backward glance in case an angry maid was chasing after us with a mop...

If you come on the Sunday they make you park in a different field (as we were early we were right on the far side of it - annoyingly) and then have to walk in, we paid our money and were told there was a shuttle bus to the strip if we wanted it, but we didn't think the pram would fit (and there's always a lot to see anyway) so we skipped it...

First stop, after marvelling at the odd things people had arrived in -



- (there's lowered, and then theres *lowered* - can you imagine that on the M1??) or brought with them -

- we made a quick pit stop in the new Pod Shop -

- to buy Thomas some baby ear defenders (as drag racing can get *rather* noisy for little ears) which he initially really wasn't very sure about but soon came round to, then we walked around the other stalls (glancing nervously at the slate sky) -


- and then wandered back (with a few new T-shirts and a VW Camper van bin) to watch some of the racing (as the sun finally started to put his hat on)-


- Thomas (of course) slept through the jet funny car -


- Oh well, there's always next year...when he did wake up he made a big point of making sure we realised that there were cars racing along -

- which was very sweet... ;) We had a poke around the show and shine (which was much improved by the lack of lakes of mud) -

- although it was very difficult to push the pram around thanks to the rubble it was taking place atop)-

- got a bite to eat (while Thomas bashed my head in extreme excitement) and watched the incredible new VW pickup bus do it's first ever run-

- after that we decided it was probably time to head home (as it had taken so long to get here the day before) -

- pausing to watch some incredible motocross stunt riders do their thing -

- notice the new Monster Truck Experience (very reasonably priced too) -

- and the usual heaps of rubbish the poor organisers are going to be picking up for weeks to come...Great day out (as usual) and great to see that a lot of the money we pay to get in is being invested back into the site, it's a better experience every single year...well done Santa Pod! ;)

Loads more pictures over here (if you are interested in this sort of thing)...

Big Bang 2008 - Sunday

So Sunday arrived (much later this time, thanks to having the sun almost completely blocked) we cooked up some breakfast (discovering that the fridge was *still* freezing cold despite lacking power for about 36 hours by this stage), got "washed" (wet wipes) and dressed and then took a little walk around the show and shine (which was conveniently near to where we parked) -












- and then it was back to the strip, where we lurked for a while behind the start line (very unfortunately, thanks to "health and safety", the shed at the end of the strip has had to be torn down, and not only torn down, torn down and replaced by a huge concrete monstrosity, so it's now impossible for any spectator to enjoy the view down the quarter mile, this is about the best view you can get) -

- and to get that view you have to creep around the back of the hog roast van and find a space between their bags of rubbish -



- what a shame...no more chances to get decent shots like this (taken at Bug Jam) -

- but in retrospect, if things *had* gone horribly wrong, I probably wasn't in the *best* place when I took that shot...anyway, we went back to enjoy the track action, even climbing into the grandstand (my first time up there I think) -

- and you do get a much better perspective -




- and yes, they really do need those wheelie bars at the back!

Anyway, we popped back to the bus for a spot of lunch, then packed everything up, had a chance encounter with a beach buggy owning mate of ours who had also attended (finding us by spotting Colin all set up), then we set course for home, getting back at about 5pm (knackered but happy)...

Great weekend, will definitely consider doing this show again, maybe in preference to Bug Jam, as (in Flyingpops' words) "it's becoming a bit of a victim of it's own success, just too busy"... ;)

Big Bang 2008

Got back yesterday at about 5pm from what was probably the best weekend we have spent at Santa Pod enjoying the "Big Bang 2008" (inc. Camper & Bus Show), if you haven't been before, it sort of feels like going to Bug Jam but minus the massive crowds (which is kind of a good thing as Bug Jam can be a bit intense at times, comparatively) and thankfully minus the mud this time...

Anyway, we set off quite late on Friday night (we both had to work, Flyingpops especially was a little later back than normal) so I busied myself packing the last few bits into Colin the Camper until she got back, got changed and then hopped into the driving seat...we pulled onto site and got all set up by about 11pm, went for a little walk around (only the significantly-smaller-than-Bug-Jam fun fare, dance tent, food stalls and bar were open), then came back and watched a movie on the Shinco, had a few drinks...woke up the next day (a little early as we hadn't put the window shields on quite correctly) to discover a glorious day -

- we made a spot of cooked breakfast (bacon and eggs for me scrambled eggs on toast for Flyingpops) -

- and then went for a little explore, noting that much of the camping was extremely spaced out (in stark contrast of Bug Jam also where every spare inch is crammed with campers/tents/sofas/rubbish/mud), had a poke around the autojumble -

- through the fun fair (which is on the camping side of the strip for this event) -

- and the catering area, now sporting a snazzy new gazebo style shelter attached to (and dwarfing) the bar -

- and then had a nice wander around the shops -










- checked out the lowering demonstration -


- and then noticed what looked like a couple of new attractions, the Racing Bug circuit (for the kids) -

- and the incredibly skilful (and scary) zero G bike team (who were bunny-hopping stupid distances and landing on broom-handle sized targets) -


- and then my knee started giving me some gyp, so we decided to rest it up by the strip for a while -




- for *once* a weekend of totally uninterrupted racing (cool), watched the Jet Beetle (that is now managing to run the strip without looking like it's going to either take-off or hit the wall) ;) -

- watched with building anticipation the new demo car -

- which unfortunately broke right before it's run, smiled at some (more) of the characters -


- and then we had an announcement that the governing body had issued a licence for the official qualifying to start that evening, so we watched more racing (teams gradually gaining in confidence and speed as they tried out their new tweaks and settings after the work over the winter months)-

- during this we popped down to the bar and had a beer and one of the excellent freshly made pizzas each and then that was pretty much the end of Saturday, back to Colin to curl up in the duvet and blankets snug as bugs in a rug (only stinging a little bit from sun burn)... ;)

More Later (still pics to go through), loads more are already on the Flickr Stream though (if you like this sort of thing)...

Update, pictures and write up of Sunday here...