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14th July 2008.....We woke to the sound of Flod running to the loo. Five times he went before we left at ten. I hope he made it home. I hate the packing up bit. I love Billing and know it'll be another year until we're all together again. Still another great Billing weekend and I would strongly recommend you go if you've never been before. A very big thank you should go to all in the VBOA who help set it up and made it such a success. Back at home Spot had a cuppa before driving the rest of the way home. I gave him another locking petrol cap which replaced the bottle of wine I owed him for a bet I'd had while under the influence on Saturday night. I'm not going into it in great detail but I should have realised by now that whenever I argue with Spot I'm always wrong. From now on I'm not arguing. (Till next time). For the full Billing picture gallery click here.
13th July 2008.....Sunday and the sun really made a effort. So much so that now I have a burnt nose. We had even more cars on the stand today beating yesterday's total of 16. Another V8 HB turned up, Colin's. In a lovely shade of red. Colin said he hadn't brought her to Billing since 2003. She looked and sounded great. I never took any pictures Sunday I don't know why, to busy talking I guess. DHR went over on the display stand, one of 62 cars making up the display. They needed 65 cars to complete every model type since GM bought Vauxhall's. 62 out of 65 was a great achievement. The funny thing was the 3 missing were relatively modern cars, not the old timers. A Kadett B, a Sintra and a Meriva. I talked to loads of people today and Joanne, Alex and Janet came up for the day as well. I felt bad because I was trying to spend time with them and talk to people at the same time. Still we had a wander to the fair ground for Alex and even I went on a ride. On Saturday Spot had left his keys hanging out the boot of his V8 and to teach him to look after them Deon and Flod hid them. After about quarter of an hour they gave them back. Today he lost his keys again. He took some convincing that they hadn't taken them again and then the search began. Everyone was looking for them. After Joanne went home we decided to go for a final night curry at Vinnie's. There was Flod, Deon, Spot, Ivan and his wife and me and we hoped Justin Yardley would come along with his wife. Before we went we thought we'd try walking the auto-jumble route one more time to look for Spot's keys. Deon asked one of the workman if they'd seen them and he said no. He radioed the main gate who also said no. So on we went. After a couple of minutes he got a call on the radio to say that some keys had been handed in at the visitors centre. The lucky bugger! Some nice lady had handed them in when she found them on the field. We don't know who it was or where she found them but we owe her a drink. So we went for our curry in a very happy mood. Spot's only problem was that Edd had removed his locking petrol cap before he left and now his key wouldn't work it. We had a great night except Flod and Spot complained that their curry's were to hot. Also Flod asked me how I got the rear end of the Viva home that I'd cut in half and as he said it I realised that I hadn't given Tony the petrol money. I felt terrible and I'd even spent ages talking to him about it. Sorry Tony, it's my old age. A drink back in the tent then off to bed.
12th July 2008.....We woke to no rain but the stand was the worse for wear. We had standing water in a few places so asked the Victor club next to us if they minded us moving up slightly. (They'd already said we could have some of their stand on Friday). They said okay so we moved up the field slightly away from the worst of the water. Once they decided where they wanted the cars we moved them about, set up the bunting and flags and made more room on the tent area. More camped then we thought. I met and talk to people all day, not know who I was talking to half the time, but as it was Viva talk, it didn't really matter. The BBQ was fired up, the tea was on most of the day and we had a lot of interest on the joint stand, which I thought worked pretty well. We hit the auto-jumble early in the morning but all I bought was inner wing repair panels and a door handle. Prices do seem to have gone up and in some cases ridiculously so. One bloke wanted £200 for one HA wing! Rare or not that's taking the Michael. Edd, our overseas visitor, turned up from Germany in the afternoon and was staying overnight and leaving Sunday afternoon as he had to back at work by Monday afternoon. Now that's what you call dedication to the Viva cause. My daughter Vikki and her boyfriend Ryan came for the day as well and had a great time. We had a great night in the main tent drinking, taking the micky, mainly out of my disasters and general Viva chat. I can't think of a better way to spend a day.
11th July 2008.....A bright and sunny day and Spot arrived before eleven as promised. We had a cuppa and a chat before doing some timing settings on his V8 GT. I don't admit to knowing what we were doing, or why, but basically all I had to do was rev it. He bought more bits for me and I had bits for him then we had another cuppa while we waited for David. He was supposed to be with us at 12:30. At ten past one he arrived and proceeded to fill DHR to the brim, mainly with hair gel and beer. Off we go with our sun glasses on and the sun shining bright. Just over an hour later we arrived at Billing and it was spitting with rain. We find Flod, Deon and half the Laxton clan already there with tents up. Deon and Flod are about to start putting up the new Drivers Club tent thing. We get our tents from the car and the heavens opened. It buckets down so we run for Flod's tent and five of us stand there with water dripping off us and into his tent. It wasn't going to ease up so we put the tents up in the pouring rain. All that work polishing DHR for this! We got our tents up and the main VD tent, (they'll have to get another name!), then started on the tea and beer. Steve Warner turned up late so we helped put his tent up in the rain and dark. It stopped raining hard about midnight. After a few beers I was the first to bed. They made me because I was the oldest.
10th July 2008.....I've got the day off work to get DHR loaded, cleaned and ready for Billing. A wonderful day and the sun is shining. I start by giving her a clean then two, yes two, coats of polish. I can see Spot fuming at that! This included the engine bay. I went and filled her up at Sainsbury's with LRP and was told that this is the last LRP they will be getting. They said it last year but this looks like the end of LRP for me, additive it will have to be. Oil, water etc. checked then I start loading her up. How did a family of four go camping in 1968. I just about got my stuff in her and I haven't got David's yet. I know I've got half a boot full of tools and spares but my god it's tight. When I finished in the evening I have to admit she looks great, better than I could have imagined all those years ago when I started the restore. I'm really glad I saved her back then.
6th July 2008.....Went to Mike Stanley's today to collect a boot floor for SHW. Now as you may know I intend to have a go at restoring SHW's shell myself. Okay, you can stop laughing now. For this it was decided that getting another boot floor from somewhere was a must, as the chances of me making one was as slim as the cost of petrol ever being below £1 a litre again. That's where Mike came in. Paul Bottomley told Mike I was looking for one and Mike was getting rid of one, perfect. I jumped in a nice pick-up, which Tony had managed to loan off his son, at Luton and on we went to Mike's. We got to Mike's in the pouring rain to see Paul already there and ready to start. First we removed the roof, then cut her in half. As I now had a pick-up to take the back end home with me, I took the whole back end, which would allow me to tinker with it when I get home. We took both axles off the car for Mike as he wanted to keep them. All in all it only took a couple of hours. Lord knows what his neighbours thought when they woke up in the morning. Let me re-phrase that, when we woke them up in the morning. They went to bed with a Viva sitting outside the house, the next day just a quarter left! I finished the day with a 'Dangerous' moment to give everyone a giggle - I'm standing in the pouring rain holding an extension lead, water dripping from every part of my body and I try and un-plug the grinders. After a few expletives had passed my lips and the smoke had stopped rising from my hair I realised what a silly idea it was. I really do want to thank Mike, Tony and Paul for all their hard work and for doing it in the pouring rain. Believe it or not, it stopped raining after we finished! The thing I was thinking about is how much all this seems normal and how my wife has come to accept it. I got up early on a Sunday morning, drove an hour, plus up the motorway, cut the roof off a car, then cut it in half and brought half back home with me. I get home and ask Joanne to give me a lift into the garage with half a Viva; she then makes me a cuppa and doesn't say a word! Just another "normal" day! I wonder when this sort of behaviour became normal!!!!!!! For a look at the pictures of the day click here.
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