I was going to entitle this post "Ginger whinger" (which rhymes) - until I had a bizarre bit of luck. Let me explain.
Like many fortysomethings, I'm a fan of Chris Evans' Radio 2 Breakfast Show. (As a twentysomething, I was also a fan of his Radio 1 Breakfast Show until he went mad and they sacked him). And thankfully Vanessa - almost but not quite a fortysomething herself - has bought in.
If you have too, you'll know all about CarFest - allowing you to skip the next paragraph.
For those of you still here, it's essentially a three-day family music festival with added cars, planes, helichoppers and fairground rides. And there are two, CarFest North (in Cheshire) and CarFest South (not in Cheshire). Musical entertainment at CarFest North 2015 includes the Boomtoom Rats, Billy Ocean, Texas, Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott, Seasick Steve, Level 42, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Midge Ure and Level 42, with more acts to be announced. So all good. And tickets for both events - held next summer - went on sale this morning at 8am. You're up to speed.
If you're rejoining me, welcome back. Right, so as tickets went on sale, I had my laptop, desktop and mobile phone all tuned to the CarFest North ticket buying page and ready to rock, with Vanessa perched on her iPad. The 8 o'clock pips went. And the scramble began.
At approximately 0802, my laptop advised that one family weekend ticket with camping had been reserved. Easy. I entered my details and pressed the confirm button. I was taken to a page saying that all tickets were sold out. It was 0804. Great.
Spitting ginger feathers, I went onto the Chris Evans' Facebook page to find out how other people had fared. Many had experienced the self-same outcome. But then a lady commented that she had refreshed the ticket page a few times before being successful. So I had a go. I got nowhere. At 0851, I refreshed again and was asked for my payment details. Bingo. I entered my details and pressed confirm. I was told all tickets were gone. Great (again).
As 0930 approached and the Breakfast Show reached its end, Chris Evans announced that both CarFest events were officially sold out. Well done him. I pressed refresh one last time. I was asked to enter my payment details. I pressed confirm. I was taken to a new screen which advised that we were going to CarFest North. The ticket confirmation email arrived shortly afterwards. And thank goodness for that. I now need a holiday.
