Tuesday 4 August 2015

The show did go on

Despite Saturday's tragic air accident, CarFest North did continue - albeit under a dark cloud.  And fun was thankfully still had.

Indeed, repeatedly quizzed to name their favourite part, both Jamie and Charlotte have steadfastly stuck to the same line: "All of it."  A rare but very welcome response.

But this was the moment that amused me most.


Yes, even though she's really lazy, Charlotte is still my number one girl so it was fitting that she spent a few seconds in pole position on the Oulton Park race track. What you can't see however is, behind me, there was a crowd of cooing middle-aged mums cheering at the sight.  And as I pushed her on her way, Charlotte gave a little regal wave to them - prompting an even bigger roar from the ladies gathered behind the safety fencing.

The photo was taken early on Saturday morning and we were there for The Great Festival Dash consisting of a lap of the circuit.


And yes we all did it, Charlotte being propelled by me.

She got a medal too, which made Jamie grumpy given that he ran a full lap without stopping.


Back at the campsite, Charlotte then chose to rub it in by pretending to fall asleep.


Women.

Talking of the campsite, it was actually much more pleasant than I expected.

Jamie and Charlotte enjoyed pretending to drink wine under canvas.

  
Whilst outside, Mummy concentrated on pretending that real wine was in fact Capri-Sun.


Yup, that's a wine box she's decanting into a Capri-Sun pouch for smuggling purposes.  Classy bird.

Back inside Oulton Park, there was plenty to do and see including dancing JCBs....


...and the Red Barrows 'barrowbatic' display team.


They were wheelie funny.

But it was on the two main stages where greatest interest lay for the crowd of 30,000.


We chose to give the Boomtown Rats a miss on Friday night, which turned out to be a wise move after Bob Geldof came on stage hammered and swore at the child-heavy crowd for an hour. What a willy.

Unsurprisingly, there were no such problems on Sunday night with Will Young, who arrived dressed as a racing driver.  (CarFest, you see, although he forgot to wear shoes).

  
Nor indeed The Proclaimers who sang about how great Scotland is for 45 minutes, before taking the high road home.

 
 Finally, a quick word about my old school chum Pete "Happy" Wilson.


He and his wife Michaela, who live just a stone's throw from Oulton Park, put us up the night before the event.  And then they joined us on Saturday and Sunday to enjoy the fun.

But they weren't alone.  Their charmer of a son, Dylan, was there too and amused and entertained the junior Whites in equal measure - saving Vanessa and me a job.


With a bit of luck, we can get to do it all again next year.