Brid is now well established as our end of season rally, falling on the last weekend in October for a number of years now. I know there’s still the VFM North-west in November, but more often than not Brid is the last major outing for the Blues as a club before we settle into winter and a steady diet of club do’s, dances and social nights before the season kicks off again in March. This year has been a good year for the club with a huge improvement on the number of scoots getting out and about, even more impressive considering the ‘summer’ that we have enjoyed this year with all but two of the runs being more suited to canoes than scoots! However, the weather has been pretty good since Mersea – would this continue all the way to end October?, No chance! It finally broke three days before Brid and a traditional forecast of wet, windy and cold was predicted for the weekend.   Thus, anyone setting off on scooter should be applauded for effort. A round trip of around 500 miles guaranteed a pretty grim time for the two-wheelers but nonetheless a decent compliment of nine hardy souls set off from Edinburgh for the journey down. Jeannie and meself, whats the phrase?, were ‘conspicuous by our absence’ due mainly to our scoots being bolloxed from the Mersea trip but I must admit I could’ve tried harder to get them ready in time for Brid. We’ve not got a great track record of Brid by scooter though (especially after the ‘hypothermia’ episode a few years back) and so in any case we set off in the motor. Back to the scoots and first casualty was Mark, who having decided enough was enough with his quick but volatile PX166, opted instead to go with the safe bet of his standard P2. Except it seized twice before the City limits! Nae luck mate. Stick with it though, I’ll give you a hand to sort it. The rest seemed to get on a whole lot better with all making it there sooner or later without much drama, apart from our Paul, for whom every journey is a rollercoaster of mini-dramas! Even Tam’s regenerated GP was up to the challenge and its nice to see that his spill on the way to Scarborough hasn’t put him off. Davie Russell’s journey from Telford was short lived with terminal failure to the TS1 not long after departure, while Kitch’s run ended with a twisted crank on his GS210 half way through his 30 mile trip to Brid.  Although there were quite a few staying elsewhere this year, including ourselves, the first meeting point as always was the Southcliffe. This delightful watering hole, full of original charm and character(s)! is the traditional Blues base and once again we had Tony on the decks in the back room, assisted by Jimbo and Dean. The party was already in full swing with karaoke and alcohol the runaway favourites in the front room. Big Ian sayed cheerio and went off to bed half an hour before Elvis and Squire arrived?!? Early night eh. Kyle maybe should’ve had an early night but instead got pished, puked in Dude’s room for which the wee man had to take the blame as they were doublin up! Tony got his scooter stolen, but before the panic sets in ah must inform you it’s a wee model yin that sits on the speakers! All in all a good warm-up night and a welcome return to the rallies with a good few weeks since the last one.

 Saturday started with the best breakfast experience on the rally scene – one of the reasons we choose to stay at ‘Rags’ instead of the Southcliffe. Well worth dragging yourself out yer pit for (unless you’re Squire n Mary!). Suitably fed, the lure of the scratcher was preferred to actually going out into the real world and there we stayed until eventually getting back up at 4.00pm! Sorry folks, I therefore have no comment to pass on the custom show, social scene or even the weather for that matter. Ah, well sure we didnae miss too much. A wee trip up the high street for a cashline was about as far as we ventured, then returned using autopilot to the Southcliffe for the early evening. The do looked like it was shaping up to be a fair old riot with some of the club in enough of a state early doors to cast doubt on their presence later on, eh Mark?!, but at least he managed to stay up (unlike our Greeg who lasted until the back o’ seven just!). BJ came back from the parts fair with a pair of matching camo jackets in two sizes – cat and dog! Quality. Then Tony and his many apprentices got the place jumping with (my excellent suggestion!) of LSF, which had all the closet indie fans up on the floor led by the gruesome twosome Parry and Giro, and by the time we left for a nosh-up the ‘Blues and friends’ party was in full swing. Its become a bit of a habit for us two to go for a ‘sit down’ on rally Saturday, and there is no-where better than Rags for a nice meal. Another food–related reason we like Brid! This year was the busiest yet with Squire n Mary, Norman n Isobel, Jeannie, me, and Anne giving in to the three course special. Once again it didn’t disappoint and as usual we ate and drank too much. Especially considering the prices! No worries, we give Squire cash and he’ll put it on his card eh? Isobel jokes about it bouncing and guess what, Uh-uh – DECLINED! Ok, lets try this one instead? – once again DECLINED hahahahaha. Funny as. Your coupon was redder than the wine mate! Bill settled eventually, we headed back to the ‘cliffe (where else?), and settled down for a wee swally. Now you will all know how difficult it is to get into the swing off it when everyone else is way more pished than you?, especially after a big scran, but Jeannie to the rescue eh. I thought I was doing just fine wi’ my pints of morgans n coke but she decides we’re all having tequila rounds – no excuses. Cue the barman diggin’ out a bottle from the bottom shelf, blowin the stoor off ay it and we’re on the slammers! Check oot the video clip of Mary doll! Jeannie left us to finish the tequilas while she sat back and quaffed Möet Chandon like she was royalty! The party was already on the back slope though and after one shooter too many Squire blew chunks all over the place, right next to a upright sleeping Elvis who didn’t notice a thing. That includes the mess of his neck by an unknown source (says he woke up like that with no recollection – actually I believe him, I saw the state he was in the night before!). In fact the only person who looked remotely sober was Willie (does alcohol actually affect that man?) who appeared chuffed as fuck looking over his ‘flock’ of numerous Blues members from various branches.  I don’t normally name names as I have a shit memory and don’t like missing folk out but off the top of my head, a shout out to  - ,Dr John and Mary, mark and Fi, Sumo, BJ, Dave and Lynn, Dude, Squire n Mary, Cath n Jimbo, Jacko n Marieke, Greig and Lee-anne, Pete, Wardie, Elvis, Davie R, Izzy and Norman, Kenny n Anne, Willie, Tam, Paul, Ian (although he went to bed at 9?! Not good for a prospect ha-ha!), Mr and Mrs Kitchen, Tone n Caz n family!, Little Sara n Steve, DJ Dean, Jamie Ruff, JC and Claire, Den and Kim, Gary n Helen (almost but not quite managing to stay clothed this year!), Nicki and Jools, Alex n Haily, Giro, Parry and Scotch Dave, and  honestly loads of others making it a right good night.  That time arrived when all non-residents are asked to leave and as usual it takes a good hour or so to actually make it happen. In order to stop more coming in the front doors had been dead-locked and coincidentally the internal doors had been put on the catch. How funny then must it have been to see Seamus and Cath (from York) venturing into the porch area to keep an eye on the scoots, only for the door to snib behind them. They were stuck in there for over an hour in the dark without fags and drinks which were an agonising inch away on the windowsill on the other side of the glass! Oohh sore one! Doesn’t bear thinking about. Our party ended around that same time and we made our way back to the digs.

Sunday morning was typical of this years rallies with more wind and rain to caress the hangover. After another class brekkie we were told that the bill at the Southcliffe was still to be settled and spent an hour or so trying to sort it out before being told Willie had paid it. After a few goodbyes (and bumping into Callum from Fife) we set off for home the ‘long’ way round via Carlisle to miss the bridge queues on the way back. Worked well as we managed the journey in 5 hours, stopping only once to help a stricken lammy which turned out to be Mick Girvan having an extremely rare breakdown on his AF ‘S’ type (broken gearbox). The rest of the club scooters got home fine (by all accounts). All in all a good run which delivered exactly what we expected off – drinks, laughs and good times. Summer 2007 is officially over. The end.

 Dunf

 Stats – Bridlington 26th – 28th October 2007.   Qualifying miles - 470

 

Club scoots attending:

Davie Russell              Lambretta                    GP-TS1

Mark                            Vespa                          PX200

Pete                             Gilera                           Runner 180

Kenny                          Vespa                          GTS 250

Anne                            Vespa                          GTS 250

Willie                           Vespa                          PX200

Paul                             Vespa                          PX166

Tam                             Lambretta                    GP150

Dude                           Italjet                            Dragster 180

 

Prospects

 Big Ian                         Vespa                          GT125

 
 

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