Red Bull Air Race at Longleat, UK on Saturday 2nd September 2006
Memories of a rainy day
7.30 am - Got up and had breakfast in tent. The kettle had to be put on stove inside the tent as it was lashing down with rain. Boys complained of the cold and I agreed it was very cold!
8.00am - Set off for Longleat which was 27 minutes away from our campsite in Radstock. We used the sat nav and checked out the blue ticket parking route the day before! Very organised!
8.30am - Arrive at Longleat. Parked on a lovely field which was marked out with path lines etc. Still raining but now windy too. As people were getting out of their cars, there was a sense of excitement in the air.
8.40am - I decided to wear wellies which turned out to be a good choice in the wind and rain. Somehow I don't think flip flops would have worked -though I did take them with me thinking the weather would brighten.
9.00am - Heard of an accident that happened on the blue ticket route which made delays for many vehicles trying to reach Longleat. So glad we hurried the boys along so we missed this. Phew! Always pays to be early.
9.30am - Looked at the Red Bull vehicles out on display and checked out Longleat. Boys excited (at the portable toilets). Rain heavy!
10am - Pit lane opened and so lots of pictures taken of the 11 aircrafts. Zach enjoyed the helicopters. Rupert complained of cold. Food supplies given to the hungry children out of the tupperware boxes! Still raining and windy.
10.30am - I laughed as people wore black bin bags over t-shirts. We on the otherhand wore various wooly hats, coats, wellies and carried brollies. We looked a bit mixmatched and stupid but we were warm and dry apart from our tiny faces!
10.30am - 12.30pm Wow the place seemed to get packed. How many people? Still raining and windy.
1pm - We had been settled in viewing area 2 now for a very long time (remember we got there at 8.30am). We had our brollies secured through the security barrier to shield our now chilly bodies from the rain and wind. We managed to keep our spirits up. We forgot to take the folded seats and so had to improvise sitting on the buggy raincover, a carrier bag, knee bending and balancing techniques! Still raining and windy!
at this point we were happy:
- that we had arrived early as people seemed still to be trying to organise themselves
- that we had seem all the aircrafts, superbike, cars (oh how I loved the F1 car - it said don't touch but how I dreamed of jumping in and having my picture taken)
- we had gone for a cup of tea from one of the burger stall sellers before the queues got to long
- that we had found a nice spot near other spectators near no other children (does that sound bad? I'm not good near other people's children moaning etc)
- that we had dressed in warm clothing
- that we had brought our own picnic (£3 for a hot dog...) and our bellies were nice and full.
- the family was away together and spending time laughing etc
at this point we were not happy:
- that the boys needed a wee and another so we took it in turns to climb further up the hill for toilets
- that the stewards did not have themselves very organised
- that it was still raining and windy
- unfortunately the Blue Eagles, Madador and HSV parachute displays had to be cancelled (better to cancel though than put lives at risk eh?)
2pm 4pm - The annoucements from Steve Ryder kept saying that the airrace could not begin due to high winds and low clouds. I was so excited to see him there and Alex went out of his way to get some footage of him on video. It's not that Steve is good looking (he's quite old) but just that he is connected with F1 and there wasn't much else for us to get excited about. The afternoon went though periods of bad rain and wind and then more bad rain and wind etc.
I took Rupert off for an icecream and the toliet (again). He got a tshirt and zach got a keyring from one of the merchandise booths. £20 for a t-shirt would not normally happen in our house but the poor love was being ever so good what with the weather etc
The orgainisers opened the pit lanesearly for people to get the pilots autograghs. Rupert and Alex queued for 40 minutes but Rupert was so pleased that he and Zach had got the books (that red bull gave out for free) signed by everyone. Though it took over 20 minutes to get back up the hill due to bottlenecking down near the pit lane. Where were the stewards? The police seemed to be doing all the work! Meanwhile Zach had a lovely long sleep! And I relaxed sitting on the rain cover.
By 4.30pm all had been cancelled and people started to go back to the car parks. We stuck around and managed to get the boys Steve Ryder's autographs which made Rupert very happy.
We watched the prize giving. A brit came in first (they took the score from the qualifying round from the sat - which may I say had a glorious afternoon). We were ready to go but the boys (actually me) wanted to wait to the bitter end. Well there was no point waiting in the car park queue was there? Zach had his icecream! And we did the toilets one more time!
We cheered, clapped and woowhood the winners! (not many around us did - why you boring lot?)
By 6pm We got out of the carpark by the police (not stewards...surprisingly) directing the queues!
What a great day... disappointing that we saw no aircrafts fly... raining and windy... but a great day and we are going again next year hopefully!!
Now for me to get on my soap box...
Somethings that really annoy me about the british public at longleat...
1. Pick your litter up and put it in a bin - dont leave it lying around! You dirty people (others have to walk around it and avoid it) Longleat is such a beautiful place and it was a shame to see it covered in litter. Do you leave litter on the floor in your homes?
2. Why do some of you have to have such bad language when there are children around. Yes you are disappointed but not all parents want their children to hear it!
3. What is the point of stewards? Admittedly we saw some stewards working really hard and paying attention. For those of you who chatted and pratted about you didn't help one bit!
4. Why do you have to 'boo' just because you have to wait for a while to get over the bridge. It doesn't put a good moral amongst each other does it.
5. When exiting your designated car park why can't you just wait patiently in line, in the queue. Why do you have to drive over into other fields and add more chaos to those queues and put others in danger. Why do you have to bottle neck traffic?
We came out of our parking space and drove to the end of the row of parked cars. Why can't people let you in the queue. We were doing it correctly driving to the end of the row, indicator on to turn into the traffic.
Alex is a diabetic and we waited for over 10 minutes for someone to let us join the queue but just because you other drivers have been there longer you think it funny not to let others in.
Well eventually we had to reverse and cut across the middle of the field (which I have just moaned about you lot doing) to get out in a queue that was formed further up the field. Why... because Alex is a diabetic and needed to eat. Don't you British public think about others anymore? For goodness sake the man needed to eat before he had a hypo!!
Well there you have it my ranting and raving finished...
One last thing... Thank you RED BULL for organising a great event that would have been even better if it had been sunny and we could have seen the aircrafts racing. Looking forward to next year!
What are the chances of that happening? You comment on my blog entry as I'm reading yours :)
Anyway, yes... fun, but disappointing. And I couldn't agree with your comments about (a) some other people's children, and (b) adults swearing in front of kids, more. And the stewards. Don't get me started on that one!
Posted by: Graeme | Tuesday, 05 September 2006 at 09:59 AM
sound like oodles of fun!!
i am emailing you later today :D congrats again, winner :D and sounds like your trip was every kiddo's dream even though the weather was rough!
Posted by: Account Deleted | Wednesday, 06 September 2006 at 09:24 PM
Typical summer day out in britain that bobble hats are required, not forgetting brollies too!
Posted by: weirdbunny | Wednesday, 06 September 2006 at 10:52 PM
What a great time you had, even with the weather and the traffic and the stewards, so glad you are going to give it a go next year too.
Posted by: auntiegwennie | Thursday, 07 September 2006 at 02:01 PM