Who?
Well, Rainbow, Flap & I spent the day at the NEC yesterday. Got home absolutely knackered. I hired a car, (VW Golf, very flash), & we got there by 11.0.clock -having had a mild panic cos we forgot to change the clocks. Thought we were an hour late to pick Flap up, but he wasn't ready anyway. Time keeping isn't our strong point. Not sure what is actually. 7 quid just to park the car!
Not owning one, I forget you have to pay just to park it & really resent having to. 13 quid each for advance tickets, (15 on the door). A quid for a can of Coke, a fiver for a sandwich, so not a cheap day out. Busy but not as heaving with people as in previous years. Flap & I have gone regularly for a while now -once a year or so actually! We both thought it seemed smaller this year. Lots of clothing stalls. Couldn't find anyone selling nuts & bolts. Only one tool stall. Los of very smarmy, overly friendly marketing people. It's all a bit...I dunno, sanitised & plasticy & Joe Public friendly -which is who it's aimed at I guess. The Ally Pally show in January or February has a more biker friendly feel to it I think. A nicer venue, more variety, more every day biker stuff for sale, plus we take the bike to that one. Lots of others do too & you can park right outside the building instead of being hidden away somewhere as you are at the NEC.
Liked the new Triumph scrambler thingy, still want the Army version of the Enfield India & was quite taken with the new black retro looking Ducati, though I've no idea what model it was. Liked the big, boxy, quirky looking BMW too in black & silver -again, no idea what it was. Favourite bike in the Custom Extreme section -probably one of the least showy. The glossy black GSXR, (?), engined street bike that several people in the 100% Biker forum have picked up on too.
Still managed to buy more than we'd planned to of course. Rainbow toured every single clothing stall there, before buying a new set of leathers at the first stand we'd gone to -why DO women do that?! Plus she bought some very sensible heated handlebar grips for her Fazer & a headlight for her trike, (20 quid for a nice, chromed 7" jobbie from M & P -bargain). Flap found a ground anchor & padlock & chain for his trike, & also bought one of the new, rather fetching BSH "Triker" T shirts. The orange & black colours match his trike & it features a line drawing of my all-time favourite trike -a silver Harley, from Holland I believe.
I bought a new chop/girlie calendar for my garage & Rainbow treated me to not one, but TWO new angle grinders -well they were 10 quid each so it seemed silly not to. Now I can inflict twice as much damage on myself! -Hmm, wonder if that's why she bought them? Had to buy my own sanding discs though -5 for a tenner.
So not a bad day out. Very tiring traipsing around all day & was glad to finally get home again & crawl into bed.
Having a day off from trike building today so more cutting & welding & grinding tomorrow.
