High on speed
Ok, here's the story about Bury St. Edmunds--our weekend, I mean. A is a speed-freak, who dreams of owning a red Ferrari. So, when he heard about the land-speed record competition in which blindfolded drivers, accompanied by a navigator, try to go flat out (avg 170 m/hr) in a Ferrari on some runway, he had to enter.
I don't know too many details of this contest, by choice. But decided to go along for the sightseeing. So we drove down to Bury on a Friday afternoon. Past Cardiff, Newport, Usk, Monmouthshire, Worcestershire, Birmingham, Coventry, Cambridge, Newmarket, Bury to the village of Bardwell to our guesthouse. The drive, across the widest part of England, almost from the west coast to the east, took us 6 hours. Of which Ih was spent stuck in the Birmingham-Coventry traffic crawling at 10-20mph.
Six Bells, the ancient bed and breakfast we stayed at is better known for being on the "Dad's Army" circuit. A was keen to check out the route from the b&b to the RAF field where he had to register next morning. So after dinner at the inn we dragged our travel worn and weary selves for another round of map-reading and path finding.
The morning vanished in a blur as we congratulated ourselves on making the 9 am reporting time at the airfield. Then it seemed to take forever to get visitor passes to enter. The soldiers going off duty, their children off to clubs, took me back to Navy Nagar and all the cantonment areas I've seen in India thanks to Mads.
Finally, it was our turn at the counter. But the guards hadn't heard of a land-speed record for the blind taking place. Followed murmured consultation with colleague. Then, one of them offered to get the communications officer to find out about the event. The guard returned in 15 minutes: the comms offr was off duty, but he believed that the event had been cancelled!
Of course, they hadn't told A. We gaalied them for an absorbing few moments. I should've guessed when the night before I overheard the b&b manager telling a guest that they had had 4 cancellations from the land-speed challenge and could take a booking. A was crestfallen, but a good sport. I was torn between dismay that we'd driven all this way for nothing, and euphoria that my weekend was going to be better spent.
In the event we couldn't have been in a better place for tourism. We went to the elegant and vast Ickworth House on Saturday. And then walked through the historic part of the city of Bury on Sunday. We started at 2.30 pm with an ancient guide and his walking stick. And made our way surprisingly quickly through its museum, streets and houses, cathedral, old town centre and the Abbey ruins and gardens. A good time, I might Ad, was had by all.
The blind land speed record challenge has been postponed indefinitely. But they are refunding our expenses for the trip. Up ahead in the distance (to paraphrase the Eagles) I see another good weekend.
I don't know too many details of this contest, by choice. But decided to go along for the sightseeing. So we drove down to Bury on a Friday afternoon. Past Cardiff, Newport, Usk, Monmouthshire, Worcestershire, Birmingham, Coventry, Cambridge, Newmarket, Bury to the village of Bardwell to our guesthouse. The drive, across the widest part of England, almost from the west coast to the east, took us 6 hours. Of which Ih was spent stuck in the Birmingham-Coventry traffic crawling at 10-20mph.
Six Bells, the ancient bed and breakfast we stayed at is better known for being on the "Dad's Army" circuit. A was keen to check out the route from the b&b to the RAF field where he had to register next morning. So after dinner at the inn we dragged our travel worn and weary selves for another round of map-reading and path finding.
The morning vanished in a blur as we congratulated ourselves on making the 9 am reporting time at the airfield. Then it seemed to take forever to get visitor passes to enter. The soldiers going off duty, their children off to clubs, took me back to Navy Nagar and all the cantonment areas I've seen in India thanks to Mads.
Finally, it was our turn at the counter. But the guards hadn't heard of a land-speed record for the blind taking place. Followed murmured consultation with colleague. Then, one of them offered to get the communications officer to find out about the event. The guard returned in 15 minutes: the comms offr was off duty, but he believed that the event had been cancelled!
Of course, they hadn't told A. We gaalied them for an absorbing few moments. I should've guessed when the night before I overheard the b&b manager telling a guest that they had had 4 cancellations from the land-speed challenge and could take a booking. A was crestfallen, but a good sport. I was torn between dismay that we'd driven all this way for nothing, and euphoria that my weekend was going to be better spent.
In the event we couldn't have been in a better place for tourism. We went to the elegant and vast Ickworth House on Saturday. And then walked through the historic part of the city of Bury on Sunday. We started at 2.30 pm with an ancient guide and his walking stick. And made our way surprisingly quickly through its museum, streets and houses, cathedral, old town centre and the Abbey ruins and gardens. A good time, I might Ad, was had by all.
The blind land speed record challenge has been postponed indefinitely. But they are refunding our expenses for the trip. Up ahead in the distance (to paraphrase the Eagles) I see another good weekend.
posted by Sabiha | 3:18 PM
1 Comments:
So that was the reason for your weekend, huh!
Was in the kitchen when you called yes'day - didn't hear the phone. Got to it just as you hung up.
Nish
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