Hmmm.... perhaps I should say... the Andreas Camp "looked empty"... and the
Kettenrad was missing - so I made a bad assumption.
AND- two visits to an empty/closed MVPA tent were most annoying.
I wish I'd realised the only running Kettenrad was Andreas' - it came past
my tent at least once each day and I'd have flagged it down if i'd
realised... it seems y'all came to my tent whilst I was at yours looking for
you...
As for the condition of the toilets/showers... It wasnt so much of a problem
for me... a walk to the other block was good exercise... but a friend of
mine duly paid his way for both him and his wife and was not amused...
especially considering his wife is 6 months pregnant - and they were relying
on decent facilities close to their tent... He tells me they will be writing
directly to Rex Cadman to complain...
The "water bowsers" you mention... I think these were refilled sunday
afternoon... I remember driving past one which was dispensing water... but I
know what you mean about the height... additionally the nice trough of taps
on the wall of the female shower block was obviously designed to stop people
filling water jerrycans... being about 0.5ins too high to allow such
action... without 70% water loss per can filled.
I guess the whole "toilet" situation was summed up by the "pleasant"
individual who somehow managed to crap in the middle of the Officer's Mess
floor without being noticed... until he'd (she?) gone.
Even with 15 pairs of eyes, we still had pilfering on our living history
display... only small items - like mugs, penknives and the like... total
losses around 15 pounds in value - so not too bad... but bad enough... I did
see some police cars... but it was obviously too much effort to step out of
the air-conditioning into the real world.... but in all a most friendly
event considering the amount of guns, knives and offensive weapons available
to such a massive crowd... infact I would go further to say that the only
pilfering we experienced was during "open" hours... after the public went
home we never had a problem... though we had a lot of strange visitors who
might have stopped longer if the camp was unattended. Surely this sort of
event is enough publicity to back events and hobbies/interests such as
ours... as you said... if it were a football match there'd be loads of
police, loads of arrests and loads of damage... and yet football is a
national institution... ????
And ABSOULTELY NO POINT having a cruising Police Car at Night... they'd be
far too busy stopping DRUNK DRIVERS or SPEEDING MOTORISTS to ever consider
catching the occasional petty thief....
How about a curfew on driving around site at night.... ???? combined with
the use of "Stingers"... and proper enforcement... like - a breath test....
that should stop most... after all I presume we're all subject to HM regs on
such things ? I was nearly run down returning to my tent by a nutter on a
motorbike... only my abilitiy to move out of the way in time saved us from a
high speed collision... had I not been sober I might not have reacted
quickly enough... the rider of the bike was too preoccupied with looking
behind him to see what was infront... and no lights either.
Oops... got carried away...
No further comment.
Tim
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim" <tcb@hasher.demon.co.uk>
To: "Military Vehicles List" <mil-veh@skylee.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2000 1:43 PM
Subject: [MV] Beltring
> Just got back late last night - absolutely shattered... need a new pair of
> feet - was there for the whole 5 days...
>
Me too and I had the privilege of Andreas' KK to ride in most of the time.
> Saw some of you - but not as many as I'd hoped to - got over to the
"Andreas
> camp"... found the recognition panels... but alas everyone was out.... for
a
> spin in the Kettenrad?
>
There was someone there to call the rest of us with UHF radios, Dave would
not leave the DTB F15-Polsten un-guarded and Big Al had someone look after
his sale items.
> Bought too many things to fit in the jeep to go home - fortunately found a
> friendly AEC Militant driver happy to haul it all back in his empty
> cavernous truck.
>
Excellent.
>
> In all an excellent show - an improvement on showers and toilets from last
> year... I got a lovely hot shower every morning (except yesterday), and
> never queued more than 15 mins (The need for any queuing could have been
> removed with larger changing facilities such that people didnt need to
> change in the shower cubicle... a seperate entrance to the shower block
from
> the other end of the building throug a changing tent would be my
answer....
> perhaps I'm being too fusy.)... I understand the problems that resulted
with
> the closure of the toliet ameneties were due to the waste-pit pumps
failing
> and the lack of persons willing to dive to the bottom of the pit with a
> repair kit...
>
Yet again the toilet pumpers couldn't/wouldn't/maximise profit didn't pump
out the toilets in the south field, I speak from experience, this really
isn't good enough, the mass of non-IMPS members PAY to be there with their
MVs and make the show, c'mon Nige, we've been here before.
> The only other annoying factor was the lovely big water tanker... I'm sure
> there is a way to get water out without getting soaked, but i never did
> manage to persuade the 4in diameter jet to go into my 1in diameter bottle
> without wasting any water... perhaps there'll be a tap on the pipe next
> year.
>
Then there was the disconnected taps, Mid-Kents water supply "improvement"
was tiny bowsers that you can't get a standard plastic water jerry can under
by a mile and these ran out on Sat. By laying a can on its side and making
a hand-funnel it was possible to fill one at length with a huge waste, some
types broached the lid seal and simply dunked the can right in, somewhat
unsavoury, we had to drive to the arena to get water. Could and should be
heaps better.
> I was somewhat amazed by the stupidity of some people at the event -
> considering it was a vehicle rally, and that the majority of vehicles have
> tires... you would think participants would put their waste bottles in
bins
> and not leave them in the road... fortunately I think my jeep escaped
> damage, whereas the pile of milk bottles I'd just crunched over in the
dark
> didnt survive to see the sunrise.
>
There is just no accounting for the ignorant drongo.
Several personal-friend dealers report annoying pilfering and the woeful
lack of a visible Police presence, it is indeed encouraging that a non-PC
show of designed aggressive material can be staged with virtually no Police
whereas a similar football crowd would need a thousand or so and still
serious violence would occur, but a small continuous night patrol might do
wonders, just two in a cruising panda perhaps.
> However all that aside - it was a great show - most enjoyable... already
> looking forward to next year.
>
The ha'peth of tar is still missing. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The impression of the clammy accountants hand is apparent, they know the
price of everything and the value of nothing.
Richard
Southampton - England
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Aug 07 2000 - 22:16:05 PDT