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The weather forecast was not very good for Saturday morning, so I loaded the organ into the car on Friday evening. It was just as well as I woke up to rain in the morning.
It eased off at about 10 o’clock but still remained very grey and damp.
I turned up at the small Chiltern village of Winchmore Hill to find hardly a soul around.
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Perhaps they were all in the pub?
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It had stopped raining but it was very wet under-foot as I slithered about trying to get the tent up. The organisers had hired a large marquee and I was invited to play inside that if it rained, but I decided to stick with my own tent……until…..the PA system stopped working properly.
I was then asked to help them out by providing the music in the marquee. So the organ was re-located and 'on with the show' as they say.
“Bottoms” we used to say at work
when electrical things used to ‘give up the ghost’.
Actually B.O.T.T.O.M.S.
“Back Over To The Old Manual System”
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My Manual System.
Well, it wasn’t long before the PA system was sorted and pop music was the order of the day. My organ cannot compete with 112db of sound, so a compromise was reached where we alternately played for ten minutes. They placed a microphone near the organ so my music was played out across the field. The ten minute break also gave me a chance to look around.
Around 1 o’clock it brightened up with blue sky and warm sun. The only problem then, was I was getting too hot turning away under this canvas roof. (I must remember another time to take a short sleeved T-shirt.)
A good day was had by all, especially me, as many people told me they preferred the sound of the little organ, to the Heavy Metal (or whatever it was?)
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What a difference this morning!
‘Wall to wall’ sunshine.
So today I have a choice.
Do I go to Amersham to the Heritage Day events?
Or, do I venture across the water to Cookham Grand Prix?
If you remember I mentioned that Cookham Dean was a-top of Winter Hill with a nice steep slope down to Cookham Rise. Well, on this bit of road is the famous Cookham Gravity Grand Prix. Competitors hurl themselves down this hill in home made carts to raise money for charity.
They go down one at a time against the clock,
and there are lots of clips on YouTube of last years event.
(click on above link for more)
Here's just one - a drivers eye view.
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We do daft things in this neck of the woods.
It sounds fun, but I think it may be Amersham for me.
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Sounds like you did well despite the rain .
ReplyDeleteBoth of today's activities sounded like fun. Don't you hate it when all the good stuff is on the same day then next week there is nothing?
Cheers
Helen
They just sailed past the pub where I used to work! Thank heavens they stopped where they did, as that next bit of hill ie VERY steep!
ReplyDeleteWell, I would rather have your organ instead of heavy metal any day!
ReplyDeleteYes I agree with Foody, the organ music sounds much better than what was playing before.
ReplyDeleteGood morning all;
ReplyDeleteI chose Amersham and was not let down - there was far more to see and hear than there would have been at the Grand Prix.
On the subject of music at fetes - I suppose they try to cater for all ages and all tastes.
There are always loads of children who like all this noisy stuff. On Saturday, later in the afternoon, they ran dog obedience tests and I was surprised to see how popular they were.
There must have been twenty or thirty dogs of all shapes and sizes. Well, "Three little maids" with their dogs came and sat on the straw bales in front of where I was playing.
I decided to play for them "How much is that Doggie in the Window" and "Daddy wouldn't buy me a Bow Wow".
Do you know, they had never heard of either!
A huge generation gap I think.