Great Dorset Steam Fair, Haulage.

This then is the second part of my blogs on the wonderful Great Dorset Steam Fair. Last year i probably bored you all extolling the virtues of this event, so i decided this year to post loads of pictures to let you see just what you get on a visit here.As you know by now we stayed on site for best part of a week, Including a night watching "The Wurzels" (again). Every night the fair comes alive with live music at 5 different venues, also the sounds and smells of both the Steam funfair which mingle with the smells of food from dozens of different vendors. Each venue is basically a huge Beer marquee with a stage at one end, these sell Wines, Beers and Spirits, all at a fair price considering the live entertainment.
Perhaps i should mention here the main downsites to this event, it is the Toilets, there are hundreds of "Porta Loo's"dotted all around the Fair and to be honest the firm that the fair, hire these "Loo's" from do there best to keep them emptied. As far as clean though this they are definately NOT. The firm has a tanker going around emptying these 17 hrs a day but they do not clean them while emptying them. As you can imagine with a daily figure of around 40,000 to 50,000 people using them its virtually impossible. Toward the end of the day these "emptiers" do put a hose into each Loo, spraying Disinfected water everywhere which then takes hours to dry. By evening finding one with paper is like finding "Rocking Horse Poo" only harder.We, when going out (particularly at night) carried a small Rucksack each, these contained a Torch as its pitch dark inside them at night. A small mist sprayer loaded with Disinfectant, to clean. A Kitchen roll to dry and wipe, and a Toilet roll. We had disscussions about these Toilets with several people but never came up with a viable option, (but we will be back next year).
So back to the fair, here we have a series of Pictures of just a few of the hundreds of Lorries, Vans, Buses etc.















To end this blog i will say that my next one will be all about the Fair at night.

Joke of the Day.

Love making tips for real oldies.

1 Wear your glasses. Make sure your partner is actually in the bed.

2. Set timer for 3 minutes, in case you doze off in the middle

3. Set the mood with lighting. (Turn them ALL OFF!)

4. Make sure you put 911 on your speed dial before you begin.

5. Write partner's name on your hand in case you can't remember.

6. Use extra polygrip so your teeth don't end up under the bed.

7. Have a good painkiller ready to ease the pain this will cause, in case you actually complete the act..

8. Make all the noise you want... The neighbors are deaf too.

9. If it works, call everyone you know with the good news!!

10. Don't even think about trying it twice..

(I wrote this in large type so you can read it)

Great Dorset Steam Fair 2009 (Size)

So here we are again at the GDSF, this year we decided that because last year we didn't get to see it all that we would stay for a few days. So we took the Raclet Quickstop Folding Camper and stayed a few days. This year the fair ran from Wednesday 2nd Sept until Sunday 6th.We decided to arrive on the Tuesday to set up Camp before the fair actually started, also bacause of Sue's injury it would mean that i had to do everything, this poses quite a few problems for me because bending over makes my breathing difficult and between the Skirts and the Awning there are 50 pegs to put in. After setting up on Tuesday we strolled down to the Fair Area where most things were already working. Beer tents (4) all had live music and had been open since the the Sunday before. Most side shows were also working and all the live music being played around the site was free. It should probably be said here that without seeing this massive show its impossible to comprehend its size and diversity. I believe the whole site actually covers over 630 Acres, has five huge car parks 5 caravaning/camping fields (where around 10,00 people stay), there are over 100 food outlets that sell a range from Pizza's, Jacket Spuds, Fish n Chips, Hot dogs,Burgers, Chinese, Indian and Salads and Sandwhiches of all shapes and sizes.Visitors for the week total over a quarter of a MILLION !!!.
I tried to get some pictures that cover the vastness but feel i didn't really achieve it, never mind here we go, these were taken on Tuesday before it got too busy. These first few show the camp over a nearly 360 degrees.
PLEASE CLICK ON THESE PICTURES TO ENLARGE THEM AND HELP SEE THE DETAIL.
All the Units shown in the back ground are in 1 caravan park.
This is another Caravan Park.
Yes and another.
This is the field that the Travelers with their Steam Tractors and old Caravans were sited.

On the right of this Picture is the large Fire Station with 3 full sizes engines and a small multitracked vehicle. Also on site is a permanently manned Police Station, with up to 50 officers stationed in shifts for the week.


More blogs on this subject to follow.
Joke of the day.
Two little Boys.

Two young boys walked into a pharmacy one day, picked out a box of tampons and proceeded to the checkout counter.
The man at the counter asked the older boy, "Son, how old are you?"
"Eight," the boy replied.
The man continued, "do you know what these are used for?"
The boy replied, "not exactly, but they aren't for me. They're for him. He's my brother. He's four. We saw on TV that if you use these that you would be able to swim and ride a bike. Right now, he can't do either."

A Short Post.

Hi all,
Just arrived back from our stay at the annual Great Dorset Steam Fair, very enjoyable but very hard work for me as Sue was unable to help with anything, including erecting or packing away the tenting equipment etc. For those of you who have been asking after Sue's health, she is not in quite so much discomfort and we go for new X rays again Wednesday afternoon in Barnstaple, then if all is OK then they should replaster (for the last time) and it should then be the final 4 to 6 weeks.
Sue says thanks to all of you who have asked how she is.
I would love to be able to post pictures of the Steam Fair on here but every time i try the computer goes out of Firefox and i lose all the text, bloody nuisance but just cant afford to take PC to the Docs at the moment. Maybe Gavin my Grandson will have a look for me but you just cant tie these youngsters down for 10 mins.
So hope to be able to do a proper blog soon.
Joke of the day.

Grandpa

The Inland revenue decides to audit Grandpa, and summons him to there office.
The auditor was not surprised when Grandpa showed up with his attorney.
The auditor said, 'Well, sir, you have an extravagant lifestyle and no full-time employment, Which you explain by saying that you win money gambling. I'm not sure the Revenue office finds that believable.'
I'm a great gambler, and I can prove it,' says Grandpa. 'How about a demonstration?'
The auditor thinks for a moment and said, 'Okay. Go ahead.'
Grandpa says, 'I'll bet you a thousand pounds that I can bite my own eye.'
The auditor thinks a moment and says, 'It's a bet.'
Grandpa removes his glass eye and bites it. The auditor's jaw drops.
Grandpa says, 'Now, I'll bet you two thousand pounds that I can bite my other eye.'
Now the auditor can tell Grandpa isn't blind, so he takes the bet.
Grandpa removes his dentures and bites his good eye.
The stunned auditor now realizes he has wagered and lost three grand, with Grandpa's attorney as a witness. He starts to get nervous.
'Want to go double or nothing?' Grandpa asks 'I'll bet you six thousand pounds that I can stand on one side of your desk, and pee into that wastebasket on the other side, and never get a drop anywhere in between.'
The auditor, twice burned, is cautious now, but he looks carefully and decides there's no way this old guy could possibly manage that stunt, so he agrees again.
Grandpa stands beside the desk and unzips his pants, but although he strains mightily, he can't make the stream reach the wastebasket on the other side, so he pretty much urinates all over the auditor's desk.
The auditor leaps with joy, realizing that he has just turned a major loss into a huge win.
But Grandpa's own attorney moans and puts his head in his hands.
'Are you okay?' the auditor asks.

'Not really,' says the attorney. 'This morning, when Grandpa told me he'd been summoned for an audit, he bet me twenty-five thousand pounds that he could come in here and p*ss all over your desk and that you'd be happy about it!'

So don't Mess with Old People!!