VMCC AGM 2012 There I Went.

It was up bright and early last Saturday, helped Mrs BC bottle feed the triplet lambs and Sprout, no doubt put a few rings on tails and bits too so that Mrs BC would be able to get some more ewes and lambs out of the steading if the weather improved sufficiently. By the time I'd finished a few last minute jobs indoors, I was the traditional hour late in leaving. Leaving? I hear you cry! But why? Where to go? Ahhh, I was off down to the big city of Birmingham. Not just for a jaunt, but for the Vintage Motorcycle Club Annual General Meeting. The Man from Muckle Flugga kindly came with me to share the drive; its 450+ miles from Cubbie Towers and it had to be done in a 'wunner'. (How does one spell 'wunner'?). So we finally got away at about 10am, then there was the suspected run away antics of Finn the working sheep pup, but it turned out he hadn't done a runner at all, he was just stuck between some gates in the back field. The miles munched by, the weather was showery and chilly, although with every southern mile on the clock, the temperature did get a little warmer. TO cut a very long and very boring journey short, we decided to call it day at Stoke on Trent, only about an hours drive from Brum, but by the time we'd found a Travelodge and somewhere to eat it was getting on for late enough. So, up bright and early again on Sunday and on the way to meet Pilot Rae at the National Motorcycle Museum for lunch, I suddenly thought it would be a good idea to take the Cub Mag car magnet on the back of the car, to pay homage at the site of the old Triumph factory. Using my wonderful magical device that is a Blackberry (its wonderful when it works, which is less and less often these days!) we found the street named Bonneville Close. A quick Google on the old BB informed us that there should have been a plaque located in that street to mark the old factory site. Well, could we find it? Could we 'eck. It isn't a big or long street, in fact, its a dead end but we drove up and down and round and round for a while before parking up for a shot of the Bonneville sign. I apprehended a couple of joggers and asked them if they knew where the plaque was and they pointed it out right in front of us, just on the side of the main road. Ah well... Just as we were taking a couple of photos a lady approached and asked whether we were bikers. We got chatting and it transpired that she lives in one of the houses in the Close and often meets like-minded motorcyclists who park up for photo shoots at the site. Photos over we whizzed along to meet Pilot Rae, only a ten minute trip from the Triumph site. Luncheon was consumed along with a good catch up chat before Pilot had to fly...literally... And so it was to the AGM. Nothing unusual to report, in fact, not much to say about it at all really, oh, other than some person by the name of Gorgeous Biker Chick won an award. Yesirreeee, I sure did. I would like to thank the nominator/s for nominating me, and my mum, and my horse, and my dawg and my Cub...oh you get the idea! After the clattering of flash photography had finally died down I could return to my seat, embarrassed as you like but proud as punch to have been recongnised for the "EE Thompson Award of Merit", given to those who go to great lengths to promote the activies of the VMCC. With the AGM over it was time for the Management Committee to take their places at the top table for a meeting. I'm terribly sorry but I had to be excused a little early as with a 10hr drive ahead I needed to get on the road. Another long, even longer if thats possible, drive north and we were finally in Aberdeen. I like driving in the city at that time of night (musta been after 1am) because generally speaking, you get both lanes to yourself and can swing around the roundabouts without a care in the world. That is, until you spot the very suspicious headlights of a white Rangerover in your mirrors. I behaved myself perfectly but still the Rangie stuck close, then it pulled half way alongside, then back in behind us, and then with a flurry of blueness, the flashing lights came on. Darn you officer, I'm not going to pull into the bus stop that you obviously thought I would, I'm going to stop right here in the middle of the road. I quickly pulled on my shoes as the copper approached my window. Evening folks, he said sweetly, evening officer, we replied, equally sweetly. Just stopping you for a routine check, he said, with a smile, and then proceeded to have a look round the vehicle and ask about insurance. All was well but we could have done without the delay. The main guys chum seemed quite interested in the Cub Mag door magnet on the back, as he peered at it in the torchlight. Probably pulled up the website on his Blackberry. So with only a light snow flurry as we neared our destination, the trip to Brum and Back had been completed for another year, and hey, whats 900+ miles in 20hrs, piece of cake! And no, sorry, you can't have a picture of me being presented with the trophy. You can have a pic of the trophy but that'll have to do. And apologies if there are mountains of speeling mestikes but this new fangled Googley Chromey thing really isn't working on my computer.