Saturday proved to be a very long day, in part due to my trying to make the most of my time at the Festival, but also because the journey home was full of slow moving traffic. Having been very warm during the day, showering and shaving before retiring was also de rigeur, so it was well after midnight when I hit the sack.
In the morning, awoke with the alarm and despite having cut short the time I had allowed before heading for Martin’s house in Berkhamsted, I did manage to have a fair breakfast. I arrived at his place just before the allotted six o’clock, only to find that he had had a third day of restless sleep and was decidedly under the weather and felt he could not manage the day, so reluctantly I had to collect the tickets and a copy of his latest Lightroom book and journey on alone. Although I always enjoy driving, I prefer the company of others and sadly at this time of morning it is hard to find someone around to receive a call from me especially with the lack of a second car park ticket to consider.
I arrived once again at the House where I enquired again about meeting with Jo Willitt and learned she would be around at lunchtime. When that time came around Valentino Rossi was due in, so that schedule slipped somewhat as Suzi Perry interviewed him on the balcony in front of a large flag-waving crowd amassed on the circular lawn beneath the Mazda twin car installation. Long before that however, I headed up the hill to the Forest Rally section where I met up with and had a long chat with the ambulance man. He gave me a few hints as to where the track weaved through the trees as there was still a good bit of time before the cars came through. I got in some nice shots as they came through a couple of corners before I made my way further up to where there was a jump, but some of the best vantage points were either obscured by tall nettles, or in one case by one of the Press boys standing directly in the best line of sight; this despite his being able to get far more dramatic shots had he been lower – but the paying public began to address him and suggest he squat which he obligingly did!
The ambulance man also mentioned I might well be able to get a a VIP ride back down to the house, which proved correct, and was very welcome as the uphill trudge in the humid heat had been quite exhausting. I revisited the end of the Sponsors’ enclosure to take shots from that viewpoint before heading for the House for lunch, it was during the enforced wait that I managed to catch up with Lord March and let him know Martin had been unable to make the journey, he asked me to let him know he would be welcome to join him at the Revival Meeting.
Lunch was in a long marquee at the back of the House, and I found myself on a table with Dame Donna, the title given to matrons at Lord March’s son William’s school, and her brother Robin, who it turned out owned the Bayeux Colour Laboratory and knew several of my colleagues and friends! I did wonder since one of those colleagues was Mike Huideburg owner of Tapestry whether it was that that had influenced the naming of his Lab?
Sunday was yet another day to remember and cherish, and to give me a not inconsiderable time sorting images to go in a gallery or galleries here on the blog, and it would just happen to be the hottest UK weather ever!
