insured

Darksiders, the Macclesfield Mumblers SC
and a group of lads from Surrey, all on
autos trying out a national rally for the first
time. I normally do a shift on the gate on
the Friday so, after a quick shower and a
bite to eat, I made my way up to the
entrance to receive my pack of bin liners,
programmes and money belt. The next six
hours were some of the busiest I have
worked on the gate in the last seven
years, and each hour supplied
another large group of two-wheelers
to further encamp the site.
The track had now been
transformed into a scootering
supermarket and stalls selling
anything and everything were doing
a brisk trade. On site ‘guardian
angels’, Ital Scooters, also had set
up their hospital so any poorly
engines could be kicked back to life.
The weather was now transformed
and the chances of serious
sunstroke were a possibility. I took
the advice of my compatriot
stewards and partook in a few cans
of cider to ease the pain. Most
people just basked in the glorious
sunshine and caught up with mates
throughout the day, but soon it was
late afternoon and the queues for the
supplied bus to town started forming.
Ryde always does a roaring trade
throughout the bank holiday
weekend, so it was surprising to see
a few of the pubs closed. This said,
the ‘Daddies’ such as the Squadron,
Wetherspoons, King Lud, Sportsbar,
etc, were packed and by midevening
had to adopt a one-in, oneout
policy. This meant the VFM venue
at the Ice Rink was filling a lot earlier
than usual. The night’s entertainment
included two live bands The Mods and
American skanksters The Pie-Eaters.
Also on offer were two different rooms
of music, a saloon type bar and a
mechanical bucking bull, which the inhouse
barmaids all took advantage of!
The next morning we awoke to what
appeared to be a spate of comical thefts.
Firstly, my memory from the previous night
had been erased. Secondly, Andy from
Burton had mislaid his ‘Whose the Daddy’
T-shirt, and finally (and more worrying) my
wife had lost some underwear from the
washing line outside our tent!
The stadium was already
packed with traders once again,
including a display from Vespa UK
of the latest models in their range.
Also a large custom show was
organised in the Ice Stadium to run
throughout the day and a reported
2000-plus passed through its doors.
We quickly sped through both of
these as we had arranged to meet
up with some mates in the local
swimming pool before lunch. It was
here that the third of the thefts
became explained; my mate John
from Hull emerged from the changing
rooms to rapturous laughter in a pair
of pink skimpy knickers before diving
straight into the shallow end of the pool.
Funnily they quite suited him and I’m not
sure how long he’s been shaving his
legs! After half-an-hour we dried off and
made our way to the town for a spot of
retail therapy. On the grass expanse
near the King Lud a multitude of
scooters (both auto and trad) were
parked up, their owners proudly
showing off their pride and joys.
Most people milled around town all
day, taking in the restaurants and
bars until it was time for the
evening dos to start. As per the
previous evening this centred
around the Ryde ice arena and
consisted of both live acts and
DJs. Bands tonight were Basket
Case and Bad Manners and by
the time they came on the
venue was at near capacity (2500). Both
gave blistering sets and the new slim-fast
version of the Bad Manners’ front man
Buster Bloodvessel answered the second
of the misplaced items when he appeared
from the darkness to the roar of the crowd
wearing the ‘Whose the Daddy’ top.
Day three of the event is basically split
into two parts: the mass rideout and the
infamous Sunday Club. The rideout is the
largest congregation of small twowheelers
in the world trying to stick
together on a pre-arranged route. This
year’s rideout was so large that it took 40
minutes for the whole entourage to pass
by and included both people in fancy
dress and a whole squadron of monkey
bikes. The Sunday Club is a day when all
the people who have worked throughout
the weekend try to visit as many of the
town’s pubs in as short a time as
possible – basically a mass pub crawl.
This was made ever more enjoyable due
to most establishments now having
widescreen television. We could watch
the Aussie’s getting a real hiding at the
cricket while we over-indulged. That
night a smaller do was organised at the
Balcony Club, but due to most people
making the August Bank Holiday their
vacation was also packed to the rafters.
So that was it, another brilliant IoW.
We were blessed with the weather and
the hospitality of the islanders. Now I’ve
got just about enough time to get home,
wash me clothes and get a few hours’
sleep before it’s time to pack up once
again and head off to the other island,
Mersea! It’s a hard life, but someone’s
got to do it! Dinnertime Dave
NOVEMBER 05 35