Saturday 24 January 2015

A Record Year

So, what’s been going on and where have we been?


Well, we’ve been here all along, but admittedly there have been fewer blats this year, certainly fewer posts! Partly due to the weather, but also due to less availability of other Sunrisers and their influence. We all occasionally need encouragement to emerge from the pit for those dawn starts. 'I’m in, if you are'  kind of thing.
Maybe we just have to admit that life has been in the way a bit, eclipsing even the most important of pastimes: our singular commitment to using ‘the toy in the garage’.


Health has also limited participation, where responsibility at home can actually override the irresponsibility of 'Seven driving for just the hell of it'.
Another health issue, for one , physically prevented use of the accelerator pedal and catching some really important road time, but we think that Qwaig’s gout is now under control…he missed the Wales trip though.
A third issue, that of ‘new’ health and the further addition to the Andy M household, has led to some heavy drinking that, when combined with lack of sleep, has excluded the man from any chance of early morning precision road performance. Bit difficult to see when your eyes are half shut!


Excuses? Perhaps, but there seems to have been a shortage of predictably dry Saturday and Sunday mornings presented for use this year: ‘3rd wettest summer since records began’ is the 2014 entry, so, there’s validity here in our poor run rate stats.. 

As the years progress and the driving 'intensity' increases, the need for a dry road is the critical ingredient to a good blat. Tyres and heat make for a happy 7, and that pre-dawn tarmac check will give a definitive Go/No Go analysis at a glance. No longer for us the ‘it’ll dry up in a bit’ cheery optimism gamble. The blat window is front-end weighted for obvious reasons: horse box homos and car boot cretins are definitely not blat chums, we want to be out and on it before they hit the tarmac. So, unless presented with that dry road element, we’re simply not gambling the time these days, especially after the absolute pinnacle of driving experiences brought by this year’s Folembray and Wales blats. These two events have given us driving days that reached a level barely even echoed by a Sunday morning blat. 

However, every meal has its aperitif and main course, every ‘engagement’ has its foreplay and its …well, you get the point, so there's always the need for a local blat, day or night. These are complementary balances that serve to enhance the experience of 7 driving, the weekend Sunriser Blat might only be the taster for what is the real thing on the big trips, but the joy of ownership is knowing there’s the perfect antidote to a week at work, and the drudge of the commute in the tin top, just waiting in the garage for that dry weekend morning. Sometimes, just the anticipation is enough without even the foreplay :-) But that might just be an age thing!

Speaking of night time 'excursions', of the driving kind, now that we're all pushed for time and have a bag of reasons to not make us available for a a dawn call, the nightblat offers  whole different aspect to the daytime thing. Given a warm dry summer's evening, and with the usual road toads in bed, well, the archives serve as a reminder of that rich reserve of driving opportunity- Night Blat , Eating Late  and  Nip and Tuck
So, why none of those this year? 
(The defence and the accused exchange glances and shuffle awkwardly.) 
And anyhow, all of the Sunrisers achieved a whole lot more mileage than the 16 miles clocked by Ian ‘Fisheye’ Hayward! With valid reason admittedly, but 16 miles? And look what happens when your 7 is confined to the 'Garage-Ornament-Only' status, ouch! :


 So, long live the Sunrise Seven Blat in whatever their level of commitment ! 



Crisp, cold and clear, or, warm, muggy and overcast - we’ll be out using our now invisible tax discs at every opportunity….just so long as it’s dry! See you out there in 2015 , or, if you’re still in bed, you’ll hear us.

Folembray and Wales Posts to follow.




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