Muddyboots

Follow the fortunes of Muddyboots & Family on their East Yorkshire farm which has changed from dairy farm to luxury ice cream manufacture

Thursday 19 July 2007

the day of the show


Yesterday saw a at one of the largest one day agricultural shows in England.

The Driffield Show.

For the past few days we've been nipping backwards & forwards checking forecasts trying to decide what on earth the weather would be throwing at us. One internet weather report stating severe weather warnings with tornadoes, then another with sunny intervals. As it was we were very, very lucky with the odd light shower & warm sunshine. The going in places was a little sticky, & we had taken the 'tardis' as opposed to the hand cart just in case of flash flooding plus waders, oilskins & diving gear as listed in our risk assessment.

By tuesday evening we decided that perhaps the best course of action might perhaps be a recky of the site. How wet was wet & where exactly were the electrics in the Enterprise Village? Important stuff especially when everything just has to be in place by 9.00am sharp! The area for the village bit was larger this year, normally we sit right on the corner of the main walk way. This year we were -- no where? No pitch, no name spikes, nothing. Ok, who was the joker in the pack then? Had a rival ice creamer pulled the plug? After a flurry of telephone calls Mr G turns up, all in a fluster l might add, pointing us up the hill a little bit waving his hands in an 'over there somewhere' sort of way. Fine, thought l in case of flooding, but how do the punters find us?? Hubby retorted that 'it'll be fine'....

Decided that evening not to watch weather forecast, then if the actual day dawned blue sky n sunny l would be pleasantly surprised.

Urggh, 6.30 up. Leave at 7.30. wrong Hubby was off at 7.30, Haz & 'meself 'were off just a little bit latter....

Traffic on show day is pretty dammed awful. Tyrannical traffic wardens who seem to relish the traffic queues. Perhaps they have an in house competition to see who has the longest queue? Ev..en..tu..all..y we gained access to the showground, 30 minutes to drive a few hundred yards....

Arghh, what the **** has hubby done parking THERE!! instead of being slap bang in the middle visible to all, we were 'shoved ' to the back behind a string of classic motor cars. 'Might as well go home now', H stated. OK, pull in stomach, make the most of it. Decorated our pitch with some straggly plant pots, put up picnic umbrella set out seats, waited for first customer... would they be able to find us...placed two a boards complete with arrows...customers began to trickle in...then a few more....by lunch time we had a queue.

They found us. We served up the ice cream. We laughed & joked with the customers. There were 3 of us working in a 3 metre square van, working in shifts, as soon as one collapsed the next one shot in...once more unto the breach dear friends [sic].

By the end of the day, we had survived. We had served up ice cream cones by the hundreds. drunk water by the gallon & by closing time were well & truly knackerd....

Will we do it again next year?

You Bet!!

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Your blog is very interesting!
Congratulations!
Please, send me the photo of a your t-shirt or a your clock / watch and the link of your blog,
I' ll publish in my blog!
Thanks Ivo
EMAIL:
ivo.giulivo@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Punters know where to find the good stuff.

Crystal xx

Un Peu Loufoque said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bluestocking Mum said...

You do make me smile-that is so my style!!

I love a bit of the old 'Dunkirk' spirit and it is infectious!
I bet when you give off this air of positivity most of your customers will greet you with the same and a smile in return.

Good for you my girl!

warm wishes
x

Gwen said...

Sounds like a fun day was had by all.

I wonder who Ivo is? The plot thickens.

Sally Townsend said...

ooh another admirer of mrmoo's most excellent ice cream !!

Un Peu Loufoque said...

OOH I say muddy I see you have a fan....notice he does not specify whether the t shirt needs to be dry or wet?!!!! Ah I remember the joy of county shows and craft fayres.. hard work but well worth it!!

See I even deleted this once so I could correct the typos!!Now people will wonder what I said that I needed to delete before!!

Yorkshire Pudding said...

I have heard that a teenager was stabbed in the rush to grab a Mr Moo cone! Driffield Show always was a wild place to be. What exactly do you put in your ice cream and are you sure it's legal?

muddyboots said...

we saw the 'incident' well not the stabbing. a min chav rushed past us clutching his groin area screaming 'call an ambulance..' this lad see, emerged from just behind the tent to our immediate left, right at the edge of the showground. we thought he had been climbing over the fence to get in & impaled himself, we couldn't see any blood... a few policemen wandered about to have a look & that was basically it.

Suffolkmum said...

I agree with CCA, I love a bit of the old Dunkirk spirit! Just been catching up with your posts that I've missed, loved the 'maturit' one - I often think of that, of how old my parents seemed to me when they were my age.

annakarenin said...

Just been reading your tagged 5 and could desperately do with a dose of your get up and go on a miserable day like this. The photos do cheer me up though lots of the beach which I am missing at the mo. Think I need a holiday but unfortunately funds a bit low and we are saving to go skiing so will have to focus on that instead.
Poor no 1 is going quad biking in it this afternoon and my washing machine is on stop to top it all.

Milkmaid said...

Glad Driffield show was a good bet in the end, In case I don't get back on here much next week due to the rabble. we should be at The Game Fair on Friday and I've promised to treat them all to a Mr Moos, better get used to queueing

muddyboots said...

great milkmaid, we're in the regional food area & doing a demonstration at 4'ish or is it half past 3? in food theatre. free tastings...

Mutterings and Meanderings said...

How cool are those pinnies!

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