16 December 2011
Well, woke on Wednesday morning to see rain, hail, snow, cats, dogs, you name it falling from the sky. Not good for fund raising street collections and
particularly not when you have to drive a trike with four reluctant dogs on it.
Checked on the local TV weather forecast who told us it was a fine dry day. That’s alright then!!! Have they no windows at the BBC??? Anyhow came up with a clever plan to get the dogs there dry, and by shuffling around in cars and stuff we eventually got there about 10 mins late.
Aaron, one of the lads, had travelled all the way from Kilkeel and was standing wet and forlorn but ready to go, despite a serious case of man flu which would have hospitalized any normal human being. More folk started to arrive in rapid succession. Big Wease had driven through a blizzard to get there and looked like it but was determined to take up his usual spot at Castle Court which he has come to look on as his own. He was joined by TrickyRicky who was equally wet but just as determined and I wouldn’t like to be the punter that refused those two money.
Baddon wasted no time in organizing the important stuff and within minutes of arriving had free burgers for the day sorted with a stall holder in the market for ALL of us. He then rang his sister Nic who brought constant supplies of food and he even went to KFC and bought us all chicken later on. Not sure if he raised any money but we sure as hell ate well.
Shark, Happy Snapper and Mr & Mrs Trucker set up camp with Aaron at one side of the city hall and were doing a roaring trade but I started to notice one of them always seemed to be missing. A little later when their chants of “Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children” changed to “Norn Erand Bancer Dund fur Dilders” I realised they had found the mulled wine stand.
Thompy was with that group and smiling as always (without the assistance of mulled wine). He ended up almost crippled when his back gave up from standing for so long but that smile still stayed and we almost had to push him on the bus to get him to go home before he ended up on a stretcher. Thompy will be smiling even as they bury him.
AJ, Eric and BA arrived later and joined the guys up at Castle Court and they became the collecting equivalent of a dream team. Big Wease, AJ, Tricky and Eric terrorized the public and then having passed through this human equivalent of a minefield they were met by BA who was dressed as a bear and insisted on giving everyone (and I mean everyone) a “Bearhug”.
Not to be out done we had our own costumed crusader down at the city hall in the form of Freespirit dressed as ‘Po’ (I think) from the Teletubbies. He caused the only complaint of the day when a distraught father approached me and told me his son was in a state because ‘Po’ had just taken his head off. Poor child will never sleep again.
Checked on the local TV weather forecast who told us it was a fine dry day. That’s alright then!!! Have they no windows at the BBC??? Anyhow came up with a clever plan to get the dogs there dry, and by shuffling around in cars and stuff we eventually got there about 10 mins late.
Aaron, one of the lads, had travelled all the way from Kilkeel and was standing wet and forlorn but ready to go, despite a serious case of man flu which would have hospitalized any normal human being. More folk started to arrive in rapid succession. Big Wease had driven through a blizzard to get there and looked like it but was determined to take up his usual spot at Castle Court which he has come to look on as his own. He was joined by TrickyRicky who was equally wet but just as determined and I wouldn’t like to be the punter that refused those two money.
Baddon wasted no time in organizing the important stuff and within minutes of arriving had free burgers for the day sorted with a stall holder in the market for ALL of us. He then rang his sister Nic who brought constant supplies of food and he even went to KFC and bought us all chicken later on. Not sure if he raised any money but we sure as hell ate well.
Shark, Happy Snapper and Mr & Mrs Trucker set up camp with Aaron at one side of the city hall and were doing a roaring trade but I started to notice one of them always seemed to be missing. A little later when their chants of “Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children” changed to “Norn Erand Bancer Dund fur Dilders” I realised they had found the mulled wine stand.
Thompy was with that group and smiling as always (without the assistance of mulled wine). He ended up almost crippled when his back gave up from standing for so long but that smile still stayed and we almost had to push him on the bus to get him to go home before he ended up on a stretcher. Thompy will be smiling even as they bury him.
AJ, Eric and BA arrived later and joined the guys up at Castle Court and they became the collecting equivalent of a dream team. Big Wease, AJ, Tricky and Eric terrorized the public and then having passed through this human equivalent of a minefield they were met by BA who was dressed as a bear and insisted on giving everyone (and I mean everyone) a “Bearhug”.
Not to be out done we had our own costumed crusader down at the city hall in the form of Freespirit dressed as ‘Po’ (I think) from the Teletubbies. He caused the only complaint of the day when a distraught father approached me and told me his son was in a state because ‘Po’ had just taken his head off. Poor child will never sleep again.
Blueray and Mr Chips (who, like Aaron, travelled a very long way to take part) joined us in the afternoon and slipped sexily into the XL yellow T-shirts supplied by the charity. If we stood together in any sort of numbers we looked like a flock of ‘Big Birds‘ from Sesame Street.
The enthusiasm shown by everyone was fantastic and not forgetting Al and Twistedsis who, whilst being the worst collectors of money, are undoubtedly the best counters and making use of our friend Tracey’s house (cheers Tracey) kept the money bagged and counted and gave us a running total to urge us on.
Mustn’t forget Master Blaster who made a guest appearance on his trike but couldn’t stop because his trike wouldn't start again (the joys of triking).
One person noticeable for his absence was Reaper although I understand he tried. He was however stopped at the border and turned back because his passport has been seized by the Police until that unfortunate incident with the sheep in his hotel room has been to court. (Apparently there’s a perfectly good explanation???).
The generosity of the people of Belfast is legendary and it did not fail us on the day and we raised a grand total of over £3700 for the NI Cancer Fund for Children. Well done guys and guysesses.
So victory had been salvaged from the jaws of defeat but things in life are of course always balanced out. If you have an up you have a down, an in needs an out, a ying must have a yang so my pleasure at our good fortune had to be tempered by a less pleasant experience so the universe could continue to turn in blissful harmony.
In this case the downside didn’t show itself until I was preparing for bed. It had been a long cold day and I had been well wrapped up against the elements. As the weather improved my temperature went up and for a short but relevant period during the afternoon I was quite hot. This of course causes one to perspire and this appears to be what happened to (and I use some local terminology here) the “shucks of my arse”.
When I went to disrobe that evening I discovered this had occurred when I found my underwear to be stuck to that particular area. Not a problem I thought and gave it a bit of a yank which unfortunately took a layer of skin with it. Now that hurt, and I am left with two bits of raw flesh looking at each other and rubbing together at every opportunity. It resulted in a sleepless night and each time I woke my gluteus maximus were stuck together and had to be ripped apart.
My walk to the bus in the morning consisted of ‘stick, rip, stick, rip, stick, rip’ a most unpleasant experience and I have to sit and stand with a high degree of care. Oh for some Suadcream (I think that’s how you spell it).
Anyhow if that’s the limit of my pay back I am not to bothered cos remember “It’s for the little children”.
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