Torbay Steam Fair 8th August 2010

With Carol acting up as the senior where she works for a number of weeks now it has meant she has reluctantly had to do a few late shifts ( 2pm to 10pm) instead of her normal 7.45am to 14.45pm ones. She hates the late shifts and so do I as when it is her weekend to work(every other weekend) at least I can pick her up from work at 14.45pm, get her home and hose her down so we are still able to go out and do one of our walks and find a place to eat afterwards.

So off she went at 12.30pm saying she wanted to get in early and get organised leaving me with the decision of what to do myself for the rest of the day. I did think about watching the Man U V Chelsea game and play spot Ant sat there in with all the FA people, but I really wanted to go out and do a photo shoot to test the new batteries I have just bought that came in the post yesterday.

With the amount of photos I take rechargeable batteries are the only sensible option and while I can get a good number of shots from ones charged the night before, they do self drain so very quickly and unless they have just been charged then more than not they will let you down when you go to use them.

There is now a new generation of rechargeable batteries and while they hold a little less charge they don’t really self drain and you can charge up a set and put them in the drawer for a year and when you take them out they will still have a staggering 85% or more of their power still left in them.

So I decided to go to what is the last day for this year of the Torbay Steam Fair, I have only been once before and it was so long ago I can’t even remember what year it was I went. Back then it was in a field just before you get to Windy Corner, but now it’s moved to a much larger site just past what some will remember as Prouts Garage.

It never bothers me going anywhere on my own as I will always find someone to talk to and as it turned out I found lots of very interesting people to talk to even if it meant having to ask questions I really should have known the answer too.

I opened a pack of the new batteries and it said on them there was no need to charge them as they were ready to go and so I put four in my camera and went out of the front door. As I closed it I heard the sounds of sirens a very normal sound we hear living here so often. I turned to watch them coming through the traffic lights and from the front the first one just looked like a normal fire engine. It was not until it was level with me that I could see it was more of a flatbed lorry with a mini digger on it and I have never ever seen one like this before. I thought someone must be trapped underground or something, I don’t think there are any disused mining shafts around here so I’ll have to wait and see if there are stories in the Herald Express about it in the week.

I got in my car and headed off to the Steam Fair site and just after the old Prouts garage I turned right onto the road up to Hillhead and half way up the hill was the turning into the field being used as the car park. Due to the very low front spoiler on my car I never like taking my car in such fields but thankfully while this one went down a slope; it was flat with no big bumps or ridges to go over.
There sure were a lot of cars parked up and I found a spot to park my car and walked down to the pay booth. Just £6 and that’s £6.25p cheaper than those smelly old Roman Baths Carol and I paid to view a few weeks ago and this was something that would use my whole afternoon up.

I paid and the very first thing I came across was one of those old lorries that has had as old fairground steam organ built into it, I love them and can stand there a good while listening to the music and watching those small figures beat a drum, or bang a cymbal. Mind you while I love the sounds I would never go as far as paying the £8 asking price for a CD of the organ music.

A few yards on and on my left the main show field and on my right a large gap into a second field and I decided to do the field on the right first as I could hear live music coming from it. It turned out to be a band called the Plonkers from Somerset performing the sort of songs the Wurzels would do. The front man was a right character laying on thick his Somerset accent but you just had to love the drummer.

85 years young and having the time of his life I can tell you and when he did a high speed drum solo I feared he was going to drop down dead right there in the field. Had a little word in their ear about a feedback problem they had that they were unaware off and a few tweaks on the amp soon solved the problem.

I moved on and took a picture of a fire engine for Budleigh and a display of wood sawing for merse just because he will know very well the owner of the steam engine. I then went to the main field where all the big boys were and there were some small boys there as well and an even better fairground organ.

I was soon busy taking pictures of the big steam engines and steam Lorries and the miniature ones as well as they are also a work of art and then I saw a gypsy caravan and thought no please don’t tell me they are back. It was the biggest one I have ever seen and you were allowed inside it, there was a notice asking if you could offer a donation to go inside and so I put a £1 in the bucket and boy was it special inside.

Into the model and crafts tent next for me and I saw some great models of ships and a large glass cabinet display that had a working model of a steam rally inside it and I would have just loved to have taken that home with me.

Back out side and walking past three old fairground rides, one was a very old big wheel, the other a ghost train and the third a ride I always called the Noah’s Ark when I was young. Right beside the fair rides the main show ring and just in time to watch the parade, boy that 1904 steam car can sure move a bit and it’s so quit, maybe we should go back to using them with the price of petrol these days.

Now feeling a bit peckish and you just have to buy some food at such an event as the food somehow takes on the flavour of the whole event going on. I did struggle to get the words out of my mouth and tell the lady what I wanted; well she was so gorgeous looking and she came straight out and said “what can I do for you darling” it was a good job I did not already have the jumbo hotdog in my mouth or I would have chocked on the bloody thing.

I decided to go back and listen to the Plonkers again and this time I was sure the skinny lady playing the fiddle was giving me the eye, but I decided it was no more than wishful thinking on my part and at least that 85 year old drummer was still alive and well and still having the time of his life.

I was heading back the way I came in and noticed one part I had missed and so I went and checked it out and ended up yapping for over an hour with a very nice young man. Well he was a volunteer for the Parrot rescue charity and as I own such a thing myself I was in my element taking to him about parrots. I was shocked to lean they rescue over 800 parrots every year. Some are from people who have died and he gave me a list of many other reasons birds come into their hands such as divorces or simply people moving house.

I think he would have liked me to adopt one of the rescued parrots and while it is something I will consider, I do have to consider how Cleo would feel about it as she has been with us ten years now ever since she was a baby and she may not take to the idea of having another parrot in the house.

Time to take one more picture of kids sealed inside a big blow up see through ball floating in a pool full of water. It looked fun but there is no way on earth anyone would ever get my inside one of them due to the problems I have with being confined. One young boy seemed to be enjoying it and then got a bit scared inside the ball so they had to get him out as quickly as they could.

Nice afternoon and now just a few hours to go before I can go and pick my Carol up. The batteries? Took over a 100 shots and they are still going strong and so I think I will order another two packs and then I should never have to do what I did in Bath and have to buy 16 Duracell batteries to be on the safe side because my freshly charged up (old type) ones let me down.