THAT CARL AND THAT BILL!! (Team 18) THEY STOLE COLLIE-FLOWER AND AUCTIONED HER!!! And then even better(??) (or should that be worse??), they won the bidding to be custodians of her for 24 hours! Poor Collie-Flower has had quite a traumatic and stressful initiation into the World of Carl (not a pretty sight!!!). She was subjected to cigarettes, booze, stuffed upside-down into a bin, launched into the air, subjected to unmentionable sexual acts, to name but a few experiences! She was taught how to use the proper toilet, and then the bidet to wash her bottom, had a shower, checked out the Mini Bar, and many other exciting experiences! (you can imagine the photos as Carl became more inebriated the more the evening/night progressed!) She appeared to just about survive to the morning, she was then allowed to breakfast with Carl & Bill after which she was taped to the back of Carl’s van to do the day’s activities. We departed at 08hrs 34′ 30″ and, after a special stage immediately at the start which we managed OK, we proceeded on the roadbook instructions to a race circuit called Autodrome Vallelungo. We met up with about a further 50+ minis from the Mini Club of Rome and completed a couple of special stages, and then we were treated to the highlight of the day which was a couple of laps around the race circuit. We were led by an Italian Control Car which in true Italian driver style, was driven by a lunatic of a driver, great fun was had by all! We flew around the circuit a couple of times, overtaking several other Minis until we were right behind the Control Car battling it out with a Mini driven by a professional racing driver – the brakes were smelling very hot at the end of it! We then had lunch and after that had a leisurely drive back to the hotel. Part 2 of Team 18 (Rachel, Carl’s girlfriend) had just arrived that day and was waiting back at the hotel to join us. The evening’s meal was the first of two formal functions of this year’s IJ, we were taken by coaches to the Crowne Plazza Hotel where we had a delicious meal which was also attended by the Italians from the Rome Mini Club who were rather excitable and noisy with a few beers in them, to say the least!!! After an excellent, if rather raucous, evening we all returned to the hotel for a very-welcomed extra hours sleep!
This morning (Sunday) we woke early enough to say “bye bye” to Bill who has sadly gone home to the UK this morning and was waiting in reception at 7.45am for his taxi. After waving bye to Bill, we had breakfast and then all had to be at the cars by 8.45am for today’s activities. They were to be a big surprise as the Roadbook just had a big question mark in it for today so there was various speculations as to what awaited us. We were again joined by the Minis from the Rome Mini Club, and we then completed two police escorted convoys around the roads of Rome, bumper to bumper, with what must have been at least 120 Minis, horns and sirens blaring like you wouldn’t believe! The first escorted convoy took us to the edge of the Circo Massimo where the ancient Romans did their chariot racing. We spent around an hour there, admiring the scenery and generally taking in the atmosphere of Rome, walking around the locality, and talking to people passing by who were admiring the cars. We then continued to a restaurant on the outskirts of Rome, again by manic escorted police escorts, driving straight through red lights and generally causing chaos, to our lunch stop. After that, the afternoon and evening were free, so we are now just chilling out a bit, drinking a beer and updating the blog, and preparing for tomorrow’s early start (7.30am again!!) for the start of our journey heading back north. We have a 211 miles journey to be completed by 10.30am, with Monday morning traffic (oh joy!!), so possibly an early night wouldn’t got a miss! Ian’s also full of a cold (Man Flu) so is feeling very sorry for himself!! All together now, aaaaahhhhhhh!!!
Speak again soon.
Ciao!
