This was such a great day and it’s going to be hard to describe…
To begin with we went to drive go-karts at an
indoor track that our friend Rino runs in Fredrikstad and that was incredible…..
a bit tiring though! Then we went to Gressvik so Sid and myself could have
beer and pizza while we watched the Hungarian Grand Prix, which turned out to be
a bit disappointing.
Then we got into a 7.5 metres (24 feet)
fishing boat that was built in 1932 and had been fully restored. It had an
old single-cylinder motor that went “putt, putt” very slowly (I knew that would
be hard to describe!) and we motored up the river towards Fredrikstad.
We were on our way to a football match!!
As we plodded our way into town, people
stopped to look at this old boat and some even applauded it. It was
nothing to do with any of us, it was as if we were invisible while this old
craft and its little motor battled the strong current of the river. All
along the banks of the river, near the waterfront bars and restaurants, people
stopped and stared at the boat and they were all smiling…. This little
boat actually made people smile! Amazing!
The whole town was red and white for the game
and Fredrikstad won the football match which only added to the festive
atmosphere in town. I did a terrible job of trying to shout the team’s
fight songs but I enjoyed myself anyway.
Days like this don’t come along too often….
we made the most of it.
After the game, the boat dropped me off near
the town centre and, as I walked through town towards my hotel, people were
calling out my name and saying stuff like… ”great show last night”.
I am not sure that has happened before but it
seems that, after four years of doing this, we are becoming “friends” in a way
and that’s really cool.
This could never be just another gig… never!
