event Shitefest International 2025 aka Merdefest 9-10 August - France - Traditional Shitefest Left Property Post

[Sunny Jim]

After 13 hours behind the wheel I've made it to the Field of Dreams where I'm stopping for the night.

Goodnight all.

[Wibble]

1 minute ago, Sunny Jim said:

After 13 hours behind the wheel I've made it to the Field of Dreams where I'm stopping for the night.

Goodnight all.

Good night and God bless. If that’s not welcome, feel free to delete🙂

[Sunny Jim]

I might not share your belief @Wibblebut I do appreciate the sentiment thank you.

[Floatylight]

Just got through the door, time for bed! Sleep well @Sunny Jim & Sunny dog

[Sunny Jim]

You too @Floatylight & Mrs Floatylight.

[hairnet]

Fuck thr m25

Closed near m23 then again further north 

In the arsehole of weybridge avoiding the closures 

Stiill. hour and half to go ffs

And this is why didnt do it in one go

 

[hairnet]

Finally

Small lol as 5 fellas in and they had booking but the keys wouldnt let them in the room

Waited for them to sort and within seconds i get mine

Place isnt full why was he on the phone they can reprogram the keys or master key them in

Hmm

Shoulda just give them another room

[Sunny Jim]

Has @Shandylegschecked in with anyone? Hope you've had a good journey mate.

[Sunny Jim]

Morning, about to set off on the last leg home. Big thanks to @Mrs6C & @Six-cylinder for opening the FoD for me and the most welcome care package of flask and biscuits.

[Saabnut]

A bit of near normality is settling back on Chez Saabnut. Huge thanks to all who attended, hopefully all enjoyed the visit, certainly I did. Special thanks to Jim for fitting a new bathroom door lock afer the old one committed suicide and exploded internally, fortunately no one inside at the time!

As is normal for a Shitefest, we had a project, trying to get the lift on the cherry picker working. Sadly this defeated us but at least I now have a better idea of how it works and a load of photos to visit the manufacturer with.

Weather was lovely if anything a bit warm, with mid 30s peaks each day. Forecast says it is going to be a bit warmer this week! All attendees are welcome back at anytime if a holiday in rural France away from the tourist route appeals.

[Shandylegs]

2 hours ago, Sunny Jim said:

Has @Shandylegschecked in with anyone? Hope you've had a good journey mate.

Back in Blughty, but still en-route.

Made the grave error of spicy chicken nuggets last night in France. I'm currently limping up the M1, stopping at each service station - but thanks for the thought! 🤣

[hairnet]

ffs

 

[hairnet]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_(automobile)

history for that brummie stafford oik @Floatylight

[Sunny Jim]

Have you phoned home and asked them to put some toilet paper in the fridge @Shandylegs? 😉

I've just made it home myself. Just shy of 1300 miles over six days. Huge thanks @Saabnut who was a wonderful host and all involved for a great time. Sunday morning shooting the breeze at the Café Des Artes watching the procession of show cars come through was a particular highlight. Honourable mention to my co-piliot, blindspot-spotter, satnav reader, conversationalist and assistant whippet wrangler @LightBulbFun who didn't fill the entire journey with tales of invacars and lightbulbs. xxx

[LightBulbFun]

Many thanks to everyone for the great weekend away, my first time to France! interesting experience! of course Many thanks go to @Sunny Jim for being my international carer and taxi man throughout the whole trip!

and many thanks to @Saabnut for hosting us all, and giving me a room and bed to sleep in, thats also very much appricated, and many thanks to @hairnet for lending me his cane when towards the end my body kinda let go and likewise everyone there who helped me out in one way or another  

note to self for next time: bring REV or at least a Mobility scooter of some kind! (and get @mat_the_cat to fit air conditioning to it)

 

some pictures from the trip

Prif (pronuanced Preev) our resident Steam engine simulator in chielf and very good boy  

Silvertown Tunnel by C15  

waiting at the Chunnel crossing, couple old VW's and Morgans spotted  

through passport control and onto the train!, those doors caught me out, you have to press the button, wait for them to unlock and then basically barge your way through them with your shoulder. bit heavy!

after not too long we where in france! lots of little villages along country roads 

first couple of Twingo's I managed to pap, there where a surprising amount of them buzzing about still, and Random large Piston used as a table weight, wonder what engine its from?

bridge, and very long straight road!

but also some nice tree lined roads  

stopped for a cold drink, had Orangina for the first time, I like the fact they still come in an ornate glass bottle like that  and church of some kind, with working clock/bells

after even more roads, we eventually arrived at Chez @Saabnut  

next day, I went with @hairnet to scope out the local lake/beach type area lured with the chance of Ice cream and being able to check out the local supermarket's lightbulb section (sadly all LED tosh)

some nice old french spotted and a German registered Land Rover with people just casually riding sideways bench seats in the back, quite brave!

Iveco Cherry picker was dragged out and worked on to try and get the cherry picker working, but sadly no luck, heres a picture of its data plate incase anyone happens to have any info on the thing  

Prif, Sir sleep-a-lot, working off last nights hang over

my lightbulb senses where tingling  and during the house tour, I spotted this nice old florescent light in one of the lesser used rooms, very intriguingly its a magnetically ballasted but starterless fixture, did not have the chance to see if it was Rapid-start or Resonant start, but safe to say, ill be taking a spare light with me next time to save this one into the collection along with its nice December 1999 vintage Philips (at their Polish Pila factory) Mazda-Fluor branded 40W Cool White T12 fluorescent tube  

then on Sunday we went in convoy to the town square to watch the road-run go past

I also popped into some of the "nick-nack" shops to see if I could find any old lightbulbs, sadly nothing fruitful, but I do wonder, just WTF is this thing!

 

after a good weekend, it was time to set off

we stopped at another super market for snacks-n-stuff, where I did find a lightbulb recycling point, but sadly, no good tubes or bulbs where found

there was this lovely old, 1960's-1970's T12 tube, with rare ignition stripe, but sadly as you can see from the overview shot, it was only half of it! if only it was intact, still took a picture of its etch and other fine details for postarity (note the deep end caps and slight gap in the phosphor coating at the end, a prime indication of being made on old slow speed vertical machinery, rather then high speed horizontal machinery)

(are you meant to park sideways in these spaces?)

stopped for more snacks n things and saw a lovely old, very Autoshite Renault 21 (I think?) 

(C15 has been through the Newest and the oldest of these crossings now ) 

then finally back home! goodbye C15 you have done very well! 

 

once again many thanks to everyone for everything  hopefully there is some sort of next time where I can bring REV! (valuable info was gained during this trip so now I am more clued up for doing something like that  and I realise its very much still a case of just follow the sat nav, and even if you dont know french, you can just match the funny names on the sat nav to the funny names on the road signage easy enough!)) 

[Christine]

Kitcars , not Morgans..

[chaseracer]

3 hours ago, Christine said:

Kitcars , not Morgans..

Aye.  Close, but no cigar... 😉

[Floatylight]

MrsFL made a new friend

[hairnet]

is it nugget 0 @Shandylegs 1 yet

[Shandylegs]

 

2 hours ago, hairnet said:

is it nugget 0 @Shandylegs 1 yet

Yes, the chicken nuggets more than resolved any 'lingering' issues 🤣

[Saabnut]

Spent the afternoon tidyng up in preperation of heading home tomorrow afternoon (after a lunchtime visit to the Cafe Des Arts) and came upon 3 items of left property as is traditional for a shitefest. The first item is one of Prifs blankets but I am holding that hostage at Chez Saabnut so @Sunny Jim and Sunny Dog have to return for another visit!

Item 2 is I believe a chair belonging to @hairnet

Finally a Samsung charger and lead. Not sure who this belongs to

I will take the items back to the UK unless the owners want to leave them here as an excuse for a return visit!  

[Sunny Jim]

Will paint gable ends in return for blanket storage! 👍

[hairnet]

Old man can never have enough chairs

[Shandylegs]

Guilty on the charger front!

Would happily give Jim a hand, provided the cherry picker gets sorted. Think I may have mentioned my history of propery repair while in France!

 

 

[hairnet]

Eep

What fell 9n you or did you fall off

[Shandylegs]

Fell off a friends roof on the first day of a three week holiday.

Broken collarbone, but pretended I was fine so as not to upset the wife!

Was great fun pulling a caravan across to the west coast one handed....and even better putting the awning up after we arrived - real tears 🤣