Tag: Car

That Time I Woke Up In A Snowstorm

On By pauljbenthamIn Photo of the WeekLeave a comment

15 years ago | Great Langdale Campsite, Langdale Valley, Cumbria | 22nd March 2008

From my first year at University, it became something of a tradition for us to go camping in the Lake District over the Easter Weekend.  More on that in weeks to come but in 2008, fifteen years after our first camping weekend, we decided to resurrect the old tradition….

There are two things you need to know here: 

1, we were no longer students and 

2, that year, Easter was about as early as it’s possible to be.

If I remember correctly, one reason for the Easter reunion that year was the impending nuptials of one of our number.  Most of the rest of us had already been married off and/or produced offspring.  In my own case, with a three-and-a-half year-old by then, it was a very rare opportunity for a night out.

Unlike our first-ever Easter camping weekend, we were reasonably well-prepared.  The standard of tents, sleeping bags and other equipment reflected that we’d all become better-funded than in our student days.

Just like our first-ever camping weekend, we did as little camping stuff as possible and disappeared to the nearest pub – in this case, the Hikers’ Bar at the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, I think.  And there the evening unfolded as planned, and all was well.

The next morning, I awoke to one of the worst hangovers I can remember.  It was made many times worse by the fact that when I opened the tent for some fresh air, I discovered it was actually snowing.

The best thing to do was get out of the tent, sit in the car, with the engine and heating on and nurse the half-bottle of Fanta that I had until such point that I was able to function again.

What felt like weeks later, I became marginally less sickly and 100% more legal to drive.  There was nothing else to do but say “we must do this again”* and limp home to groan on the coach and elicit very little sympathy.  Good times!

* We’ve never done this again.

Happier times. The campsite before the night out and the snowfall. Photo: Paul Bentham

That Time I Saw ‘A Man Who Does Not Exist’

On By pauljbenthamIn Photo of the WeekLeave a comment

40 years ago | Chamberlains Farm, Shevington Moor | 10th March 1983

What child of the 1970s and 80s didn’t love an American car chase show?  I’d been an avid viewer of The Dukes of Hazzard for a few years but one day, I saw something that immediately challenged The Dukes’ status as My Favourite TV Show – Knight Rider…

“Knight Rider, a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of man who does not exist. Michael Knight, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless in a world of criminals who operate above the law.”

With its synth-pop theme tune and mysterious opening monologue, I was instantly hooked. Suddenly, Bo and Luke in “The General Lee”, their orange ’69 Dodge Charger, started to feel dated and cartoonish, a muscle-car ode to the previous decade.  

In contrast, ‘KITT’ was installed with futuristic AI, the cutting-edge looks of an ’82 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am – and he was bullet-proof!  It was as 1980s as it could be.  What nine year-old could resist the conclusion that this was the future of TV entertainment? 

There was another key difference: instead of outrunning incompetent, corrupt cops every week, Michael Knight was an agent for F.L.A.G., the Foundation for Law And Government.  As with Star Wars the honour and chivalry of medieval knights was irresistibly fused with mind-blowing technology, like a watch you could make calls from.  

Clearly, I was in the key demographic for the show.  Just as with E.T., it was so in tune with our worldview, it felt like Hollywood had a direct line to the playground at St. Wilfrid’s Primary School.  What I didn’t know, until writing this, was this bit of historical detail, which I found on Wikipedia:

“The studio held a marketing campaign for Knight Rider.  Fans could write to the network and they would receive a pamphlet detailing some features about KITT.  The first campaign was held in August 1982.  The pamphlet said, “The Competition is NO Competition!” KITT was pictured parked alongside a vehicle that resembled the General Lee from Dukes of Hazzard.”

For the record, I never fell out of love with The Dukes of Hazzard but they did become an ‘old favourite’ rather than a current obsession.  Before the year was out, The A-Team had also arrived on our screens and, rather than creating competition between these shows (and others, like Magnum, P.I. and The Fall Guy), it simply felt like a golden age of television – although I do remember playground arguments about which one was best. 

This stuff really mattered…

Weekly Pic | 23rd Jan | That Time We Last Went Car Sledging

On By pauljbenthamIn Photo of the Week

10 years ago | Chamberlains Farm, Shevington Moor, UK | 26th January 2013

When we first moved to Chamberlains Farm, in 1981, the best part of living here was the space.  Five acres of fields and driveway offered ample opportunity for a wide variety of games and, yes, mischief.

That first winter was one of the harshest for a generation, with drifting snow and consistently below-average temperatures.  I’m not sure if that was the year we ‘invented’ car sledging but I think it might have been.

It’s as simple as it sounds: tie a sledge to the back of a car with a length of rope and drive around with someone on the sledge.  With two fields to go at, and a driveway of about a sixth of a mile, a decent snow covering can provide hours of fun.

And it did.  I remember coming in after what felt like the whole evening (it was probably only an hour or so), with numb fingers and toes, on an adrenaline high.  The only problem with it was – even forty years ago – the very few times it was snowy enough.  Perhaps that scarcity value is what makes it, even now, feel like a special treat.  I could probably count on two chilblain-afflicted hands the number of times we went car sledging in the whole decade.

Over the years, I grew up, moved away and moved back again and it wasn’t until Christmas 2009 – now with a whole new generation in the family – that we resurrected the concept.  That winter and the following winter were both snowy enough for good car sledging and by then, we also had something we didn’t have in the 80s: four wheel drive.  The only bit of a downside was that, at 6, 2 and 1, the kids weren’t really old enough to be excited by it.

So when we woke up that Saturday morning in January 2013 to a fresh layer of snow, we knew we had to make the best of the weekend ahead of us.

It was just as much fun as I remember it, with the kids all in the perfect age zone to enjoy it fully and friends and family coming over to take part, just like the old days.  It was a brilliant day and I have loads of stills to prove it.

We’ve had snow since then, but sadly, not enough for us to tie the sledge onto the car.  Who knows how many m ore years it will be until it happens again?  I couldn’t believe it’s been ten years since our last day’s car sledging and I’m now very aware that with each year, there’s less of a guarantee that our fast-growing-up kids will feel like taking part.

It was always a rare event but you just wonder if it’s now more accurately described as ‘a thing of the past’.  Hopefully, now I’ve suggested that, we’ll have two feet of snow overnight before this winter is out…