BERLIN SCOOTERS SC Hannover

After missing the Cloud 9 run and feeling that I needed to get back on a rally, it was great to be setting out on a sunny Friday afternoon for the ride to Großburgwedel. Rob The Mod had kindly offered to lend me his scoot for the weekend (thanks mate!) as mine has yet to be repaired. I decided that a cross-country ride would be far more pleasant than the Autobahn and anyone who has travelled the A2 on a Friday afternoon will know what I mean. The ride took a little longer than I had estimated but by a lot of people’s standards 2 ½ hours is still ‘just down the road’. The site for the run was easy to find (even though I rode past it and had to turn around) and I soon found myself baffled by the fact that I had got in for free and been given a piece of paper with my registration number written on it. I was beginning to think I should learn to speak more German when I spotted Steve Evans and Craig Ballantyne who had kindly reserved a camping spot for me. They explained that they hadn’t paid either (I later found out that the first 100 arrivals got free admittance) and that the piece of paper was to be produced to Father Christmas (can’t beat a bit of seasonal fancy dress!) who would be appearing at irregular intervals during the night. Having produced the paper to the old fella, he would give us €5! This was shaping up to be the cheapest rally I’ve ever been on. Having imparted their wisdom upon me, Craig and Steve availed me of alcoholic liquid refreshment (they gave me a beer) and I proceeded to pitch my tent before one beer turned into a dozen. Having done the necessary, the three of us stood and chatted, covering a variety of subjects the majority of which had us in tucks of laughter. We were soon joined by Borgo and Marion whose journey had been interrupted by a major diversion. Nevertheless, they had been undeterred and it was great to see them both. Sven Fuhrer had also journeyed up from Dortmund and was soon practicing his English with the rest of us. Many more acquaintances were renewed and straight away the atmosphere was building up for the night’s festivities. It’s always a great feeling to be welcomed so warmly by the host nation Scooterists and the weekend was filled with friendly banter.

The BSFSC had chosen a biker venue to hold their run and it was hard to fault their choice. A separate bar and function room meant that there was very little queuing for drinks and you could also have a conversation in the bar without having to shout in someone’s ear. There was a large tent outside serving a variety of food, and there were tables and benches with roofs where many people sat drinking and chatting – many of them for nearly the whole night. Some of the bikers had decided to have a look at us and it was a laugh watching them walking around in their leathers looking at us with mystified expressions! The BSFSC decided (I never did find out why) to name their run after a German comedian named Harald Junker. Apparently he was Germany’s equivalent to Bennie Hill. I say ‘was’ because after the name of the run was chosen the old guy went and died. I wondered if this was the shape of things to come and whether someone somewhere had named a run after Mo Mowlam, resulting in the untimely death of the former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland! Either way I made a mental note to warn off anyone who might be honoured in such a way in the future.

As with most of the German runs, things didn’t start heating up in the function room until way past 10 pm and the dance floor was soon crowded with Scooterists enjoying the variety of sounds being played by the club DJs. The mix of music was ‘interesting’ to say the least, but I had no complaints with Northern, The Jam and TSC featuring on the play list. Of course, there was the usual baffling array of German Scooterist favourites including a German version of ‘Is This The Way To Amarillo?’, the famous ‘New York, New York’ with the city’s name substituted by ‘Berlin’ and a song with a girl requesting someone to ‘Please Don’t Touch My Pussy’. She wasn’t talking about the fluffy, feline variety I can tell you! The night ended for me very late at night / early in the morning in a drunken haze.

Sometime during the night there was a major downpour, but I knew nothing about it until I got up and saw several people hanging out their sleeping bags to dry! The main plan for the day was to get a shower and some decent scoff and Craig, Steve and I decided to scout around looking for a suitable venue. Word got around and we ended up setting off in a convoy of 3 scooters and a car filled with Germans who had decided to join us. The local pool was a short distance away and we were all pleased to get washed and changed for the princely sum of €1.50! We stopped off at a small restaurant for some quality food served to us by the most miserable bloke on mainland Europe! On arriving back at the run site, it was obvious by the flour, water and empty beer bottles that we had missed the fun games, but seeing the state of the competitors, we didn’t feel too disappointed. We also checked out the Custom Show with a wide variety of scooters on display. Congratulations to Craig for winning Best Paint Job. Steve was celebrating his birthday and some of the German girls had baked him a cake and bought him a couple of CDs. We all tucked in to the cake (delicious, thanks girls) washed down with the first beer of the evening. Many Happy Returns Steve and if anyone wants to hold a rally on 2nd October next year, I’ll be very happy!

During the afternoon Gaz Powell arrived on his newly repaired scoot accompanied by his wife Helen (one day we’ll tell you about Arthur Francis!) and his two children. Helen stayed with us for a few hours before setting off on an Ikea frenzy and leaving Gaz to sample his favourite alcoholic Slush Puppies. Unfortunately for Gaz they were a bit too alcoholic and he threw in his cards quite early in the evening. The rest of us partied on until the wee small hours, with Craig dusting off his Adidas and hitting the dance floor in between being amused by some of the antics on the floor. I’d like to thank a guy who looked suspiciously like Peter Sutcliffe for putting in an appearance (thankfully he left his hammer and homicidal tendencies at home), as well as a big thanks to ‘Kick Yer Foot Out Girl’, ‘Throw Yer Arms Around Bloke’ and ‘Flick Yer Hair Chick’ for giving us such a laugh. The latter also won Best Soul Dancer, which she must have been happy with! I managed to resist the temptation to get minging and at 2 am I wondered off to my tent after an excellent night.

My journey home the next day was dry (never thought I’d write that again!) and went smoothly. My thanks to Craig, Steve and Gaz for the laughs and for flying the AFSC flag. Also thanks to all our German mates for the friendship and helping to make the weekend so great. Very many thanks and respect to the BSFSC for a superb rally and we’ll all be looking forward to the next one.

Ravey Davey

 

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