Dang. Dana-nang neh-neh ne-ne-nah nang... (32)
- 5 Oct 07, 11:28 AM
Marseille, Friday morning - England probably think they鈥檝e got a tough task on their hands, in the World Cup quarter-finals this weekend.
They have. But I can tell them now that it won鈥檛 be as hard as driving Le Bloggernaut around a lap of the .
That鈥檚 right. On Thursday afternoon, fired up on baguette and an over-ripe piece of goat鈥檚 cheese, we took our stinking campervan into one of the world鈥檚 richest countries, put pedal to metal and let rip.
It was probably the most ridiculous driving manoeuvre anyone has attempted since Penelope Pitstop pipped the Ant Hill Mob and Dastardly and Mutley to the line with a hand-brake slide while simultaneously shampooing her hair.
Monaco is so soaked in money that the tramps wear fur coats and drink themselves into oblivion on Moet. You think I鈥檓 joking, but I saw one of them busking with James Galway鈥檚 gold flute.
famously described the Monaco GP as 鈥渓ike trying to cycle round your living room鈥.
He should have tried doing it in that the front end was leaving the principality before the rear had got through Customs.
Our initial attempts to pick up speed were stymied by the school-run traffic jam, not something the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso have to worry about.
It was when the kerb suddenly changed from pavement into thick red and white stripes that we knew we were in business.
鈥淩ascasse! Piscine! Tabac!鈥 I shouted at Dirs, who was trying to juggle three different maps at the same time as making detailed notes and leaning out of the window with his camera-phone.
鈥淥uch!鈥 replied Ben, as a rapid left-right swerve through the chicane threw Le Bloggernaut about like an elephant on a rollercoaster and caused him to bang his head on the windscreen.
We hammered towards the famous tunnel at an eye-watering 28mph.
we both yelled.
No matter that, once inside, the tunnel was so similar to every other one in the world that we might as well have been in Thurrock. There were strange white markings on the road, and that was good enough for us.
Unfortunately, we missed the turn at Portier the first time around, mainly because both of us were singing at the tops of our voices.
And the magic of going round the Grand Hotel hairpin was slightly spoiled by the fact that we did it in first gear and had to stop to let an old man with a dog cross the road in front of us.
Still, Casino Square was impossible to miss. we both shouted, like fame-struck monkeys, before Dirsy dropped all three maps in excitement.
It was an unfortunate piece of timing. Faced with a tricky T-junction on the approach to Beau Rivage, I gambled on a right turn and found myself about to enter an underground car park.
I had been wrong to think that a 20-foot campervan was the least popular vehicle ever seen on . In actual fact, it was a reversing 20-foot campervan.
Let it also not be said that the principality is a circuit ruined by the impossibility of overtaking.
In our brief time there, we were passed by 14 mopeds, 10 open-top sports cars, two buses and one well-dressed pedestrian.
Four hours later, back in Marseille, some of the Monaco magic seemed to have rubbed off on us.
As we stood outside a bar in the Vieux Port, regaling all and sundry with our De Cesaris chat, an England supporter strolled over and invited us to a party on his yacht.
Exotic visions filled our heads of the pair of us as espadrille-wearing extras in . I thought Ben was going to swoon into his arms.
Unbelievably, we failed to go.
I had this blog to write, and Ben says his mum told him before coming away not to talk to .
I fear we may regret the decision until the end of our days.
The mood in town, meanwhile, is tremendous. The hordes of England, Australia and South Africa fans swell by the minute. There are even Welshmen who have made the trip, for which I salute them.
If you鈥檙e in this neck of the woods this weekend, get yourself down to La Plage and join us for a spot of touch rugby. You鈥檒l recognise us by the smell of our board-shorts and our ritual chanting: 鈥淯bogu Ubogu Ubogu Ubogu Ubogu鈥︹
Tom Fordyce is a 成人快手 Sport journalist travelling around France in a camper van with Ben Dirs.
Comments Post your comment
I am happy to say I didn't really understand a word of that!
Complain about this comment
I am happy to say I didn't really understand a word of that!
Complain about this comment
Great blog lads, keep up the good work. Very jealous of you both, stuck in the office all day, nervously waiting for tomorrow's match and wondering whether to brave watching it at the pub where there are bound to be far more Aussies than English. What's the mood like with the English fans? Cautious optimism or just looking for a big party win or lose?
Complain about this comment
Not meaning to be a gimp and a pedant, but from the photos aren't you going around the circuit the wrong way?
Complain about this comment
Great blog lads, keep up the good work. Very jealous of you both, stuck in the office all day, nervously waiting for tomorrow's match and wondering whether to brave watching it at the pub where there are bound to be far more Aussies than English. What's the mood like with the English fans? Cautious optimism or just looking for a big party win or lose?
Complain about this comment
Fantastic, call me slow but took me a few minutes to work out the title!
Complain about this comment
I was in Monaco during the summer, and strangely, my wife didn't quite understand why I kept shouting 'It's the tunnel' or 'Start-Finish straight' or 'Rascasse' or 'Sainte Devote' as we rode around on the bus... Thanks for helping me realise I didn't have some sort of F1 related tourettes.
Complain about this comment
impressive use of the onomatopoeia there. i was able to recognise the bassline from 'the chain' before i'd even read the blog entry.
Complain about this comment
Hang on a minute! From the photos, the inside of your campervan does not look stinking at all! I think you boys have been having us on! The dashboard is even glistening with polish! It looks like luxury to me. VW maybe, stinking Bloggernaut no way!
Complain about this comment
Idiots! you've driven the wrong way around the circuit!
Complain about this comment
Not meaning to be a gimp and a pedant, but from the photos aren't you going around the circuit the wrong way?
Complain about this comment
How could you NOT go to the yacht party? Stoooopid stoooopid stoooopid!
At least the last thing I did in the office today was bellow with laughter, great start to the weekend, enjoy the game and COME ON ENGLAND!
Complain about this comment
Great blog fella's. But for the love of God come back to the cricket. Mitchener is even more inane than the pair of you. With all due respect of course ;-)
Complain about this comment
Lovely stuff, Tommy - it must be quite surreal in retrospect, getting excited by colourful bits of tarmac.
That said, I do remember being near Le Mans one summer holiday and marvelling at some exotic looking kerbing.
Complain about this comment
Reading the latest blog, I feel sorry for the late Graham Hill. A winner at Monaco, he would drive the circuit the correct way around at speed in his Formula 1 car. There's something a bit faded, jaded and anti-climatic about driving the wrong way around Monaco in a camper van. Graham Hill is probably revolving in his grave at the ignominy of this insult to the integrity of the Monaco course.
Between visits to the grave of William Webb Ellis and dead and alive camper van circuits of the Grand Prix circuit at Monaco, I wait in earnest for a redeeming blog from Tom and Ben in the near future. Perhaps Princess Stephanie will join them in the camper van to introduce a bit more adrenalin into their lives.
Complain about this comment
Brilliant blog guys, unfortunately I won't be coming to Marseille for a game of touch rugby, instead I will be sitting on a yacht in Cowes (it's not quite Marseille, but at least it's overseas!) and then off to a pub to watch the game.
Are you going to be in Paris? I've been very optimistic and have tickets for the semis, so will be up for a game of touch rugby and Ubogu next weekend. I even have a bottle of Limoncello in the fridge that I could bring along.
Complain about this comment
Brilliant Blog!!
The old 成人快手 F1 theme tune was something i remember singing out loud inside my helmet as i took a formula ford car round mallary park - im sure it made me 5 seconds a lap faster!!!
And like Peter Hair - the title took me a couple of glances to suss out.
Lets only hope Englands can beat the Aussies (literally as the case my be) and we can have more blogs as we move to back to Paris!
Complain about this comment
Brilliant Blog!!
The old 成人快手 F1 theme tune was something i remember singing out loud inside my helmet as i took a formula ford car round mallary park - im sure it made me 5 seconds a lap faster!!!
And like Peter Hair - the title took me a couple of glances to suss out.
Lets only hope Englands can beat the Aussies (literally as the case my be) and we can have more blogs as we move back to Paris!
Complain about this comment
Brilliant blog guys, unfortunately I won't be coming to Marseille for a game of touch rugby, instead I will be sitting on a yacht in Cowes (it's not quite Marseille, but at least it's overseas!) and then off to a pub to watch the game.
Are you going to be in Paris? I've been very optimistic and have tickets for the semis, so will be up for a game of touch rugby and Ubogu next weekend. I even have a bottle of Limoncello in the fridge that I could bring along.
Complain about this comment
Does this have anything to do with rugby?
Complain about this comment
The Count, Rob: to be honest, it was all I could do to remember to drive on the right side of the road, let alone worry about which way round the circuit we were going. Did wonder why some bloke kept waving a red flag at us, though.
John - mood among the England fans down here depends on how many beverages have been polished off. Sober, there's very little optimism. Three drinks in, the mood brightens. By 11pm there's genuine hope. And by 1am there's simply maudlin misery. The Aussies, by contrast, are so confident they're already booking hotels in Paris for next weekend. The cheek of it.
Complain about this comment
The Count, Rob: to be honest, it was all I could do to remember to drive on the right side of the road, let alone worry about which way round the circuit we were going. Did wonder why some bloke kept waving a red flag at us, though.
John - mood among the England fans down here depends on how many beverages have been polished off. Sober, there's very little optimism. Three drinks in, the mood brightens. By 11pm there's genuine hope. And by 1am there's simply maudlin misery. The Aussies, by contrast, are so confident they're already booking hotels in Paris for next weekend. The cheek of it.
Complain about this comment
Great blog butplease tell us you are not getting paid for your meanderings in the bloggernaut-that would be too much to bear.
Incidentally in 1980 we managed a nine minute 40 sec lap 5 up in a Vauxhall Chevette-goingthe right wayround the circuit. CAn anyone beat that?(4 England fans but the pilot is from Newport and therefore not English or Welsh)
Complain about this comment
Personally i'd love to see a clash between NZ and England with both first
5/8ths (fly halves) at their peak so this can be settled once and for all.
But I very much doubt I'll see that - for one thing it could well be a
France v Aussie in the next round! And mark my words, that man Drew Morris will be causing havoc to any team he plays against. I first noticed him in
2005 Tri Nations and he gave the ABs a few scares then ... if England are
undone then I'll bet my old rugby jockstrap that he'll be one of the leading
architects. Nothing to do with Fly Halves.
So if you see Mr Morris in Marseille - buy him a Pastis. Actually buy him
several and we can hope he never gets off the bench!
Complain about this comment
can I just say that I totally agree with Sarah,Canterbury.
Complain about this comment
Can I ask how you GOT this job?
Complain about this comment
Lap time guys...would you have beaten Lewis Hamilton?
Or even David Hamilton....
Lady Hamilton?
Complain about this comment
wrong everyone knows its its Dum, Dum de dum dum de dum dum dum dum.
Nice work. remember this - dum dum dum de dum, dum dum dum de dum, dum dum dum dum dum de dum.
In Paris next week you will see:-
Aussies
AB's
Bocks
Argies
Complain about this comment
GO WALLABIES!
Getting close to kick off time and here in Brisbane it's buzzing. In the spirit of rugby wish both the teams the best and win or lose I will shake hands with the winners supporters.
Complain about this comment
England to WIN!!!!
forwards dominate... smith not given a chance!!
one sherridan run into mortlock out he goes.. aussies fall to pieces!!!
johnny starts playing attacking
tait off at half time
hipkiss runs riot!!!
ENGLAND 43 - 30 Aussies!!!
Complain about this comment
Tom, you have certainly silenced all that complained that you were simply jollying it up on this trip.
Giving up a party on a pirvate yacht so you can keep your many excited readers up to date, now that's what I call commitment!
England to win 63-0!!! (yeah right...)
Complain about this comment
To the tune of swing low.
England 12, australia 10
the Aussies are all going home
(Repeat)
When I see the pictures on aussie TV
the Aussies are all going home.
Is that Campesi jumping in the sea
The Aussies are all going home.
(Chorus)
When they get home, before we do.
The aussies are all going home.
Just tell the Kiwis they can go home too.
The aussies are all going home.
Complain about this comment