Park and ride

Every year, for as long as I can remember, one of the Scout troops in Epsom has run a firework show on Hook Road Arena, a space better known here for its giant car boot sales, which make good use of the huge amount of car parking available. There was a time that we used to go to the fireworks and I have a dim memory that sometimes it was very cold, unlikely to be the case this year. No memory at all of the parking arrangements, but it would be a fair walk from where we live, with children, at night.

But the point of the post is this strange sign, to be found at the top of Longmead Road, on one of the main routes to the arena, straight ahead in this snap.

Why on earth are they banning car parking at the arena? A good part of the point of the place is that it is so big that there is always plenty of car parking, whatever it is that one is up to.

But careful inspection of reference 2 reveals all you need to know about park and ride - and confirmation that there is no on-site parking for the general public - just staff and disabled. You also click here to get a nice map of the site, which gives the impression that car parking has gone down under the combined attack of the funfair and health & safety.

In which connection, I might add that, about thirty years ago we organised a much more modest affair, in the aftermath of a storm which meant that there was a lot of fire wood lying about for anyone with access to a bush saw, DIY chain sawing not at that time having been invented. From this distance, my lack of proper arrangements for the on-site storage of fireworks looks careless indeed, not to say reckless. Luckily, there was no accident. But it was a most impressive fire, if not on the scale of that planned here.

Also a time when the sprogs learned how easy it is to split logs of quite substantial dimensions, provided only that they are fresh. All you need is a cold chisel and a club hammer. I believe teeth are the same: easy to split when they are still in the mouth, useful when getting awkward wisdom teeth out, hard to split once they are out and dry.

Reference 1: https://www.7thepsom.org.uk/activities/fireworks/. Closely related to the people who put on the giant annual book sale, something else which we have done in the past.

Reference 2: http://www.epsomfireworks.com/.