L2B and Oktoberfest 2004 - hectic times!

Am back in Munich and hence able to upload a few pics. Some old, some new, all relevant!!

Participated in the annual Smart car owners club London to Brighton run on Sunday. Thought it would be too hugely geeky for me. And started off a bit that way. But then had a lot of fun on drive down waving at people and overtaking most of them. I'm not sure what the protocol is for such things so I just went for it! Then had a blast walking round and looking at other Smart cars. Some of which were quite clever (see fluff), others that just looked massacred to be honest. Different strokes for different folks though. Then had the most fun of all leaving the venue in Brighton and driving back along the road past a lot of incoming Smarties. Spent the whole bit of the journey beeping and waving at everyone, with them doing the same. Felt about 5 years old, but also felt like really part of a bigger family. Which was excellent. So am definitely up for the 2005 edition and will use the evidence from this year to invite someone to join me (any takers?).

And then came out to Munchen yesterday and pretty much straight to the Oktoberfest. My first one. I managed to miss last years, but had a few more responsibilities this time (like, I actually work for the company!) so tagged along. Not being a beer drinker ( I drink wine and spirits before you start taking the piss) I wondered how out of place I would feel. And I did for a lot of time, but still enjoyed it. Luckily they serve shandy (yum-ish). So drank 3 litres of that and got thoroughly bloated (been farting all day) and not at all pissed. While all around me we 'celebrated' beer and German culture by 'singing' and 'dancing'. Which has to be seen to be believed. Even pictures could not describe the scene inside the tent where we were. The highlight for me was a German Elvis coming on and singing Elvis songs in German. Just think about that for a second and you try and work it out. Was very surreal.
The set up is a lot bigger than I had imagined. The tent is a pretty solid construction with a load of balcony's around the edge. And then a huge area on the floor where the masses drink, get drunk and fall down (a lot). In the centre of the floor is a raised stage where a variety of acts come on and make lots of noise of varying quality. And a large number of women with big arms run around carrying huge numbers of 1 liter steins of beer to everyone. To get them even more drunk.
All in all quite an experience and I think was enjoyed by most. A few of our lot got lost, and some others fell asleep, but on the whole I think the casualty rate was quite low. And most of them turned up for work today which was a bonus as well.

Better go back to looking busy and important.