Reasons to be cheerful ... Part 2

A small reminder - the all colour version of the blog can be found via this link.

First of all, allow me a little self indulgence. The photograph in the colour blog is of young Adam Laws. Adam is a member of the track staff at Swindon and gets up to Blunsdon on a Thursday whenever work and college timetables allow.

Adam's been training to become a motor mechanic and we were all delighted to hear that he has passed his final examination with flying colours and is now a fully qualified mechanic! Well done!

We managed to get a lot of track preparation completed after last week's win over Reading and on Saturday, so we had a little more leeway than usual today in preparation for the night's clash with the Wolves.

Bob, he of the starting gate system and the maintenance of the air pumps, helped me to get the pumps out and inflate the fences so that Mick Richards could pressure wash them. Roy Hicks then helped me to clip the green catch netting in place.

Adam, Punch and I then started on the cleaning of boards and white lines. First task is to fill the Mowlex (looks like an old slurry tank) with water. We have a motley selection of water containers at Blunsdon and Punch soon demonstrates his climbing techniques to get the pipes in place.

As I drive around slowly Punch and Adam pressure wash the boards and the white line. The boards need to look spick and span - they add greatly to the visual impact - while the white line must be clearly visible all the way round the track, or the referee will become unhappy and report us.

It is amazing how hard it is to dislodge dried shale from the boards and we have to be careful about how much water we use - it's very easy to flood the metre or so of track by the boards and that turns into a Somme like morass very easily.

The drains continue to work well on turns 1 and 2 and there is no noticeable run off from either the grey hound track or the air fence. We also use this opportunity to see how well the new shale that we laid last Saturday has bound with the base. It all looks most satisfactory. Certainly the track feels very hard indeed and that should allow Gerald to work his magic later in the day.

Punch has brought his toasted sandwich maker into work today so we are all treated to piping hot cheese toasties by our resident gourmet. The heat is much appreciated - it's a bit on the chilly side this morning.

He's very proud of his offerings. Subtle, they may not be, but tasty they certainly are.

A closer inspection of the photograph reveals an uncanny resemblance to Pop Eye and I cannot resist the opportunity to do a little cutting and enlarging to bring you the full effect.

Inevitably talk turns to track matters and the performances of the Robins in their home and away victories against our old foes from down the M4 in Reading. Having seen the Sky coverage of the Reading and Peterborough clashes earlier this week we can't help but feel confident that, injuries aside, we stand a very good chance of bringing home some silverware this season.

Talking of injuries, can I say, on behalf of everyone in the Track Staff at Swindon, how sad and shocked we were when news came through of the serious injuries sustained by Mark Loram at Ipswich. I have yet to meet anyone who has anything other than praise for our 2000 World Champion. "Get well soon mate!"

While we go about our everyday tasks we notice some strange building work going on in the field adjacent to the pits. Rumours abound! Is it Blundson's answer to Stonehenge? Is it a satellite tracking station? Have the Martians arrived?

Has someone discovered the remains of an original set of Barry Briggs leathers?
Most popular is that the posts in the ground represent the outline of the new stadium at Swindon - OK, so it's in the wrong place, but who cares. Sadly our hopes are dashed when Swindon Supremo Terry Russell arrives in this rather smart car. The new stadium will be on the other side of the existing one, alongside the new A419, and these posts are being put up to fence in an ancient burial ground while the bones are dug up and moved to another spot. Some of the bones buried there are very old indeed - some might even be older than the Tony Millard book of anecdotes and wisdom that he trots out during the Sky coverage of speedway matches.

I turn my attention to the much abused and largely ignored Junior Pits. We will have to use them this year so Adam and I remove the old air fence panels, advertising hoardings, bits of detritus etc. and stack them elsewhere. The design and placement of these pits is remarkable.

Not only have they been sited below the level of the main pits, the floor of the Junior Pits is actually lower than the surrounding ground. The result is that water, sand and mud / slime from everywhere pours into these pits and lurks in fetid pools. I dig a small drainage hole carefully - there are live electricity cables buried nearby - yes we even have electricity here in the wilds of Wiltshire!

Not only do we have electricity, we also have underground and overhead cables. Quite what the spaghetti like mass of overhead wiring does is beyond me, and probably everyone else concerned with the stadium, but some of the cables are hanging rather too limply for the liking of the Health and Safety Officer. Last week we had to rope off a section of the grass banking on turn 4 in case someone reached up and grabbed themselves a few thousand volts. Punch, who else, knows someone who can put in some new telegraph poles. A giant augur arrives and the holes are made and poles erected. I will not sully the reputation of the Blundson Blog by recalling the various comments about it being the biggest erection we'll see and probably the best screw!

Gerald has been out on the track with the ripper to rip up the starts and also the exits of turns 2 and 4. The ripped areas are tyre packed but should produce plenty of grip and drive for the riders. Talking of riders, the vans start to appear from 4.30pm onwards. It's a strange time for the track staff because there's not a lot to do apart from watch the clouds and pray that the mist that is enveloping the stadium will not turn to rain and ruin all of our work.

I take a while to check the air fences and the kickboards. As we suspected, a number of the cable ties that we used to attach the rubber kickboards to the bottom of the air fence have broken and need replacing. The ref is also concerned that some of the green netting is flapping on turns 1 and 2.

Mick Hunt, Clerk of the Course, goes about his pre meeting checks but takes time to pose for a photo for the blog, alongside Dave, on half of the DaVinci boys.

Start Marshals Stan Potter and Mike Saunders check with Assistant Clerk of the Course, Andrew Reynolds that everything is ready. The roar of the bikes shatters any possible calm that we may be feeling.

I've noticed that, during their track walk, some of the riders have been over zealous in their digging - great chunks of the top surface have been gouged out by errant boots. It is especially galling that much of this gardening has been carried out on areas we have repaired since last week and on the entrances to turns 1 and 3. I accept that they need to check for levels of grip but it is the same gardeners who will complain of ruts in the first two heats - ruts they made themselves!

With heat 1 a matter of minutes away I meet up with our Christmas Quiz winner, Malcolm Gough and present him with the signed copy of Jeff Scott's latest literary masterpiece, "When Eagles Dared". Malcolm is a staunch supporter of the Blog - the phrase, get a life Malcolm, springs briefly into my mind. I've invited Malcolm to pen a piece about being on the terraces during a meeting and hope to be able to feature it here soon! Hint, Hint!

Swindon Supremo Terry Russell beams proudly for the Blog's camera as he looks out upon another bumper crowd. In fairness, the old stadium looks a treat (it's very dark so you can't see the the untidy parts).

Even though Terry claims not to have found the blog yet, there's no chance of any adverse comment from this neck of the woods!

As the meeting gets underway I check the petrol in the air pumps and meet up with an old friend, Neil Wise. Neil is one half of the team that makes up the hugely successful gift and luxury item chain Tattinger Marsh (branches in Marlborough and Cirencester). It is Neil who actually hosts the Blog website - thanks mate!

Space is against me so I'll sign off here. We get away from the track relatively early - at 11.10pm. I'll feature post match work in a subsequent blog.

Oh, and the result. A Swindon win but none of us have time to check the actual score.