Bugjam 2003

After several years of Mike and myself going to Bugjam and coming back telling everyone how good it is each year and how its….

• 'so different from all the other VW shows and more like a Glastonbury for VW's'
• and that 'everyone must come with us the next year'
• and continually saying 'when I say Killa you say Kela' and everyone thinking I'd gone completely mad
• and how no one would really believe how damn amazing Killa really was (and no I couldn't say that enough times!!)
• and how no one would believe how loud the jet car was unless they were stood there (as the video camera doesn't really capture it!!)

We finally got everyone to join us this time!!!

We left at lunchtime on the Friday and it was pouring with rain (which made us think it was gonna be a soggy weekend camping!) the journey seemed a very long one as it is quite a trek when you are all cruising in VWs! Then we hit a huge traffic jam south of Birmingham on the m5 at which point we decided to take a different route 'cross country' as we didn't fancy sitting there for hours on end! I was the only one who had a map so became official navigator - not to happy about this as knew I would get the blame if anything went wrong. I soon started to feel like everyone's mum, as at every pit stop were cries of 'are we nearly there yet?'! By this point I decided to that drinking was the best policy and the barcardi breezers slid down nicely, while Lisa and Rachel had the same plan while sitting in the back of Nic's bus!

We finally got there and set up camp. This year it was so busy that we were in one of the end fields. The rain stopped thankfully and stayed away for most of the weekend, which always helps! We chilled at our camp for most of the evening, thank to our huge gazebos that we had in situ! Loads of food and drink later, everyone was quite drunk and we made our way over to the famous dance tents. Our only problem was that we got there quite late (blame the drink!). But the old house music that was playing ensured we all got warmed up nicely. Even those in the group who don't normally dance managed to break a few moves, which proves what a good night it was (and maybe how much drink was consumed?!) The only thing to say about the dance tent was that it finished too early - we could have carried on all night!

The next day, as is customary, we woke to the sound of the drag racing cars. We were very hungover but a good full English soon helped us on our way. The day was spent wandering around the endless display of buses, parts and clothes and watching the ever-brilliant drag racing. There really is nothing quite like seeing a bay go down the track in sub 15 secs, or the massive bikes that seem far too wide to be sat on (??!!) and not forgetting the jet funny car. The list is endless but it's always an amazing few days to watch!

We eventually all met up at our camp later on ready to swap stories 'did you see this van/that part etc etc' or 'look what I've bought'! Our traditional camping fair of fajitas were soon cooking away and the beers flowed along with the wicked 'Cheeky Monkey' cocktails which we have adopted as our trade mark you could say!!! Personally I couldn't wait for the sat night, for everyone to finally sample the delights of Killa Kela (which by now I'm sure everyone was thinking, he cant be as good as Claire keeps saying?) and most were at the stage of 'ok lets go along and keep her happy'! So we headed over to the tents with plenty of time for Lisa, Paul, Jay and Rach to get their beer nicely churned by going on some scary rides, which I gladly chickened out of and then tried to take pictures of them in mid flow….(unsuccessfully though, sorry Jay it was spinning too fast!!). We then went over to the main stage with enough time to sink a few more beers before Killa Kela. I met up with my mate Ben- who joined the Vw club by buying a bay window on the Sunday, and his two mates, who were a great laff and although I'd never met them I greeted them with a 'have a cheeky monkey with us' and everyone was soon very very p****d! Oh apart from Ben who was cacking himself all night due to the fact that he had £3k sat in his pocket ready to exchange for a van the next day"!

And then it finally arrived, the moment we'd been waiting for…Killa Kela, who as always was totally unbelievable and everyone was in awe once he started his beatboxing……

So did things quieten down after Killa Kela finished??? Oh no after that it was time to hit the dance tents, where raindance old school rave music was thumping out - it was absolutely stormin! It was like we were back in the early 90's, absolutely mental. Once all that had come to an end it was back to Ben's mate Marv's camper where we had our own little rave with his huge speakers that he had rigged up. God knows what time it was when we finally staggered back to our camp, which seemed like miles away, but I know it was very late! On the way back to the camp Lisa decided to find this HUGE boggy patch, where she ended up leaving her shoe right in the middle of, luckily she got this complete stranger, who seemed to be following us home, (who luckily was too gone to know what he was doing!!!) to walk in the bog and fetch it for her. (I believe he even left his own shoes at our campsite after that..but that's another story!!)

So after a most brilliant day we all eventually hit the sack.

Sunday morning was again a hungover affair when we all had a final wander around and watched the last of the drag races before eventually making our way back home!

Thanks everyone for a quality weekend! Hope you all fancy doing it again next time (esp now you've seen Killa Kela and the drag racing in action)

That was Bugjam 03! Definitely one to remember!