Retro Replay - November 6th-7th 2010
Friday 5th November
With the Car brimmed with fuel and loaded with my Amiga’s I set off from Sevenoaks, Kent Friday morning at 9.30am to try and miss the M25 rush hour and headed for my first stop to pick up CosmicFrog in Leek, Staffs. The drive was fine, no real traffic took just 3.5hours to make it to Leek which is a stunning setting that I really wasn’t expecting, very quaint town.
Sat Nav guided me right to Mr Frogs door, it was great to finally meet you Cosmicfrog J
Cossy kindly treated me to some Staffordshire Oatcakes and a Coffee whilst I admired his awesome collection of Computers then after loading yet more gear into my poor little Car we set off for our next stop in Manchester!
Mr Frog was very excited bless him as we’d won an A1500 on ebay with GVP Combo 040 and EGS Spectrum RTG graphics that we had arranged to collect from Manchester on the way up to Blackpool, it was a little touch and go but we managed to get in and out of Manchester and just beat the rush hour.
When we stopped to get the A1500 Cossy also bagged a couple of more Amiga items from the seller so yet more Amiga gear went into the little Car and with the Axel almost scraping the road we set off on our last leg to Blackpool.
It wasn’t too long from Manchester to Blackpool and again the Traffic Gods has blessed us on our way and we made great progress on the M6 and arrived at Norbeck Castle Exhibition Centre in Blackpool around 4.30-5pm where Zetr0, r0jaws, Imnogeek and Jay had already made loads of progress in setting up the Amiga section.
We spent a couple of hours setting up and testing, the A1200T went up fine and the Blizzard PPC was running like a dream but the A4000 had a few problems with the Scan Doubler on the PicassoIV, however the rest of the machine was running fine so I finished the setup. Once we had the machines pretty much ready for power on we all bundled in a Cab and headed for the Hotel.
I was really impressed with the Hotel (Rose Bank Hotel) very nice room and friendly staff, once checked in we headed out for Drinks and some Dinner at the WeatherSpoons Free House near the Blackpool Tower. After a lovely meal and a fair few alcoholic beverages we were summoned back to the Venue to help out with some final setup, so we all bundled back in a Cab and headed up there!
What came next was an awesome evening, we carried out further setup on the machines and helped out with setting up tournament machines and also met up with WoodyCool, SkillGannon and Mr & Mrs JuvUK J
It was really great to put names to all the faces and had great fun Friday night, I know I spent more time messing around with my PPC then helping with the setup so sorry guys lol!
Final power on test was about midnight and everything was working, so with the blessing of the event organisers we headed back to the Hotel for some well needed sleep!
Saturday 6th November
I woke up to a beautiful Sunny morning and to the sound of Punk Rock ringing from my Mobile Phone Alarm which sent Mr Frog into a state of shock that saw him fall out of his bed bringing the mattress with him LOL!
After getting ready we headed downstairs about 8am for an awesome Full English Breakfast before heading to the Venue to make our final adjustments before Doors opening. A few of us got the Tram down to the Venue which was a slow but enjoyable journey lol and we came across a great Games Shop on the way with full size statues of game characters and such so it was well worth the detour!
I really didn’t realise how busy this event would be, since this is the first event of this type that I have been to. The crowds started to flock in at 10am and our Amiga section was extremely busy, Zetr0’s A500, Skillgannons Minimig and r0jaws A600 were occupied almost the whole day banging out classics suck as Stant Car Racer, Lotus 2 (link modes) Turrican 2, Lemmings, well you name it we had it and these machines were in constant use!
I had my A4000 running Doom and IGame with the full Games list but sadly the fault with the Scan Doubler got worse as the day went on and we decided to switch it off in the afternoon and I set up my spare machine, my A600 instead.
The PPC’s that myself and r0jaws were displaying got a different level of interest, I think people we a little worried to touch them and I think we (well certainly I was) worried about the fragility. And I won’t lie that I spent a lot of the first day worrying about my kit, however it was still a truly awesome day and I thoroughly enjoyed showing off my kit J
We also met up on Saturday with lots of Amibayers, in fact it was such an awesome turn out that if I missed anyone here I’m really sorry! It was great to meet you ck1200, johnim, dj.echo, phippscube, wompus and everyone else!
It was great to see SkillGannon take on Archie for winning the IK+ tournament, well done mate, that was awesome stuff! J
As things started to quieten down about 7pm we tidied up and powered down our Miggy’s for some well deserved rest! Then we bundled back in the MiniBus/Cab and headed back to the Hotel and met up with dj.echo.
Saturday night was for me a highlight for the trip, it was so nice to all go out for the meal together, we ate at an Italian Restaurant recommended by the Hotel Staff, the food was excellent and I really enjoyed the evening, even the rather strange Bar we ended up in where my feet were stuck to the floor!
After a little night cap and a very exhausting day it didn’t take long to fall asleep!
Sunday 7th November
We went down for breakfast a little later Sunday Morning, I guess quite a few of us were a little half cut, I know I’d been on the Beer since 11.30am on Saturday! Anyway we ate our Full English and headed to the Venue.
I gave the PPC a lot of down time on Sunday and setup my A600 with Sensi Soccer two player instead which was an instant hit for those not competing in the competition and was pretty much occupied for most of the day! With my mind at rest about my kit I spent a lot more time wondering around and playing games and enjoying all the wonderful stuff on offer at the exhibition. I got involved in a bit of friendly competition on the Kick Rally Stand, they were giving away WRC Rally for Xbox 360 for whoever could pull out the fastest lap time. As a bit of a driving game freak and lover of Motorsport I laid down a time to the amazement of the Kick Girls 15 seconds faster than the next best.
An hour or so later, word go back to me that my time had been beaten, well as a competitive soul I had to go back and regain my position! And here stated an epic battle trading fastest times with one other fella! Sadly I had to settle for 2nd, so well done fella if you are reading!
There was so much to do throughout the day, it really went so quick. I really had such a great time; it was a shame to leave a little early as I’d have loved to stay till the end. I really enjoyed your little Amiga Mix Up dj.echo, great tunes there from an Amiga!
Thanks again to everyone who made it, it really was a great weekend, one that I’ll remember. Really look forward to the next event J
Again sorry if I missed anyone…
Thanks for reading!
Steve.
Attachments
-
IMG_0425.JPG28.5 KB · Views: 0
-
IMG_0436.JPG64 KB · Views: 0
-
IMG_0435.JPG39 KB · Views: 1
-
IMG_0434.JPG62.8 KB · Views: 1
-
IMG_0432.JPG62.1 KB · Views: 2
-
IMG_0431.JPG65.9 KB · Views: 1
-
IMG_0430.JPG55.1 KB · Views: 2
-
IMG_0429.JPG48.8 KB · Views: 1
-
IMG_0428.JPG40.8 KB · Views: 2
-
IMG_0426.JPG57.1 KB · Views: 2
Last edited: