Gearhead family day out

We took the children to Pickering Steam Fair yesterday, a proper English day out, complete with cloudy skies, candy floss, cups of tea, bacon rolls, steam engines, a fairground and barrel organs.

There was a lot to see, including 100-year-old traction engines trundling around the parade ground, a classic car display, classic bikes, trucks, tractors, Land Rovers, and all manner of tool stalls plus an autojumble (which I wasn't allowed to peruse, it being a family day out and all).

The kids loved it, and the smell of steam and the line-up of old Austin Rubys, Standard Vanguards, Rover P4s and Ford Zodiacs was very evocative of my childhood when I'd go to the Enfield Pageant every year with my Uncle Mac. In fact, my Uncle Mac used to have an old Thames van, so I took a photo of one for old times' sake.

It was a struggle to keep Freddy behind the blue rope as we looked around the bikes; he kept ducking under it, slapping the paintwork of any bike that caught his eye, and shouting "I like THIS one!".

We drove home in unusual silence, both kids asleep in the back, with ice cream around their mouths and the sound of steam whistles in their dreams.