Dirt, loud noises and possible injury: this sport has it all!

Ah, men and their many mistresses. This week, she's a 1970 two-door Ford Escort, which has been dressed and undressed, woo'd all night, bought accessories, and painted with go-faster stripes. Her name is "The Time Machine". She is older than me, and looking it, in spite of the cosmetic work she's had done.

I haven't seen my husband all week, and finally resorted to sending a suggestive text message. Okay, no, it wasn't suggestive at all. More like blatantly desperate and specific.

Will I ever see him again?

Today, hordes of women and children packed coolers and went in search of their husbands, fathers, uncles and sons. We found them in an abandoned cane field in Preysal, which had been transformed into a little boys' paradise.

I love the way the Rally Racing Club has made their sport so child friendly. There must have been fifty little boys there, peering into engines and speaking knowledgeably of carbouretors and cams. Trying on Dad's helmet. Sitting in the bucket seats. Being told "Don't twiddle any buttons. And that's HOT! Oh... See? Put some ice on it, here."

And then, climbing onto flatbed trailers to watch the races. Cars jumping bridges, spinning round corners, and even one that FLIPPED OVER, and was pushed back the right way and continued the races with super-cool dents and mud on the roof, and even NO WINDSHIELD! That was the best part.

The Time Machine did fine, as far as I could tell. Sean and his brother Scott were beaming and excited, two little boys with a really cool new toy!

We got sunburned, windblown, and dusty. The interesting type of sunburn which shows exactly where the sunblock wasn't, leaving stripes of red above your waistband, on the side of your neck and your wrists, and a flip-flop shaped "V" on top of your feet. Max got covered in black grease, which may never come out of his jeans. They are in the wash. I enlisted Sam to bathe him, and he is now cleaner than he's ever been before! I could hear Max starting up in the shower: "I can DO IT!" and Sam: "HEY, you are dusty and greasy, just like a rally car! You need to go through this car wash here. Come on, you have to pay to go through!"

In two seconds, there were happy noises from Max and mechanical vroomings and gushings from Sam. It seems so easy for him to be a wonderful brother, but he so often chooses not to. Tonight, I bribed him. Works for me!

Comments

Candygirlflies said…
"Positive reinforcement", be-damned!!

It's AAAAAAALLLLLL about bribery, baby... I am SO with you on that one.

Glad you had fun.

xo CGF
BlueBella said…
Sounds lot a lot of fun! And thank goodness for brothers taking care of each other - even if it takes a little bribery!
GirlBlue said…
Just saw pics of the event on Rich's facebook. He has a nice action shot of the ford