Friday:
Met up with Pete in Killie and then on to Old Inns for the first bit of banter of the weekend (it feels like so much more than 3 days ago...) Trundle up to KH, stopping at Drum for the petrol (and a new pair of cheapo sunnies for me) then into the paddock for what would become a long old wait...
Such a pea-souper that you literally could not see one end of the pitlane from the other... Didn't look promising at all...
So, the SE spirit and banter strikes up, with bacon rolls, coffee and a huge variety of timewasting topics of conversation, it really didn't feel like the delay that it actually was.
Before I knew it, the track was opening - Archos camera had been attached to my helmet (steady) in preference to the usual car mounting. bit of an experiement and I'm happy with the result (to be edited and posted soon)
Track started damp and my tyre pressures were all over the place, along with the nitron settings - this was the first time on track since fitting. Took me a couple of sessions to get the thing handling, but when it was right, it was bloody fantastic! Engine is a peach and the turn-in was as good as it's ever been. Only thing missing is now the CR box...
Great track etiquette as always and a really good mix of speeds and machinery meant I could slot in somewhere in the middle and see where I was making and losing time on a variety of guys and cars.
After KH was the run over to Ft Bill. After Scotty's problems with the car, he needed a lift, so he jumped in with me and we set off - myself, Bob Van M, Tut, Craig and Dave. Roads were pretty well trafficked, so we really didn't get a great run, just had to hack over as quick as we could. Bob was constantly entertaining in my mirror with that howling great Audi jet engine in the back of his car - meant he could climb into my boot every time we pulled out to overtake. Later, he explained that it's how he'd seen Scotty & Tut 'making progress' and figured it was just the Scottish way
So, got to Ft Bill and into the Alexandra hotel - lovely spot and the car park pics are pretty impressive
I ended up at an end of the table with JJ, Mr Rolfe & Ed, so it was pretty obvious which way the night was heading - I think it only took until the third topic of conversation to drift as low as 'brown wings....' 
Many vodkas drunk, it was decided that we should head out into the cultural melting pot of Ft Bill and track down Scotty, Stu, Cammy, Mike Brown & Dave, who had ventured out early... We track them down to this bear-pit called Capercaillie - to witness the frankly terrifying sight of Cammy in full bore beer-monster mode
Mike, Stu & Scotty were having all sorts force-fed to them and I guess me arriving in and declaring the party officially started didn't help matters much....Highlights of the 'club'? Mike doing the 'entrance from stage left' sideways broadway dance for most of the night, JJ's impromptu face-plant as he got the 'running man' dance a bit wrong, the lot of us going mental as QFX was played.... Messy, very messy...
Brief stagger back to the hotel (seeing more polis in one road that would be on duty across Glasgow City centre) only to find that there are a hardcore in the bar, keeping the night porter busy... Neil, Mags, Ken, Dave, Bob, RDH.... so, of course, I had to keep them company. I think it was 4.20 before we left....
Saturday.
Genuinely pleased that, when I woke up at 8.00am, I didn't feel like a mule was trying to kick it's way out of my head (unlike messrs Brown, Cruickshank & Pollock
). Combination of staying on one drink and having lots of water in between rounds seems to have done the trick! Hook up with Dezzy, Kenny, Ross and Bertie for the first leg of the journey - don't do my usual thing and leap for the lead - I'm quite happy just to concentrate on driving and scenery spotting for the first bit of the day. What a bloody day! Roasting, not huge amounts of traffic, stunning roads and scenery and great pace. Loved it 100%. Only slight niggle was that I was having another intermittent electrical problem. I'd had my battery break free the week before and short on the chassis, which obviously cut out everything in the car - but I was sure I'd fixed that. Tried re-packing the battery and covering everything in tape to insulate it... Still happening.
Finally, after I took the lead in Inverness, it died completely. Nothing - stack lit up like a christmas tree and everything died.
Coasted to a halt in a lay-by and started the swearing. Re-packed ans secured the battery and the thing would not give me any signs of life. Just as I was about to reach for the AA card, I checked the loom connector in the engine bay (as it had been 'fixed' before) to discover something out of place...
The ECU had fallen off it's mount and was sitting on the live terminal of the starter! Oops
Bolt it back in place and after a brief struggle (as the battery had been shorting out) she found enough juice to fire into life! Phew - close call, very lucky not to have killed my Emerald!
Of course, now I knew what the problem had been, I was full of confidence in the car and I think the run from Inverness to TT is probably the most fun I've had on a road run in ages - going for it all the way and the wee beastie felt incredible for every single mile of it!
So, finally, we get to TT. Not the first by far, but not too late. Drinking ensues....
It gets a little hazy here, but I remember erotic chairs, Jacuzzis, Amber, Toni and floating around in little more than a towel at one point... Could all be a bad dream mind you...
Sunday
...started a little worse than Saturday... NO WAY did I eat that much rice the night before... Left tut's (very slowly) at the same time as the first group, but turned the other way to got to the main routes home. Figured that, just after leaving the next village, I was being a bit silly and pulled into a layby for a kip. Hour and a half later, I was able to mount a challenge and take a nice calm trundle down the road, tail between my legs...
One of these years, I'll learn. Of course, tut, that means that you'll have to do another one, to give me that opportunity! Plus, the disgraceful behaviour of the SE ladies in not joining us in the jacuzzi will have to be rectified
A short bit of video will go up sometime, taken from an early few laps at KH. I have no photos, but piles of memories.
Great weather, great craic, great company. You can't ask for more
Petition for TT08 starts here....
Could not resist. 
