my wife and i booked into the Henry VIII suite for the whole weekend, a total indulgence with regard to the room and the excellent food throughout the stay , and a chance for us to escape our 22 year old disabled son for the weekend , dont worry , he had a wonderful time at his ' nans ' getting his hearts desires all weekend to
( he is around ten years old in his head and always will be with regard to his abilities ) this is our only time away without him for the last six years........... and we left our 20 year old son in charge of the house................... 
onto the JEC southern ' weekend ' .
i was happy with how my car coped with the journey, and left her in the ' private' parking space for the old house historic rooms , where several other great Jags were also parked ,
This was the first time my car had ever been outside overnight in over eight years, and definatley not since being restored
, so i was a little nervous to say the least, but well lit secure place that didnt really have any access for anyone wanting to damage cars , There was a ' meet and greet ' at 1800 hours in the entertainment room with bucks fizz laid on and for people to get their passes and other JEC information for the weekend, this is where i accosted our chairman Rob and introduced myself . He didnt have much choice to be honest, lol
A very enjoyable and relaxing day and a half lead up to the show day , we even sat down to eat in the old house Olivers restaurant with our Chairman Rob and his charming wife on the Friday evening, and had a great time, then off to the late lounge for drinks later on ,
the saturday before the event i went down to detail the car while my wife went for a relaxing swim , though i dont think 40 lengths of the pool is relaxing, but what do i know , lol
My XJS was parked under a tree , and i was amazed at how much tree sap and other debris and detritus had gathered on her, so she got a wash down and buff with a micro-fibre cloth , and i cleaned the wheels, we had been asked to try and get our cars on the field the day before to avoid chaos on the show day , so while driving round i took the opportunity for a pic or two in front of the old house , what do you think ?
BTW , our room was the two windows above my car on the first floor ,
I then took her down to the allotted area for the forum , and left her there , ready for final positioning on the show day its self.
the next morning i got up at 0730 and went down to the car, well, i shouldn't have wasted my time the day before, lol the car was totally soaked in morning dew and the inevitable stuck on flies and bird poop , so once again i set to with cleaning her down , but it didnt take too long, and i positioned the car where i was instructed , and again , and again , lol
then went off for breakfast , and changed into some shorts, as the weather was to be fantastic ,
The show its self is sort of a normal affair as described in other threads, and i had an enjoyable time , as expected my main interest is in other XJS's , especially a very nice Lynx Coupe at the bottom of the field that was very well presented, and i had a good chat with the owner, his wife wanted to take me home so i could work on the car,
It was at this time i wandered back to the car, and i was informed that Nigel Thorley was ' looking for me ' ,, so i went in the opposite direction and bumped into a good friend of mine who had brought his Aston Martin along, It was while i was talking to Justin that Nigel appeared over his shoulder with the immortal word ( over the microphone ) , " here is the owner now, i wonder if he will talk to us ?" , cornered as i was i had to capitulate, and somehow managed to string some coherent words together whilst cowering inside , lol , thankfully he was very gentle with me , and it was all over in less than a minute, but felt like hours..........
During this time my wife went for a Spa treatment and massage , the day was finished off in good company in the bar and a very nice evening meal , Sunday evening was relaxed and slowly got ready to leave in the morning, I covered up the car that night , which made all the difference the next day , and she started on the button,
I got 20.4 mpg on the way home ,
all in all a great weekend , with good company and some fantastic cars to look at, i feel my car was well received and admired on the most part , lets face it , its not everyones cup of tea, but she is mine, and i like her
BB
