Les Rameaux is some religious thing to do with Easter, I think it's Palm Sunday. I'm not a Christian, so I have no idea what the real signification of Palm Sunday is, but this holiday did affect me in two ways this year, one very positive and one very negative.
The negative thing came first, and if you remember I already wrote about it: the day I got my car towed, it was to make room in the only free car park for miles around, for the Palm Fair, as t'were. The positive bit happened last night when I, accompanied by two of my minions (Nans and a friend of his who we shall name AE, because he doesn't know I'm writing about him) went to the Palm Fair, with mixed expectations.
My previous experience of fun fairs as an adult is that they are absurdly expensive, physically dangerous and generally not worth it. Nans insists on going to every small fair we come across, so I continue to accompany him, but I now mostly abstain from the rides and try not to eat too much candy floss. So far the biggest fair we'd been to was the midsummer fairs in his village, Pont de l'Isère, and the small town of Tournon where my parents used to live (and still go to do their shopping).
Grenoble was another matter. I'd complained a lot about them requisitioning the whole car park, but believe me when I say they needed the space. You could see some of the rides from half way down the Boulevard Gambetta, and even though it was raining, there was a thick stream of people flowing in and out. Despite the crowd though, there was more than enough space for everyone - no hour-long waiting lines here.
This is what we did, more or less in order:
- We went around the whole place eyeing the rides critically.
- Then we went to an arcade stand and played 3 matches of table hockey. AE won against both of us, and I won against Nans, although I think he let me win.
- They played some shoot-em-up game.
- We found the least-dangerous-looking funhouse (a green place called Amazonia) and spent about twenty minutes regressing fifteen years. The whole ground floor was a hall of mirrors-type thing (only with plexiglass instead of mirrors, and the people outside could see you wandering around so they could point and laugh). AE filmed us with his phone. I nearly fell over several times on the conveyer belt things.
- We went on a sort of roller coaster thing. Nans and I shared a car, thinking that AE would be right behind us, but in fact the cars weren't attached. It was fun and kind of scary because you could tell the ride wasn't strictly inspected every day like they are in amusement parks...
- Nans and AE played another hockey game while I went and got some chips.
- We ate chips, then I payed 8€ for Nans to go on this huge arm thing which sends you way up in the air... when he got off he was very, very pale (even more so than usual) but he said it was worth it.
- We went on one of those things that goes round very fast. I sat on the outside and consequently got a few bruises in the ribcage (2 grown men are heavy even if Nans is lighter than me), but it was fun anyway.
- They did some shooting games. We won a small torch, a pack of card and a furry orange die keyring.
- Nans and I went on these sort of swings that went very high and turned around. It would have been romantic if it hadn't been so bloody cold. The air on the ground seemed warm in comparison.
- We went on the bumper cars. Nans asked the two guys we didn't know to go gentle on me. I complained that they'd all aim for me to spite him. I don't know if it was to prove me wrong or if they were genuinely nice, but they spared me. The next time I got off and Nans and AE spent ten minutes driving straight into each other. Both are still suffering the consequences.
... I think that's about it. We got home around 1 a.m. My immune system is screaming from the liquorice strings and candy floss and chips I ate, but it was totally worth it.
My previous experience of fun fairs as an adult is that they are absurdly expensive, physically dangerous and generally not worth it. Nans insists on going to every small fair we come across, so I continue to accompany him, but I now mostly abstain from the rides and try not to eat too much candy floss. So far the biggest fair we'd been to was the midsummer fairs in his village, Pont de l'Isère, and the small town of Tournon where my parents used to live (and still go to do their shopping).
Grenoble was another matter. I'd complained a lot about them requisitioning the whole car park, but believe me when I say they needed the space. You could see some of the rides from half way down the Boulevard Gambetta, and even though it was raining, there was a thick stream of people flowing in and out. Despite the crowd though, there was more than enough space for everyone - no hour-long waiting lines here.
This is what we did, more or less in order:
- We went around the whole place eyeing the rides critically.
- Then we went to an arcade stand and played 3 matches of table hockey. AE won against both of us, and I won against Nans, although I think he let me win.
- They played some shoot-em-up game.
- We found the least-dangerous-looking funhouse (a green place called Amazonia) and spent about twenty minutes regressing fifteen years. The whole ground floor was a hall of mirrors-type thing (only with plexiglass instead of mirrors, and the people outside could see you wandering around so they could point and laugh). AE filmed us with his phone. I nearly fell over several times on the conveyer belt things.
- We went on a sort of roller coaster thing. Nans and I shared a car, thinking that AE would be right behind us, but in fact the cars weren't attached. It was fun and kind of scary because you could tell the ride wasn't strictly inspected every day like they are in amusement parks...
- Nans and AE played another hockey game while I went and got some chips.
- We ate chips, then I payed 8€ for Nans to go on this huge arm thing which sends you way up in the air... when he got off he was very, very pale (even more so than usual) but he said it was worth it.
- We went on one of those things that goes round very fast. I sat on the outside and consequently got a few bruises in the ribcage (2 grown men are heavy even if Nans is lighter than me), but it was fun anyway.
- They did some shooting games. We won a small torch, a pack of card and a furry orange die keyring.
- Nans and I went on these sort of swings that went very high and turned around. It would have been romantic if it hadn't been so bloody cold. The air on the ground seemed warm in comparison.
- We went on the bumper cars. Nans asked the two guys we didn't know to go gentle on me. I complained that they'd all aim for me to spite him. I don't know if it was to prove me wrong or if they were genuinely nice, but they spared me. The next time I got off and Nans and AE spent ten minutes driving straight into each other. Both are still suffering the consequences.
... I think that's about it. We got home around 1 a.m. My immune system is screaming from the liquorice strings and candy floss and chips I ate, but it was totally worth it.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment