The Snowman Run - 22nd January 2000

Another successful Mini Clan Event, the first run of 2000!

The Minis gathered at 10:30 at MacDonald's by the Newbridge roundabout near Edinburgh - 11 in all.  After waiting for the Hunters and Blairs to arrive, we all set off over the Forth Road bridge, although even by this time there was a breakdown and some people got lost!

After pushing our luck with the police at the Forth Bridge toll - including an anonymous green Cooper being driven the wrong way up the motorway - we set off in Convoy for Fife.

Charlie, below, had only got a bit dirty by this point!  He had been cleaned the previous day while getting his major 24months (2 years) service.  This is him before getting his front fog lights fitted.  He was running very nicely the whole day...despite the Rover service!

We headed off along some roads that I will never find again and ended up at Powmill Restaurant... a place I know very well as we used to stop there when taking my sister to St. Andrew's University.... I had a very nasty accident there once involving a puppy and an extending dog lead.... anyway, here's a picture of the Minis in the car park.

Alex can be very impatient at times....

Here's a picture that I very cleverly stitched together from 2 photos showing the Mini Clan at "Mini Mart" in Fife.

And heres another one...

They had this gorgeous brand new Cooper there - the same as Charlie but with the Sports pack, black leather seats and the new pearlescent version of the British Racing Green colour.  Calum is saying "pah!, its not a patch on Ernie!"

We also stopped at this really cold, damp, picnic spot where all the people who thought they'd gone for a nice peaceful walk in the country, found themselves surrounded by Minis!

And finally, Charlie was slightly taken aback to discover his nearly identical, twin - "Chorlton" driven by Craig Jackson.

And on the way home:-

• The entire Clan did laps of a roundabout, much to the annoyance of the locals!

• Calum took on a BMW 5-series, and won!

• Gerard's Driving Teacher invented a new rule for dealing with roundabouts!

• I gave a Daihatsu Cuore a run for its money (passed it at 100mph) after its driver gave me a "aww, what a cute wee pretend car" type look!