Gemma the human traffic cone...

Ok, so my ideal sunday evening didn't exactly work out. In fact, Monaco was a bit of a wash out really as far as Mclaren are concerned. Lewis started at the back of the grid after hitting the wall during qualifying, then Heikki failed to finish after...hitting the wall. Maybe I could qualify as an F1 driver under these circumstances. I've hit a wall, and that was one that was behind me, not like the 6ft concrete and tyre structures that are blindingly obvious to anyone looking in the right direction (in my defence, the one I hit was 2ft high, and in my blind spot, despite me looking backwards). However, I think mine was a tad cheaper to repair than Heikki's, but at least he doesn't have to pay for it!
However, at Brands this weekend, the Mclarens put on a much better show. James Humts 1976 Mclaren and Fittipaldis car put in a stunning performance, finishing second and third in the F1 race. These cars would have been racing at Brands when they were new, so it was nice to see them driving so well after 30 years.
There was a high quality of racing this weekend from all the cars on the track, but there was a certain amount of common sense lacking from some of the drivers, or one in particular anyway.
Note to drivers:
1. red and yellow flag means slippery surface, so don't drive so fast when there is copious amounts of oil on the track, you will spin off and create more mess and mechanic heartache, they don't have spares of everything you know.
2. If your cars engine has given up and retired, don't park it in the most dangerous spot on the track and expect me to go out there and push you all the way back to the pits. Thats what the 200 yards of grass you rolled past would have been good for. And don't complain about the grass, the green colouring would vastly improve on your current choice of colour; gold.
As it turned out, I only ended up pushing one car, and stopping another one from rolling down the hill whilst the tow truck attached itself to it. I was playing with flags the rest of the time.
Then I was given the job of "the human traffic cone". The plain sort, not the one with the flashing light on top. Someone had to run onto the track, waving a yellow flag and directing the traffic into the pitlane. Unfortunately, the call to do this came through when the cars were half was round the track. Being much younger and fitter than the 2 other marshals on post, I was "nominated" for the task. Its strange how vulnerable you feel standing in the middle of a track whilst the traffic passes by within 2ft of your shins. And of all the cars that went past, the last one to wave and acknowledge me was good old Sterling Moss. Google him if you don't know who that is.
Everyone made it into the pits, and I survived without being hit. Race control called through and said we did a good job. Who knows, maybe I would better suited standing in the middle of the M25, or the M6? I can add that to my CV now; hobbies - human traffic cone. maybe i'll get a light next time.
Overall it was a very good three days. Then I got to work today. Hmmmm....the jury is still out on whether it actually turned into a good day or not. It was very very busy, I was not in the best of moods because of this (and also half deaf due to the weekend), but, everything got sorted in the end with a little help from my friends (just please don't move my animals around, it confuses me!!). Don't get me wrong, I like it busy but it has to be an organised busy, not bank holiday chaos busy. Tomorrow will be organised, I know who I have where and their histories now!! It can only get better really, it has, I've got two weeks of this....