Targa - going nowhere... fast!

It's Targa day in the NE. One group of cars has passed through town, Porsches mainly and other expensive new models - "yuppies in their half million dollar cars!" according to one of the vocal locals. Then there's a 45 minute wait until the genuine rally cars cruise past, in between the timed stages. Rally spectating isn't all that exciting but then the verandah of the local hotel probably isn't a great place to observe the action. It's difficult to choose a suitable place and road closures mean that you'd be stuck there for over four hours; not a good prospect on a drizzly grey day and there are leeches lurking in damp places as we discovered recently. Nevertheless I'm waiting for interesting vehicles to pass by. Porsches and BMW's are fast but not as interesting as the older cars; Minis, Fiats, MG's, a Vauxhall Cresta, Zephyr Zodiac and more. (A 1950's Chevrolet sped past four hours later, with front-end damage and on the back of a tray truck.) At least one of the locals was fairly disinterested in procedings as he trimmed a shrub outside his house. "I'm baking a cake for you," he called out when he saw me on the other side of the highway. Targa, we're going nowhere and the rally cars disappear fast! The cake arrived later in the day.