| 
International Festival of The Sea
Son et Lumiére Performance
Portsmouth June 28th 2005 This year as a special treat, I decided to splash out and visit the unique spectacular events during the IFOS taking place in and around the harbour of my native city Portsmouth in Hampshire. I decided on a trip by boat, to obtain an unrivalled view. What a day it turned out to be... from what turned out to be four shows? The first show took place in the morning when H.M. The Queen reviewed the fleet, from the deck of the British artic surveyor ship 'HMS Endeavour.' The fantastic vista of dozens of warships from all over the world at anchor, moored in lines and many Tall ships was available to the many thousands of spectators, who turned up to watch an event commemorating the 'Battle of Trafalgar', 200 years ago. The second show occurred during the late afternoon with a spectacular flying display by the much acclaimed 'Red Arrows' and a highly skilled aerobatic display flier, in a Russian built Yak piston engine stunt plane. What a magnificent sight they all were, especially the jets with their multi-coloured vapour trails! Unfortunately, I could not see a lot of the display as at the time, I was sandwiched between two red brick walls in a long queue, as I waited to board my vessel. I stood completely drenched from head to foot, following a freak storm and deluge of rain, for what seemed like hours. It left me looking like a dishevelled prisoner, en route to a Siberian Gulag. There simply was no shelter! Thank you very much ferry company! �?very thoughtful of you, as was your long delayed embarkation and departure from the ferry terminal, without letting passengers even know which queue to join. However, things got much better once I was aboard and able to slosh about a bit, until my clothes dried on me. I found a good place to sit down and thanked God it was a warm evening. I obtained and ate my picnic style meal, which I found quite pleasant, if a little ‘overworked.�?nbsp; Though in truth I was so hungry, even the tablemats looked tempting. Later on just after dusk, the re-enactment of the 'Battle of Trafalgar' took place, using tall ships to represent vessels in the original battle. 'The Grand Turk' (a foreign vessel) took the place of 'HMS Victory' (Nelson’s Flagship) and although my ship was only several hundred yards away from it, I could see little of the comings and goings, because darkness had arrived. However, the fighting and cannon firing representations using fireworks were good and the atmosphere almost electrifying. The third show included the Son et Lumiére finale, which was an astonishing firework display, from which I was lucky enough to get a few photographs and about 5 minutes of video footage; a truly fantastic sight, that will live in my memory for a very long time. The fourth show, which is how I prefer to name it, mastered and overseen by the bureaucratic buffoons in our civic transport department and the sadly lacking planning skills of our ‘City Fathers�?was this time a Pantomime. In this, we all played a part as thousands of us began our weary journey home. As just one of the estimated thousands of people stranded at long after midnight in the city, I won’t bore you with the details, as these have been much covered in the media, but I must say that at the time, the great events of the day quickly paled into insignificance, as I set out into the grid locked streets of Portsmouth on that night. Fortunately, most people like myself were still ‘gobsmacked�?by the spectacle they had just seen and there were few moans from people (other than myself) as I was forced by necessity to walk towards my prearranged ‘lift�?home. My ride was still stuck in a traffic jam, almost until the moment I got there, an hour and a half later. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that final 3 mile walk! Strangely, when I look back on it all now... I can say yes, it was all worth it. It was something the like of which, I’ll not see again in my lifetime and at least I survived.
©
C. N. (Key Note News Reporter... Mishap) | 
Free Forum Hosting
Important Announcement
