The first Wednesday of the month, the members of the VEA meet at the Cote St.Luc BBQ, on Jean Talon, a reminder for those who have not yet attended.

April 4th, 2001 was a Wed and a first one at that. Why am I writing about this particular Wednesday, and not another Wednesday? This first Wednesday was different. Rather than eat chicken, fries, Coleslaw and in my case, a bake potato and a diet Coke, but others a few beers, not that I do not enjoy a beer, but I own some shares in Coke, so I drink it. You can tell how the market is doing by how much I drink.

This is a first, for our Wednesday get together, it was a course given by no other than our Jean Jacques, the great Rally organizer of the Long Bonnets Night. Jean Jacques arrived with his large paperboard, with the flip up sheets. I thought for a minute that he felt the paper place mats supplied by the BBQ, were not big enough, and that he brought some for all of us.

I had really forgotten that this was the night that Jean Jacques would be giving us a lesson on how to read rally instructions, which by the way all of us needed, except you know who, Marc, who told me that his navigator from Saudi Arabia was not there. Yet, I felt the presence of someone in the corner, totally wrapped in a blanket, only seeing his hand come out to dip a potato chip in the bbq sauce. So I leave that part to your imagination, was he there, or not?

Our new President, Gerard, had just arrived a few days before from the Rally of Morocco "Classic". Now gentlemen, we are supposed to race against these gentlemen, who spare no expense, yet when I lean over to take a chip out of their plate, they slap my hand. One chip, is all I ask? So these members are very serious, and it is for us little guys to show them, with the proper instructions from Jean Jacques, we can win this Rally, even if we are totally naked.

Speaking of instructions, T means you can go left or right depending on which side the arrow is on. A double curve in the shape of an S is, I forgot, anyway, Jean Jacques had all kinds of signs, to do that and to do this, follow speed limits, and so forth. It got to a point, that we could not see any of the white of the paper. Jean Jacques answered all the questions. I did notice that most of the fellows over 55 years of age were concerned about wash rooms. Wonder why?

The turn out was a good 50 plus members and besides the Rally instructions; good comradie was there. Without question, the best de stresser there is, besides driving our vintage cars, or working on them.

This year The Long Bonnets Night is held on June 20 Th. I strongly recommend it. We got lost last year, and had a great time. It is totally safe, no crazy things to do, and in complete safety.

Once the Rally is over, we all meet at a fine restaurant called the La Tavola with our cars parked where we can see them. It is an evening to remember.

Bring, your wife, or son, daughter, cousin, maybe a neighbor that will cut your grass for you, if you bring him.

Looking forward to seeing all of you at this (I hope) Annual Rally, that is, if Jean Jacques and his very important side kick Isabelle, will put it on for us, so don't take that chance to miss it, in case they cannot put it on in future years. It is a club event not to miss.

©VEA