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The stories from the Venga bus on tour 2003/04

Peterhead - The Vengabus Diaries 2003/2004

The Journey North

The pick up at the Cross at half 5 on saturday morning brought back fond memories of the Huntly cup games era when Gillespie and Squeaky arrived an hour early after Cozmo had told them it left at 5 when it really left at 6am. But enough reminiscing about the Sweetiebus days, this is 2003/2004 and the Vengabus is our means of travel. Yours truly, Scobie and Richy got on the bus half asleep ( to think, only a few hours earlier, we had been partying in the Bar Paz ), a stop out the East End to pick up our spiritual leader Wullie Mac then proceed up the ayrshire coast to pick up the Glasgow Vengabus Loyal Contingent. A lovely morning as well, and the singing was in full swing by Ballantrae as the Beasties flowed. By the time we picked up Ross, Sanny, Ham, Gillespie, Pogo, Peg and Fleece Laden, the Beasties were in full flow. Allegedly i was smoking by 10am, aaargh, im a non smoker!!!!

Arrive at Peterhead

The journey up took no time at all and we arrived in Peterhead at the back of 11, conveniently in time for opening of the Social Club doors. Soon discovered they had Blue WKD and Smirnoff Ice, so the VBL's Hellhole Bonanzas drink could be consumed in great quantity. The Everton v Liverpool game fairly attracted the crowds into the Social Club early but the VBL singsongs soon drowned out the drones of Andy Gray and Richard Keys on the bigscreen. Kick off approached so we headed in, one of the few grounds the VBL had yet to visit in Scotland and whatta shocker. No proper terracing, blowing a gale, but there was no chance the VBL boys were sitting in a stand, so we headed behind the goals. Just as we had put our flags up behind the goals, we realised they were sooting the opposite way, but we were jumping about and singing too much to care. Everyone in the 2 pitchside stands must have thought we were crazy. They were right !!!!

The Game

A dire first half, when Stranraer were totally overran was soon forgotten when we savoured the Peterhead cheeseburgers, they would surely soak up some of the alcohol we had consumed in the Social Club. Pogo had bought a 50-50 ticket but missed the tannoy announcement. He gave a kid a quid to find out the winning numbers, needless to say the boy never returned but a few of his pals were to get a chase later on when they tried to steal our flags. The second half continued where the first left off and it was no suprise when Peterhead scored. At this point the worse for wear Ham decided to head to the Social Club to get a few swift ales in before we left. His loss though cos the biggest comeback since the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania VIII was underway. The penalty conversion led to Pogo jumping the wall and doing a statue impression on the byeline for about a minute, even the stewards didnt know what to do, was he frozen to the spot? was he mad? No, he was Pogo!!! Before the celebration chants of , " You can stick your Camer-on up yer ar*e" ( Well, Peterheads nearer Orkney, the home of the Big Brother winner, than Stranraer is) had finished, the Brazilian style lob over the advancing keeper sent us even madder. Arguably the best lob since Henmans audacious effort aginst Pioline at the Wimbledon Quarters in 1997. By now we were getting spat on and getting verbal abuse of a group of young boys who had gathered around us as we went mad celebrating.Suddenly Ham walked back into the ground as the crowd chanted "Blow yer Whistle". The ref was taking no notice, so the " Suck on yer Lollipop" chants started at him. Sure enough the man in black obliged and the madness could begin.

The long journey South

The Vengabus was rocking when we got back on, no one stood within a 20 foot radius in fear of being crushed if it toppled over. The anti Sweetiebus singing soon began when we spotted "them" leaving the ground. Woooooooo this was gonna be one mad journey home i thought.............And i was right !!!!! A stop in Stonehaven left us with the challenge of hitting very pub they had in an hour, After the 7th vodka and coke in yet another wierd pub we decided enough was enough, Locals running around in the pubs with swords - strange but true! And we thought Chasers was mad... Suddenly it was after 8 and we were still north of Dundee, by now even Wullie Mac was getting sick of Rod Stewart, so we started playing games of Mallets Mallett to pass the time along with a few Beasties of course. The Kangaroo Court up the back of the bus was reincarnated as a tribute to Pizza. It didnt take long before Gillespies match report was ripped up and chewed up by us, then of course we returned it to Gillespie by means of throwing the spit clad balls of paper at him with heinous consequneces for him. A quick stop at Auchterarder and we grabbed some jars of mussels from a chippie. No prizes for guessing where they ended up!!! After a few more Money Money Money chants at the Million Dollar Man Fleece Laden we were at Glasgow. Most of the lads got off at Lauders on Sauchiehall Street, far too late to take advantage of the 2 for 1 reefs, but just in time for the 2 ugly birds for every guy offer. Haha, Gillespie grabbed a Granny was the rumour on Sunday!!!! So the bus got quieter now as we simply drunk Coke ahead of the midnight arrival in the toon, a quick stop at the Minishant Arms for a song on the karaoke and insurance advice, then hey presto we were back in the toon only 18 and a half hours after we left. Wooooo what a day it had been. A couple hours more madness in the toon then home ( or sleazing for a bit ).

None of the Vengabus Loyal did much on Sunday, never knew we would all be so tired after the long days bus journey, just as well we stuck to the Beasties and Coke or else we would have still been ill.... Wooooo, in summary, plenty of madness, good laughs, plus we won 2-1, great social club, good stops at Minishant, Stonehaven. Plenty of singing. Id say 9/10 for Peterhead.

The Vengabus will return..............................

Thanks to the Repo man and the lads fae the bus for this first report.

(BR l to r)Jim Denny, Duncan George, Gordon Young, Paul McIntyre, Mark Campbell, Michael Gerachty, Isaac English, Paul Kinnaird, Campbell Money.
(FR l to r)Dougie Johnstone, Barney Duffy, Tom Black, Keith Knox, Ian McAulay, Alan Landsdowne, Paul Watson.

(BR l to r)Jim McCann, Stevie Ross, Tony Gallagher, Willie Milliken, Ian Spittal, Barney Duffy, Paul McLean.
(MR l to r)Stevie McIntyre, Lex Grant, Graham Duncan, John McCaffrey, Tommy Sloan, Steve Cody, Billy Ferguson.
(FR l to r)Derek McHarg, Jim Hughes, Graham Millar, Kenny Brannigan, Darren Henderson, Tommy Walker, Alex McAnespie

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