The Journey to Bradford

We were going to smagam this weekend in a mini bus. On the say we discovered the mini bus speed limit had been capped at 62 mph which was disheartening Singh had his pedal right down and we could do anything. Then we finally got to Bradford. Those there RAC road maps messes you up as it’s no clear. We ended up going in circles and Singh coming to the conclusion he need to buy a tom-tom satellite navigation system.

On top of this all is was freezing cold but sitting at the front wasn’t too bad. Kirtan blasting from my IPod and the warm heater was good but I also had the stress of navigating which meant I couldn’t get any sleep. Now as we were trying to find the place after we were going around a major roundabout. As we approached the light was amber turning red Singh thought he was clear and took it. Next thing he goes to me, "cops are right behind us" and there with the police lights for us to pull over.

Oh no, not only could we find out way in the freezing cold, but now stopped by police. The police man was Asian. So he came up and Singh said, "we're lost do you know where the local Gurdwara is."
Cop: "We will talk about that in a bit, firstly what just happened there."
Singh: "the light was orange"
Cop: "theres no orange. This is amber"
(At this point i am trying to stop my self from laughing)
Singh: "I mean amber"
Anyway the cop was like well it was read don’t do it again, blah blah don’t want anyone clipping you. The gora cop with him seemed more cold then anything. Anyway then we started changing subject to where the Gurdwara was. So he finally told us go down this road there’s a number of Gurdwaras. We said ok thanks won’t happen again and got on our way. Only thing no one actually listened to the Cops directions except me. So once again all pressure on me ha-ha. I think everyone was just relived not to get any points, etc.

Anyway I stringed together some direction stopped and asked some Panjabi looking guy in Bradford where this road was. Singh’s behind shouting whereas Gurdwara but he chose to ignore them until I asked. We finally go to area but couldn’t see he Gurdwara as we had been seen from the inside roads.

We saw a car a young Muslim family where getting in so we drove up along side and asked. The lady was really nice and started giving directions then the guy said just follow me. Finally we were close to getting there. You know how frustrating it is to get close and then not be able to find the place especially when you’re late. Will thanks to that family we got there. Singh insisting this could be right place as we wee at the back entrance and me and everyone else saying it is, (more like hoping so we could get out of the cold.) then we went around corner and there where some Singh’s and phenjees standing out side (outside instead of inside in raisnbhai.. lol).

Anyway we the offloaded all the boxes and got inside with a sigh of relief to have got there finally, still freezing trying to warm up.

Way back took found hours plus again. Me it took over 5 hours to get home. Oh well it was good but It was even colder then the way there this time freezing all they way back wanting to sleep have ishnaan and do amritvela. Although overall it was a great smagam and great to meet sangat from up north.
Vahiguroo.