Part
One
“It’s
a 7:30am start at the first location. You can drive up and stay over the night
before and have some sausage, or you can get up early and just meet us there.”
I elected to get up early.
I wish I’d selected sausage.
Rewind to the afternoon before. I’m stood in
B&Q in the torch section. We’ve been advised that the RAID! locations will
be dark. A head torch will give me the freedom of using both hands that, as a
short, fat, 40-something man, I will need. I’ve never had a head torch before,
so I’m not entirely sure what I’m looking for. ‘1000 lumens’ one reads. I have
no idea what a ‘Lumen’ is or whether I need a 1000 of them. I remove it from
the shelf hook and take it to the self-checkout for no other reason than it
fits my budget limit of £20. I emerge from the store buoyant and eager to try
on my new head gear; the sun is shining and I’m ready for anything. It’s a
feeling quickly shattered when I share a screen grab of my new purchase with
the gang on Whatsapp.
'1,000 Lumens'
“1,000
Lumen? That’s sh*te! Mines 6,000!”
“Also,
you drive a Mini and that’s a girl’s car!”
My heart sinks.
I hit the sack around 10pm, having packed
my RAID! kit bag:
Lucozade (x 2)
Hand Wash
Baby Wipes (Yes really – I
recommend ‘Huggies’)
A beef and horseradish sandwich
from Tesco
Kitchen roll
RAID! Funds (OPs like cash and
they don’t take debit cards!)
Pound coins for parking charges
(often forgotten but can be vital!)
A TWIX
Sat Nav (with updated maps)
Some empty boxes (Every RAID!
Member needs their own box; it stops any arguments)
Anti-Static bubble wrap (the
pink stuff..)
Toolkit (electric driver with
cross head, flat head and anti-tamper / TORX set, pliers)
A decent camera (for RAID!
Pics!)
Waterproofs
A decent pair of workman’s
gloves (for shifting cabs about and climbing in the unknown)
My sh*t head torch L
As with all RAIDs sleep comes sporadically;
I toss and turn, worried I’ll oversleep; despite having my alarm set and having
checked my phone has a full charge before retiring. Twice. There is usually
only one 5’O’Clock in my daily routine and it doesn’t have ‘AM’ anywhere in it.
All in, I get around 4 hours sleep before I’m dragged from the darkness by an
alarm that sounds like Clowns killing things. The RAID!
locations (and there are plenty..) are about 2 hours from me and it’s an early
start; the plan is to meet near the first OPs place by 7:30am and then enter at
8:00am. I shower, pausing only to wonder why we bother, given in a few short
hours I’ll be combing all over buildings, cabs, PCBs, shelves and walkways that
have 30 years of filth on them. It’s human nature to at least start the day clean I guess. I throw my
bags and supplies into the boot as the clock ticks over onto exactly 5:30am and
off I go.
I’d planned on open roads, limited traffic
and clear skies; what I actually got was torrential rain, limited visibility
and 3 sets of 50mph road works. Everything conspires against me and it becomes
clear that I am not going to make the 7:30am meeting. Sat Nav fluctuates but
tells me all is not lost; I’ll arrive at 7:50am, which gives me 10 minutes to
park up and meet the guys before we go in at 8:00. When I am 10 minutes out I
can’t resist calling one of the team and seeing if everyone has arrived safely.
After 5 rings the line opens up and I hear the familiar voice of Beantin. There is some background noise
but it’s clear he is excited, which lifts my spirits after 2 hours of heavy
rain.
Everyone is there.
There is only one small point; the
background noise is PCBs being sorted through and loaded into boxes.
Everyone has already gone into the first
location.
I haven’t even parked up yet.
I wish I’d selected sausage.
'The Finger is given'
The first location is actually the Ex-Ops
house; I walk through the front door to see familiar forum faces all busy
rifling through piles of PCBs. There are PCBs *everywhere*, the narrow hallway,
back room and kitchen are full. Everyone
has a box already full of 6 or so PCBs. Damn. What have I missed? There is no
time to ponder and so I get stuck in. There is a makeshift test rig in one
corner where the OP is testing PCBs and chatting to a couple of the guys. I say
hello, smile and shake his hand. He looks somewhat overwhelmed by the 6 large
men in his house but takes my hand and returns the smile. It’s not etiquette to
discuss what people have found in front of the OP or to go through their stash
but it transpires that some really nice games have already materialized; Mr Heli, Green Beret, Jackal, Choplifter,
Rygar, Taito Frontline, Midnight Resistance, Shinobi, Super Monaco GP,
Thunderblade, Space Invaders Pt.1, Solomon’s Key, SCI, Flying Shark, Pole
Position, Pole Position 2, Elevator Action. Incredibly there is clearly
more, and every 10 minutes or so, the OP appears to overhear us talking and
shouts “I’ve got one of those upstairs!”
and off he goes, only to reappear a few minutes later with a box, (or two) and
more PCBs. We form a chain on the stairs at one point and each board is
carefully passed from collector to collector. The atmosphere is great; nobody
is pulling, pushing, grabbing, claiming or hoarding. There is something for
everyone and everyone has something.
“Are
these any good to anyone? We stripped 6 or so Sega Driving cabs and kept the
PCBs..” says the OP.
2 boxes appear, full to the brim with
PSU’s, Motor Drive PCBs, MPEG decoders, Sound boards; all from the Sega Model
Racers you know and love. I split the treasure inside with one of the other
member’s, who is as gob smacked as me at what just keeps appearing. A Paperboy set is handed down and swiftly
makes its way onto to my pile; as I carefully place it down I notice a box
marked ‘Pinball Parts’. I don’t own a pinball machine but something makes me
open it.
It’s stuffed
full of Atari AR-1’s and AR-II’s; incredibly somebody has mislabeled the box;
and all of the contents are super clean; all but one are also complete. Yet another
box does actually contain pinball parts; specifically dozens and dozens of DMD
boards. We pause occasionally to check prices for our individual hauls with the
OP and cash exchanges hands, before any full boxes are carried out to the
waiting cars and vans. More PCBs and boxes of manuals appear, and then it
happens.
“Space
Harrier Jodo?” Says one of the Raid guys.
“God
YES!” I say. It is the one time I allow myself to get visibly excited. We’d
earlier found a Space Harrier sound PCB but the main PCB’s had proved elusive.
Not now though, and the complete stack is passed down the line to me. I signal
the OP and ask him:
“….how
much for this one please……?” I’m already reaching into my wallet to produce
some funds.
“Oh
just take it mate, it’s OK.”
My protests at taking the board without
payment go unheard and we shake hands. It’s an amazing freebie. We are on a
schedule though and with 3 more locations to visit that day, it’s time to move
on to the second RAID. The OP is clearly having a good time and he decides to
accompany us; he will entertain us with his tales from back when he was an
Operator for much of the day. It’s an unexpected bonus and an absolute
pleasure.
'Free Space Harrier!'
It transpires that we are about 50 minutes
from the next RAID, and we all set off in convoy. This never gets old. The
feeling of being part of something, of making a journey together and
collectively not really having any idea of what you might find when you get
there; it’s electrifying. More than that, it’s addictive. I defy anyone to be
part of one of these and not find yourself smiling as you drive. It’s like
Christmas morning. We arrive at a narrow one-way backstreet, that leads into a small yard that is already
somewhat full of vans and cars; certainly it’s a very tight squeeze to get all
of us in but we manage it, with room for loading too.
“Right
boys, head torches on; this place is in darkness.”
Any talk of ‘my lumens are bigger than your
lumens’ is lost in the anticipation, as we form a line, switch on (‘Ghost
Busters’ style) and start to walk up the stairs into darkness.
'Beantin Raid Group July 2015'
