The Pearson Project - Project Reports

Project Report Part 7

Venue: Late Night Antics
Date: 17/3/2004
Team Members Present: Pearson, Gilly, Tooma, Wally, Lanky + Harle

Normally the team plan a part of the project in advance, Part 7 was different. Part 7 began at 17:15 in the Hobson, Wally and Tooma got the bus to Sunniside where they collected Gilly. The 3 team members then went to call on Pearson but were disappointed when Pearson's mother informed us her son wasn't in.
Undeterred we headed down the road to the local village of Whickham, we decided to head towards Safeway. During the walk Wally was called Gareth Gates by 2 small children playing football, as Gilly shouted out the web address to them.
Within sight of Safeway, Gilly recieved a phone call - from Pearson!

Pearson: "Where are you"
Gilly: "Safeway"
Pearson: "Stay there, I'm on me way"
Part 7 of the project was on!

Despite Pearson asking us to stay where we were, we realised we were only a minutes walk from Lanky's house. Lanky hadn't been on a part of the project since June (Edinburgh - Part 3) so this was a great opportunity - if he was in. Lanky's Dad answered the door and knew why we were there, so we were delighted when Lanky came out, back across to Safeway.
Entering Safeway we realised there were 3 things missing, we were to find them all in one place. No part of the project would be able to take place without a camera, so we picked up a 24 exposure disposable. Next on the list was alcohol, cans of Carling sorted that problem. But most importantly of all - where was Pearson? Amazingly, appearing from the frozen food aisle there he was. We were all set.

The idea was to take a trolley from Safeway and onto the local School playing field, which had a large hill alongside. We encountered a problem, Safeway was clearly still open.
We headed to the field, without the trolley. Without our main form of entertainment (The trolley), we had to use our imagination to create our own fun. Tooma is always on hand and he decided to curl up into a ball and jump down the big hill - Gilly followed. We were in pain, we climbed back up the hill and sat down to enjoy a nice cool can of Carling. The time now was around 19:45, and after a few more experiences of jumping down the hill, coupled with more pain, we were running short on ideas. We knew Safeway shut at 8, so we headed back to find it closed, with 3 trolleys left outside, it couldn't be easier. The only problem we had was the decision on which trolley to take. Pearson and Lanky decided going to the local garage for food was the best option, as Gilly, Tooma and Wally debated over which trolley would be best.

Trolley 1: A large trolley, which unfortunately had a baby seat in. None of the team would be able to fit in this.
Trolley 2: A tall trolley, which was lacking in depth, this wouldn't travel down the hill as good as we wanted.
Trolley 3: Another large trolley, this time without the baby seat, but with a small divider at the front.

Trolley 3 was chosen to be the nights entertainment. Tooma and Wally advanced towards the trolley, as Lanky and Pearson returned from the garage. Tooma and Wally lifted it over a small fence, then Gilly and Tooma made a quick dash over the road and into the bushes. Emerging from the bushes we caught sight of the hill.
Tooma wasted no time in getting the trolley lined up at the top of the slope, but when he tried to get in the trolley, the divider at the front caused problems. Using our initiative we kicked out the divider and Tooma was able to climb in. He made the descent and got a smooth run all the way to the bottom, but he wasn't happy so he tipped himself out after he had stopped. Gilly was the next to go, also getting a smooth run, but with shouts from the top of the hill from Tooma, Gilly also tipped the trolley over.
The main rule of Extreme Trolleying, is that whoever goes down the hill must push the trolley back up. Gilly got it back up, and then it was Wally's turn. Despite being reluctant at first he eventually climbed in and once again the trolley took a smooth run. Lanky was 4th in line and we were expecting a tip (Lanky falling out), amazingly we had another clean run. Something needed to be done to stop this happening, there was no fun if people weren't getting hurled out of a shopping trolley on a big hill. Pearson had his first go and unsurprisingly, a smooth run.
Tooma used his imagination, and opted to sit backwards while going down the hill, we thought this was dangerous, and as the trolley began to sway to the side, the excitement built up. He managed to get to the bottom and as usual intentioanlly tipped the trolley. Gilly was next to go backwards, and just managed to keep the trolley on all 4 wheels.

Wally and Pearson refused to go down backwards so it was upto Lanky, he seemed to be going smoothly until he hit the curve at the bottom and he went crashing out of the trolley, cue hysterical laughter from the rest of the team, Lanky joined in the laughter after he realised he was ok.
Team member Harle was finishing work at 9, so we made a phone call to him but got no answer. We decided it would be a good idea to go down the road and get him off the bus he would be on. The bus wasn't due for half an hour so we moved the trolley along to the schools long jump pit. Gilly was the first to get in, as Tooma pushed him along the run up and as the trolley hit the jump board, it shot Gilly out and into the sand pit. Lanky craked open a few more cans, as some of the team had more fun with a trolley and a sand pit. Tooma was hurled out onto the run up before he reached the sand pit, as Gilly and Lanky re-enacted their old school P.E lessons by attempting the hop-skip-and jump routine - we failed, and ended up in the sand pit.

We pushed the trolley into a bush as we didn't fancy pushing it down the main road, and headed to the bus stop to collect Harle. Gilly, Tooma and Wally noticed the bus was due very soon, and started jogging to the stop, we had just about reached the stop when Tooma got a phone call from Lanky - who had walked behind with Pearson.

Tooma: "Hello"
Lanky: "Come back"
Tooma: "Why? We're going to get Harle"
Lanky: "No you're not, he's already here" Harle had recieved a lift from his mam, and spotted us as he drove up the road. Gilly, Wally and Tooma turned around, but turned back around again as Lanky and Harle wanted to go to the chippy. After that we headed back to the field, so Harle could get in on the trolley action.

Most of the team had experienced trolleying before the days of The Pearson Project, Harle hadn't. This was a new experience for him. When we got back to the field, we got the trolley, went to the hill and Lanky demonstrated how it was done, although he didn't do it too well, he fell out again. Harle didn't seem too bothered and he jumped in and was pushed down by Tooma for his first trolleying experience. He got a smooth run and enjoyed it.
With the return of the smooth runs, Tooma was forced to think of some other way to go down. Idea number 3 was standing up. This sounded unsafe but he managed it without a problem, Gilly was 2nd to try and also managed fine. After a few more runs for everyone, we noticed we only had 2 photos left to take, we got a couple of group photos of everyone in the trolley, and then headed away from the field.

Tooma then wanted to push Gilly along the path as fast as possible, Gilly refused. Harle however was overcome with this new found experience and jumped straight in. Tooma started pushing and built up some speed, but he couldn't control it and Harle crashed into a lamp post, the light on top went out, and Tooma and Harle ran, abandoning the trolley, that was the end of Part 7, everyone went home.