The Saga of the Snake on the Roof

Post date: Apr 8, 2016 6:06:06 PM

A few years ago we "gained" a large pink furry snake that sat on the back of the pick-up when we went to shows. Unfortunately it was stolen during a fireworks evening (either that, or it got frightened by the loud bangs and ran off).

Then in May last year, as we were packing up at the end on a weekend event, one of our volunteers appeared like this.

On that day, the snake went home with us inside the car, but that evening, with the assistance of a couple of ratchet straps and a bungee cord, it was secured to the roof bars, where it has stayed ever since (except for motorway journeys, as we found it tried to detach itself).

It's had three main effects. Firstly, when we arrive at a show ground the person on the gate says "I know who you are!" and we are immediately let in and directed to our pitch (there was one occasion when the person at the entrance asked "Which stall are you?", but she quickly realised). The second effect is that, when we are driving through towns, children (and sometimes their parents) point and wave, which is nice. And finally, people say "I've seen your van around the place", which is also good.

Not to mention we've recently come back to it in a supermarket car park to find a couple of ravens pulling out the stuffing for nest-building materials - so it's good for wildlife too!

So when we discovered on Wednesday night that someone had stolen the ratchet straps and bungee, we were none too pleased. Yes, we still have the snake, but if we replace them there's a risk that they will be stolen again.

If only there were some way of bolting it to the roof .....

One of our handlers has a large number of steampunk friends, who tend to be creative and have wonderful workshops, so last night a call went out to the British Steampunk Community on Facebook "Following the theft of tie-downs that held a 15 foot bright green furry snake on the roof of our van we are considering replacing it with a glass fibre version which can be bolted to the roof bars. Does anyone know of someone who might be able to make one for us? Also an idea of costs. Thanks."

Two minutes later, someone had tagged a friend - someone our handler knew of, but didn't actually know. An hour later came the friend request, and we swiftly received a proposal of how it could be created. It was exactly how we thought it should be done, so an estimate of cost was agreed, photographs of the current snake sent as guidance - and we had commissioned a glass fibre/resin snake for the roof!

Not only that, but within a couple of hours, he'd started modelling the head and posted a photograph.

Needless to say, we're excited about this - and so, by all accounts, is the creator, Dr Cornelius Quack.

This leaves us with three questions:

1. If you're so clever you tell us what colour it should be! (Thank you, Douglas Adams)
2. What to we do with the existing snake? (We have a couple of ideas)
3. How do we get it back from Manchester? (Other than the obvious - drive up there, attach it, and drive back).