I'm not saying I'm old, because I'm not but I am old enough to remember the TT how it was as opposed to what is has become. Growing up on the Isle of Man in a poor family where family holidays just didn't exist it was something we all looked forward to, a time when the island came alive for a couple of weeks!
In the 80/90/early 00's period I'm talking about the whole festival atmosphere was brilliant. 90% of our visitors were from either Ireland, Europe or further afield and the primary reason for coming was to WATCH the racing. If you look at it overall they were here entirely for the racing, the piss up, tits and strippers, playing on bikes on the prom and if they were lucky getting sucked off by some skank on the beach. That is what the TT was. Yes there was the odd person who forgot what side of the road to ride on (there isn't a Manx person alive who doesn't know how to say keep left please in German), yes people still got killed but generally the whole thing was very friendly and like I say as long as the racing was good and/or the beer flowed everybody was happy. Even the strippers.
But in the last 7-10 years it all seems to have changed. It looks like a lot of groups of young lads from England now arrive thinking that they are here to "ride the TT". Fuck knows where they've got that idea (ITV4, social media?) but they turn up fresh off the 4-5 pints on the boat ready to do a "lap". Instead of being here for a week or more they rock up for a few days with some sort of mission of self destruction and fuck everybody else. I don't need to guess at this shit. Last year I was backwards and forwards on the boat a lot during TT and got to see it first hand. I'm no prude, my own drink driving conviction tells you I can be a proper right dickhead. But the total "we're here to go as fast as we can, cos we're in the TT" attitude was fucking amazing. So much so that I told my daughter not to bother picking me up from the boat I'd get a taxi, no way would I want her on the roads when those bellends roll off the boat. Sorry to say but this is what the TT has become to a lot of people.
What makes it even worse is the moaning from these same cunts. "It's too expensive", "the mountain roads always shut", "there's too many speed limits", "my tent is wet", "I'm not coming again and your island will be ruined!!!!" For one, expensive compared to what? I'm sure as hell they've never been to any other major sporting event. People were genuinely moaning about paying £100- £140 a night to hire a whole HOUSE (where you could sleep 4 people). Really? During the Grand National last year you wouldn't find a ROOM in Liverpool for less than £500 a night. Some were over £2000. Don't get me started on the Champions League games. It was always cheaper to come back to the island and then travel back over a few days later. The mountain road is always shut? Yes it is, mostly because some (lets generalise here) wannabe cunt has ran off the road because in their head they are "in the TT". You are supposed to be here to watch the racing, not make our roads a fucking death trap. Wet tents, same for the last 100+ years, get over it. You could have always stumped out for a home stay, you know where the Manx open their houses to complete strangers or even give them over completely, for as little as £100 a night. You're not coming back and it will ruin us? Really. Are people that backwards that they've done zero research about a place before going on holiday. Nobody even knows whether the TT makes the island any money. They knows the basic costs alright, and they can have a guess at roughly how much it benefits a handful of people. But there is the huge unknown of the lost business everybody else suffers. The island is pretty much closed for business for 2 weeks. We are an international finance centre. At best, if everything was to be perfect it may account for 1% of GDP, trust me mate you're not keeping that island going in the slightest! The money argument will go on as long as the TT but it's a safe bet that other than government overtime and a small group of businesses the rest of the island benefits shit all from the TT. We host it out of good will and a legacy, tradition. Without it our government fears becoming anonymous, like Jersey and Guernsey and for us Manx there is a pride in welcoming people to what is a stunningly beautiful island, plus we like getting pissed in the beer tent :)
The extra speed limits? This is where we are at. As long as the TT continues to attract people who think they are here to test their skills on open roads then it's only going to get worse for extra restrictions. At some point there will be a speed limit put on the mountain road. At the same time I imagine there will no longer be the justification of making it 1 way. Funnily enough when it's 2 way the rest of the year we manage just fine without daily destruction. The same as for all the other parts where limits only come in for TT and only in recent years. Hmm, it almost coincides with the explosion of "we're here to do the TT" fuckwits? Maybe at that point the "we're not coming again" gang will actually fucking stop coming and free up the boats for the people who used to come for a couple of weeks to WATCH the racing? Hopefully. Then all we need is burnouts on the prom and the strippers back and we can get back to a proper TT.
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