World Record Attempt!

We heard that there was an attempt at a Guinness World Record taking place in The Walks. That's the beautiful park that is five minutes walk from our flat, 2-Sox towers. We just had to get ourselves involved.




The record attempt was the biggest simultaneous handshake, with the existing record at about 4,600, set in Hong Kong. Of course we had to join in, how many times in your life do you have the chance to break a World Record? Remember Roy Castle. Remember the McGuirter twins. World records are important, especially if you're younger than 11.

So we set out. The Bank Holiday weather was traditional, with torrential rain. As we crossed the level crossing into The Walks we didn't see a huge throng of people. We saw dotted bodies across the old "Recreation Field", a huge area penned in with crush barriers, and the Mayoral car parked inside.

Of course, the record wasn't broken. King's Lynn managed about 188 hand-shakers, just 4,812-ish short of the record. So close! Not.

Me and Sam were approached determinedly by the mayor at one point but swerved the handshake. Hey, I didn't vote for you, why should I shake your hand? The failed attempt made the local paper in a "sad but expected" kind of way.

So. We tried, and we failed. You can't win them all!