My TV is full of snooker, which tells me that today, I should be driving in to London for the Model Engineering exhibition. It's always fun to see the tables of baize in the foyer of the exhibition centre. Quite an eye-opened for me the first time as I'd never seen a full-sized table in the flesh.
I've never enjoyed driving in the capital, but by using the M1 rather than M40, and travelling on a Sunday, means it's not too bad. Getting back is slightly trickier as the satnav aims at the M40 but I like to keep the North Circular miles to a minimum.
Anyway, the London ME is my favourite of the breed. There's less engineering and a wider selection of model-making disciplines on show. It tends to have a wider audience too with families enjoying the show. That's probably why there is Lego, Tamiya trucking and even steampunk. The "Imagineering" kids engineering section would have appealed to a younger me.
For grown-up Phil, there are plenty of boats and some garden scale railways to enjoy. I like the engineering, but you can see the same models several years running with little progress in between. Mind you, I often find I've photographed the boats more than once too!
Hopefully, this time off will see some new exhibits appear if we are ever allowed out again. Since the engineers are largely at the top of the list for vaccinations based on age, maybe they stand more chance of a show than most?
If you'd like to re-live those heady days in the past, my blog posts and photos for each year can be found here:
My daughter lives near Ally Pally. I've found the best route is the M40 to Bicester and then take the A41 thru Aylesbury. You end up nearly in the same place as the M1 and avoid that slow (to me)trek thru Southam and Daventry.
ReplyDeleteBrian, Redditch
Thanks Brian - I'll bear this in mind if we ever get to go again.
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