Good: A brand new show organsied by my friends at Rapido.
Bad: It's in Kent.
Unusually, the event took place on Friday and Saturday, so I left at 11am on the Thursday. Sadly, the M25 was closed, resulting in two hours stuck in Clacket lane services, followed by another three crawling around the very narrow lanes, along with all the other traffic. It was horrible. Fortunatly, the route took me through a gridlocked village, which had a hall to dump my car in, and a pub, for a toilet stop and some delicious lasagne. At 7:30, the motorway had reopened, and I made it to the show at 8:30pm.
Was it worth it?
Yes it was. Although deliberatly not a big show, the layout quality was really high, and there were several I'd liked to have spent more time with. As it was, Friday I chatted all day, even missing lunch./ Saturday started slower, but there was still a lot to say.
I'd kept my packing to a minimum - Titfield Thunderbolt and Grandpa's Trains cakebox scenes, the 009 layout under a cake cover, and my recent BRM project of a bowling green. Despite being fairly simple, this last model attracted a lot of attention and chat. Not bad for something without a single train!
I managed to squeeze in a photo shoot with R&J Colliery, all the way from Holland. Just my sort of layout - small and very highly detailed. Look out for the article in a future BRM. There are a couple more that need photographing, but I've yet to organise these.
However, there was a downside. In the cafe were some Kent Gypsy Tarts. Keen to try the local delicacies, I gave one a go. It was horrible. Two bites and in the bin. Basically, a custard tart, but full of nasty burnt caramel goo. Apparently, we should thank the Isle of Sheppy for these. They can keep them!
2 comments:
The M25 is a huge reason why I'm glad we've moved from Kent to Herefordshire. I got to the stage where I'd plan journeys via A and B roads, taking longer, just to avoid it. I think a show I went to at Lockmeadow over last Christmas break was also on Fri/Sat only...I guess the venue is used for something regularly on Sundays. Whatever, the Rapido Railex seems to have been very well received. I look forward to seeing the colliery layout when it appears in BRM.
Gypsy Tart is perhaps an acquired taste, and some are better than others. I've had some homemade in our local pub before we moved and enjoyed it.
Interesting. Growing up in Tunbridge Wells a square portion of 'gypsy tart' was a frequent pudding dish at my school.
Until reading your piece I had never thought about the somewhat dubious name or why my school served it in the the entire intervening forty-something years.
I recall it was usually served with what we called shaving cream, a sweet, sugary concoction almost devoid of taste and with a slightly granular texture. With the tart it was basically some bone dry pastry and a huge sugar hit and hardly anyone liked it.
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