Just a very quick blog post about SALUTE 50, about which I will be producing a photo-report in due course.
It was just as big and as busy as I remember it from the last time that I went, but the highlight of the whole thing was meeting up with so many people that I know through wargaming, including my fellow bloggers. The latter arranged to meet at 1.00pm, and I actually managed to have a team photo!
I won't name anyone (just in case I miss someone out!), but I am sure that if you read a regular UK wargaming blog, its author is very likely to be amongst this lineup!
For those of you who have not realised, I took the name of this blog post from the opening lyrics of that very non-PC TV comedy show of the late 1970s and early 1980s, IT AIN'T HALF HOT MUM.
Meet the gang because the boys are here
The boys to entertain you
With music and laughter to help you on your way
To raising the rafters with a, "hey, hey, hey!"
With songs and sketches and jokes old and new
We mess about, you won't feel blue
So, meet the gang because the boys are here
The boys to entertain you
We are here to make you feel gay
So give us a cheer with a, "hey, hey, hey!"
Just gather around and put down your gun
We mess about, there's plenty of fun
So, meet the gang because the boys are here
The boys to entertain you
B-O
B-O-Y-S
Boys to entertain you!
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Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteIt was a pleasure as always catching up, albeit briefly! Salute is definitely not the show for a leisurely ramble! I throughly enjoyed the meet up and exchanging stories with friends old and new.
The show itself was certainly back with a bang and whilst my Salute Loot was very modest I was able to find a lot of things out and make some new and useful connections.
At the end of the day that is what the hobby is all about!
All the best and an email will be forthcoming later tardy - once I have regained the feeling in my legs! :-)
DC
David Crook,
DeleteI wish that we had been able to sit down somewhere for a chat, but there was nowhere inside or outside the exhibition hall. By the time we had all met up for the blogger get together, my knees were pretty well shot and I needed to get home.
I bought nothing, but I wasn’t expecting to. Seeing the shiny interbellum figures was very, very tempting, but I resisted … for now.
I hope to exchange emails with you soon. In the meantime, I’m putting together a photo report about SALUTE 50.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
ReplyDeleteGlad you met up with your Friends- certainly good to meet up in person and have a chat or two. We do not have the number of Shows here- just the two once a year- 'Moab' in Sydney and 'Can-Con' in Canberra...nothing in the way of Local Shows- the Hobby is certainly supported there in Britain. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteIt was great to see people I regularly communicate with online.
SALUTE is the biggest wargame event in the UK … and probably Europe. I think that some of the US conventions are bigger, but that they are a rather different style of show, often taking place over two days.
All the best,
Bob
We have done blogger photos at Cancon from time to time
DeleteKaptain Kobold,
DeleteThey are a great way to record such gatherings.
All the best,
Bob
Thanks Bob for the picture, it was lovely to meet you and chat. You were looking very well - though I can sympathise with your description of how your knees were doing!
ReplyDeleteDavid in Suffolk,
DeleteI only wish that we could have chatted for longer. Unfortunately, the show doesn't provide somewhere for attendees to meet and sit together other than at the single food outlet ... which I think is a great shame. As to my knees ... well I walked with rather stiff legs back to the Elizabeth Line station and yesterday getting up and down stairs was painful.
Its no fun getting old ...
All the best,
Bob
Nice meeting everyone. I'm the guy in the bluish shirt, third from the left in the front. Transport murder in London that weekend - Victoria closed and the Marathon ... bus services totally shot!
DeleteRob Young,
DeleteIt was great to see you! It would really help SALUTE attendees if they could hold it on a different weekend from the London Marathon. That way the venue and the transport system might be a little less crowded.
All the best,
Bob
Great photo and nice to see you again after the weird few years. Enjoyed the meet up, a few die hards missing (Positie and Ray) but overall it was a decent crowd. Heres to next year.
ReplyDeleteCarl,
DeleteIt was great to see so many old faces and to meet a few new ones. It’s a pity that Postie and Ray were missing, but let’s hope they’ll be there next year.
All the best,
Bob
Actually, best for us if it is on usually - my wife Sandra is a Marathon fan, so I get Saturday Salute, She gets Sunday Marathon!
ReplyDeleteRob Young,
DeleteLiving as I do less than half a mile from the marathon’s route and having to live with the disruption, I loath it with a passion! We have helicopters flying low overhead from the early-ish hours of Sunday morning and quite a few local roads are shut off, thus making it difficult to go anywhere.
Rant over!
All the best,
Bob
I watched a couple of episodes of 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum' recently, and can report that it really hasn't aged very well at all :)
ReplyDelete(Unlike 'Dad's Army' which still hods up very well indeed).
Kaptain Kobold,
DeleteI don’t think that they are easily available to watch any longer in the UK, although I suspect that they might be saved on YouTube. At the time, my Indian pupils thought it was hilarious because the bits that were spoken by the bearer, char wallah, and punka wallah were really quite rude about the British, but because they spoke in Hindi and Urdu, most of the British audience were completely unaware!
All the best,
Bob
PS. I totally agree about ‘Dad’s Army’. It still makes people laugh, and it is regularly shown on the BBC in prime time slots.
All the best,
Bob