Haydock 10th July

Off to the Haydock Show on 10th July and for the first time it didn't beat its predecessor.

Compared to York it was quite a small show and even in the short time I have been doing this I am beginning to realise I keep seeing pretty much the same things at each show I go to.  That said I don't see an alternative to going to the ones you can get to easily as it is the best (only?) way to shop hands on.


Buying from E Bay and from the web generally leaves a lot to be desired.  Postage is killing when you are buying a small inexpensive item and is hugely disproportionate and when added up across a dozen items it would have bought you tons more goodies for your collection if you've been able to purchase them directly from a shop.  


The other problem is that you really don't always get what you are expecting.  Things being perfectly in scale is the biggest issue for me.  I appreciate that colours are notoriously difficult when buying this way.  Between the quality of the camera (and photographer!!!), the downloading of the picture to E-Bay and finally the screen you are viewing it on you don't really have a great deal of chance of colour being very accurate: so I don't expect much as far as that goes and I try to resist buying where colour is critical.  Being out of scale is really irritating though.  Claiming 1/12th for just about everything 'dolls house' is a fairly loose guide.  I now usually email and ask for the exact size and often cut a piece of paper to the dimensions given and put this in place where the object is going.  Sometimes even things in scale such as the dressing table I mentioned before can 'look wrong'.


So the Haydock show was a mix of disappointment in that I had a hard time finding anything I wanted and pleasure because the handful of things I did buy I was pleased with.  


Also, I am at the stage now where the backbone of the work is done and I need more particular bits and bobs which won't always be there. If you are looking for flooring for example it is pretty likely you'll have a choice of stuff and can get what you want.  If you decide you want a bowl of cornflakes (like me) then it gets a bit tougher.


My saint of a husband did the drive there and back and the sit in the car park with a book without complaint as usual.  I did buy him a totally rubbish Italian meal in the evening as a reward!


There's a couple of photos in the album in the left column if you want to see what I bought.  Meanwhile bits and bobs via E-Bay are accumulating and I'm set for shuffling things around (again!) soon when I can find time to settle them in.  My days are being given over to the garden when I can - that said rain has stopped play for the last three days but that just means I have 'paperwork' to catch up with.  Wentworth Court is singing to me like a siren right now and I'm itching to get back to it.