Nine of us turned up to play on Daddy's Day. Not all were Daddies.
I arrived a bit later than usual to find half the mob there and already
busy. The stealth team had been in during the week and had poked, prodded and
muttered incantations until the Digitrax booster began to boost. Derek was
following up this warm and fuzzy moment by connecting point motors to his
revised power supply and demonstrating that crossovers now switched back and
forth. Sadly, at the end of the day, he left muttering about LEDs, AC loops,
and having a drink. Rod was playing Charades - the answer is that he was
pretending to be a Crown fork lift truck, (picking them up and putting them
down) as he went around fixing the points that had been laid with metal rail
joiners to the frogs. Martin arrived with prefabricated walls for Mousehole
Gorge, and Port Gary marched in, tucked under Paul's arm. The bar for scenery
standards on our new layout is being set pretty high. Helen and Judy came,
which improved the afternoon tea prospects beyond all measure. I eventually
finished nailing down the Sayer yard - as far as I will go until the turntable
arrives - and Geoff the Sec did the same with his branch line tracks - as far as
he can go until the coal flood loader arrives. And we all managed to keep Dale
busy with a stream of "have we got? have you seen? where is? what do you
think about?"
Over tea and coffee, after our inaugural monthly committee meeting,
conversation revolved around exhibition layouts - triggered by comments from
those who had exhibited at, or taken kids to, AMRA's Show at Caulfield. A
success from AMRA's side - big attendance - which brings its own problems with
parking, moving around the venue, and catering. Also rather inward looking,
not much for kids, and too many trade stands and exhibits that were not well
presented. With "the holiday mob" making up the bulk of our patrons we have to
strike a different balance - and this has drawn favourable comment from many of
our exhibitors in the past.
Next week is planned to be a working bee, with a blitz to clear the long
room - most of what is left is destined for the tip.
See you then,
Peter
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