Salute- A traders View.

 From Stand TB14 to the Gents and back.....

 Arrived at Ex-cell about 14.30 on Friday afternoon for the set  up. Jump through the usual tedious- but nessercery security hoops and get in about 15.00 .  set up  all but done by 16.00. No worries. Off to our hotel which is deliberately some distance away- a 20 minute or so drive from the awful wasteland that are the nearby hotels we used to use -  bad expensive beer and poor overprice food that would disgust a sick dog.
  Get to the hotel and do the 3 S's - off to the pub next door before a walk to our usual Friday night eatery- where the kitchen is closed

BUGGER! 

Find another pub nearby where the food is reasonable and tastes  pretty good too.
 Walk back to the hotel for a relatively early night
 Saturday Dawns 
 Breakfast at 08.00- it will ber the only food we get  for almost 12 hours. As it happens its pretty good- Bacon, decent snorkers (vide The Cruel Sea) Hash browns Eggs-  Baked beans for those with a stronger stomach than I...
Drive to Ex-cel- no problem- Try to find somewhere to park the Van- Hmmmm....... So off we go leaving Jim to find a parking space.
 Get to the stand.
 Plug in the lights- nothing happens. The dammed things were fine last night. So report the fault to Harry the  head of the organising team... there is a man with a load on his mind- apparently I'm not the only one with a fault.
 It takes a while but I eventualy get power- Ex-cell send an elictrician to replace the  fuse box
 - actually they send a crew of two- this is why I'm paying a HUGE fee for a days power on top of my substantial tradestand price but then Ex-cel never miss a chance to gouge- this in nothing to do with the Warlords.
 so 6 minutes past 10 and the power is ON
 .... and the first wave of Zulu warriors  arrive at the barricades .....
 Next time I look up  its midday  and the credit card machine glows dully in its own heat- a quick gulp of cold and nasty tea and back to the fray.
 Napoleonics. Acw . Italian Wars French and Indian War WW2 Moderns- Jim is grasping some Maoris !
 Zombies - still in their boxes -fly over the counter! Prussians, Russians, Normans, Vikings Huguenots Landsknects  . The Blue moon SYW bins look as if a tornado has been through 'em - hardly an Austrian cavalryman left !
I guzzle on a bottle of water before Dehyration sets in . It's hot and just a bit sweaty ! 
More Moderns, WW2 Polish,More FIW - this time 28mm  Lunch was for wimps ....
 15.00 and the pace begins to slacken. I get to go for a wee -wee!
 All I see are bloody Saga games and Zombie bloody cowboys- how sterile and tedious - other games in the distance but no time
 Back to the battle !
 Some chap wants 10mm Zulu War "Characters"- how do you tell? Tiny Chard or Tiny Bromhead? . Still no worries we have some, though I can't vouch for who's who.
 16.15 - approx ... Pace definitely slacker now. I nip off to see Ged Cronin at Gringo40s- Fancy some Garabaldini ....
Jim has to go off and get the van in the queue..... Lynz  and I can handle the stragglers .....
17.00 - the show closes but we are  still dealing with some French  chaps- Lynz's French is better than mine so all well
17.15
 I sit down and guzzle more water......

 knackered ...

the only sounds I caqn hear  are the creaking of sundry joints and the happy rustle of pound notes coming home to Daddy .......and a goodly number of happy chaps with Old Glory carrier bags full of Goodies ..
Now all we have to do is load up and get back to the hotel. No WAY are we going back tonight. A quiet dinner and a pint or two- assuming I have strength to lift 'em . Then early - ish to bed for a few Zeds.


So Gentle reader that is MY personal view of Salute. Its fine for all you chaps just toolog about the hall looking at this and that. Some chaps were working for a living .....