Well, my sincerest apologies to all of the Stratton St.George Blog readers... ;-) Its been a long time coming and for that I can only apologise. Anyway a quick recap of the last couple of months should bring you up to speed with happenings at the hut.
So if you recall we were aiming to have the dock extension finished by the Harrogate show, if this wasn't enough pressure we also accepted invitations to do back to back weekends at Southampton and Alton.
January was a blur, everyone working on club nights and homework as well to reach our target. I must add that without Bob's monumental efforts to finish the cobbling and just to show off making some gates to the dock area we would have been doomed.
Southampton was a good show. We tried some new things to get a decent mode of operating the new board and avoided any embarrassing incidents. It highlighted a few technical problems, mainly areas of cobbling that lifted some of the lower slung locomotives off the track. A club night of peel and stick reduced the height and all appeared good.
Alton was more of the same. I may sound a little vague on this point but that's because I didn't go (shame on me). Anyway they found a few more things to fix so we did!
Finally the big weekend Harrogate 2008.
After what felt like an eternity on the 
M25 we had ourselves a convoy and it was on up the M1. It must be noted at this point that following the Sports Megan proved a little interesting and after several death defying lane and road changes we loose them in traffic, we no longer have a convoy! Later it is revealed that the Sat Nav was hampered by Donna Summer's disco mix and the incumbents of the vehicle end up doing a tour of a power station for their sins. This said our navigational aids also fail and we find ourselves touring some fine little villages.
Finally we get back on the motorway and decide to follow the signs. As the miles past we eventually reach Harrogate and to the amusement of everyone, we arrive within two car lengths of our collogues. So much for the Tortoise and the Hare theory, if neither of you know where your going!
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After being folded in the back of the car for more
hours than I can recall the thought of setting up the layout appears strangely appealing even though the temperature is just below zero and the exhibition halls have no heating.
Some minor damage has been sustained on the trip up, so this is repaired and we ready ourselves for a weekend of playing trains (amongst other things).
On arrival at the hotel we are greeted by the over friendly effeminate receptionist "What station are you?", he's obviously having the best day of his life so far, so we obligingly tell him.
After sampling the delights of Harrogate we return some what worse for wear in the early hours of the morning.
It's Showtime.
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