Parallels between Home Shows.

From Earls Court to Philadelphia, one thing is certain, your feet still ache and you are constantly whacked around the legs by visitors who have purchase the gotta-have gimmick that invariably is on a long pole and can't carry it safely as they are laden down with bags of literature for things they will probably never own.

The Philadelphia Home Show that opened yesterday for a week plus run was my first opportunity to compare a US Home Show, (post television programs like Trading Spaces) to my memories of visiting the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition in Earls Court London.

There is always one "gotta-have" that you can't get in the shops available at these shows, many years ago I purchased a mini food processor that works by hand, which I still have and rate as a good deal for a few quid. So yesterday I was on the look-out just in case.

Philly is a smaller show, with booths and not the grand houses built in London, yet that is pretty much the only difference. For every room in the house and the garden there was something for everyone. Walking in to the entrance was a exhibit stand that contained a selection of grand clocks, mothers, fathers and all relatives in between. They also had a restored wooden bar that look out of the Queen Vic in Eastenders, compete with the canopy and glass racks a snip at several thousand dollars. The counter even had the long indent on the bar keeps side for the beer pumps to be located.

My favorite at these shows are the demonstrators, pruning shears that would cut through the toughest branches, pressure cookers that served up chicken and potatoes while you waited, blue mops that would magically clean any kitchen floor, by far the most popular gotta-have, indicates across Philadelphia kitchen floors will sparkle this Spring. The first demonstration we came across was for a hand held electric food processor, handing out delights on small spoons so we could savor the cream and fruit this marvel could make. Nothing like feeding your customers to get hold of their credit cards for the impulse gotta-have purchase.

The upside of visiting on the first day is that the exhibitor staff were motivated and engaging. If you have never manned a booth to talk to visitors before, try it for a day, then imagine doing this for over a week. From personal experience after running a booth at the Motor Sports Fair in Olympia several years ago for four days it is a tough job.

Both Taney & I agreed that the one booth that could have very easily sold us, was for Cutco the knife manafacturer. We have from the generousity of others a number of these knives, including a spreader which is one of the best knives we own. They now have a potato peeler that both of us can use (with one left hander and one right hander in the home, the left handed peeler is not the most versatile). An ice cream scoop, a cheese knife and pizza cutter. Cutco are not cheap, but quality comes with a cost. We walked away, no-sale for now!

The Philadelphia Home Show was a fun day out for us both, especially with China Town a couple of blocks away and Wong-Wong Restaurant a favorite of ours where dinner and a tip still comes in less than the minimum credit card payment of $15 (Seven pounds 60 pence there of there abouts, including soup, noodles, tea and soda).

Finally, we walked out with a bag full of stuff I doubt we will even read through, in something a little more fancy than a plstic bag.

Dinner Party!

Last night Taney & I were invited to the home of John and Beth for a dinner party, with three other couples. The stone built house sitting on the side of a gently sloping green hill was warm and inviting.

I had the pleasant opportunity to meeting John and Beth a couple of months ago at our church society Friday supper. Friday supper is an old tradition in the Bryn Athyn Society that together with our other friends, once a month, we have made every effort to attend.

One of our hosts "hobbies" is home brewing. Not from one of those awful kits that you can buy in the supermarkets for a couple of quid that tastes "rough" and has consequences for drinking the stuff. No, John served up some great beer, great for this side of the pond anyhow.

Perhaps the general ambience helped. The lower level of the house was set last night with a roaring fire in the fireplace, there was a small bar and two stools to one side with comfortable seats to quaff the beer and feel the heat from the fire.

Both my wife and the wife of another guest who also happens to be English exclaimed how much this looked like an old pub. I could not agree more. Add a few old horse brasses, a large mirror engraved with a beer company and a couple of watercolors of fox hunting in merry old England and you would have the type of bar that I used to travel miles into the depths of Hertfordshire to find, located of the highways and byways and snuck into the little narrow lanes that only joined one small village to another smaller hamlet.

The whole evening was charming.

Normal routine resumes tomorrow

I am very fortunate to have been away from my office since December 23. An opportunity to unwind, kick back and sneeze! Christmas simply would not be in the wise words of my parents "Christmas without Malcolm having a cold". Not that it happens every year but this year it did. Regardless, I wanted to blog that this year in particular the run up to Christmas from Thanksgiving on has been a cracker of a Christmas. I note that next year I will be a Dad and that this year is the last for Taney & I as just the two of us.

Well, a normal routine resumes tomorrow with my first commute in a while back to the office to pick up on the volunteer programs in progress and work on those new volunteer needs in the new year. A throughly incredible challenge and worthwhile task ahead. I am raring to get back to business.

The last week for all has been focused on the tragic loss of life from the tsunamis. I want to highlight a comment I made a week ago, "that the crisis management of dealing with a disaster of this magnatude will be rewritten in the light of what happens over the coming days, weeks and months ahead. I am disapointed by some parties who have taken an opportunity to reinfoce a political agenda so soon in the aid efforts by governments and private individuals. The divide between the US and the UN has never moreso been displayed publically than in the last week, causing major embarrasment to the United Nations.

The speed at which aid has hit the ground given the scope and size of the disaster has been very impressive, given the distances involved, assets needed and prioritizing what needs to be done. There are plenty of people out there who say it is not quick enough, aid is not reaching those who need it. This disaster is of epic proportions and it is not as if there are stockpiles of aid waiting to be flown out at a moments notice to help victims of a disaster of this type. The speed in which so many agencies have responded and are responding is heartrendering.

Tonight I went to church with my wife at the Bryn Athyn Cathedral for a special service dedicated to those touched by the disaster. It allowed for a moment of reflection and prayer and the lighting of candles.

While a normal routine resumes tomorrow, there are many along the coastlines of the Indian Ocean who can only pray for a normal routine will resume someday soon thanks to the international community and the personal donations from millions to help make "normal" and "routine" something to look forward towards once the grief and heartaches have subsided.