Harrogate Show

I still think it was poor ...see you all again next year.

MB

-- malbenbu

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I have visited the Midlands Show and the Harrogate ones fairly regularly. Some years ago, I spoke with a small trader at Harrogate who could not afford the other prices for his pitch. Again, another trader repeated this, only yesteday. Last year, I was at the Midlands 'do' and technically. I was having free travel as my petrol was going back home from a Re-union near Kidderminster. I live in Newcastle upon Tyne. I expect to be going back to the same Re-union at the same time and therefore the same journey. I will defintely give the Midlands Show- a miss. We will know when traders and public like Malcolm boycott the shows. I would guess that it takes a real bargain to save =A37 plus =A330 or =A335 fuel which I estimate Malcom's bill to be. When road pricing comes in, it would be financial stupidity to attend.

I think that Malcolm has reached his decision a bit earlier than me!

Just for the record, I got a bill this past week. In fact, I got two. One was for the 'new' Mini to come out of the purchase total for the Road Fund for the year. The second was for my 'year old' Spanish car. The Road Fund price for Spain was =A335 but in France, it would have been free.The fuel prices in both countries are still cheaper than the UK. Rant, rant! And the bin man comes 6 days a week-- rant , rant.And the rates are less- cheap.cheep.

Cheers?

Norm

I was at the show today.

Took the opportunity to collect some stuff locally (including a BCE jig borer and a Dewar flask), so the petrol (about 500 miles and £55) wasn't really an issue, but the petrol cost will prevent me going under other circumstances - it was interesting, but it wasn't _that_ good. I will stick to Bristol, my local show, in future.

Was much less crowded than reported yesterday, but the traders seem to have done okay today too. Saw John and Ketan briefly, but that's all - I missed the lunchtime bar :(

The usual show traders were there, and got quite a lot of my money - it's nice to see things before you buy them, and to window-shop things you might buy someday if the bank manager agrees - but one niggle: I wanted to buy several things which are in the catalogues, but was old "we didn't bring any of those" - which was rather annoying, to put it mildly! Even Ketan did that ..

No great bargains, a few quid off here and there in Warco and a very few others, and some things which were more expensive than in the webpages ?? but also a chance to rummage in ME stuff you don't normally see listed.

Could have spent more time looking at the models and talking to the modellers, but didn't have enough time or feet.

Some specific things I saw which have come up here - the digital angle gauges seemed to work within a couple of tenths of a degree, but I am not entirely convinced - saw what _might_ have been a version of the combo XJ lathe/mill that "harryuk" mentioned, which looked like an okay bit of kit - it even looked like you could do some reasonable, though not quite full-sze, milling with it, as the milling head is sensibly placed half-way along the bed rather than at one end as in the earlier models, and it also retracts enough to get out of the way of any but the most extreme lathe operations - but I also saw several X3's again, and I _really_ want one of those. Yummy.

-- Peter Fairbrother

"And you're not a gun freak?"

"Oh no. I'm a collector. Huge difference."

"The difference being?"

"I've got more guns."

(BOFH)

..........................

Mustn't mock what you're disqualified from possessing, Peter. Smacks of envy.

I'd planned to go tomorrow (Sun), but found I had to work today so more or less scrapped that plan. Now I find today's job hasn't gone to plan :-( (Bl**dy 60-yr-old engines, try to fix one problem & end up creating 3 more!!) so I'll be trying to sort that out tomorrow, so definitely not going. I would only have come home with some stuff I haven't got room for - after all, what's the pont of going all that way with nothing to show for it??

Tim

??

As far as I know only people with criminal records and lunatics are legally disqualified from possessing guns in the UK - and (admittedly, thanks partly to a kindly judge and a very good lawyer) I don't have one of the former.

The question of my lunacy has not been officially tested, but I used to have a shotgun licence and I expect I could still get one*.

• or even a rifle licence - certainly single shot or bolt-action rifle licences are obtainable in the UK, and perhaps even semi-auto - I know of a chap who has a semi-auto AR-15, quite legally, though I don't know the ins-and-outs of the licencing - it surprised me a little, as I had thought semi-auto's were mostly banned along with full-auto's in the aftermath of Hungerford, but the chap shoots at Bisley and Bisley would go bananas if it wasn't pukka.

Handgun licences are very hard (almost impossible) to get in the UK - is that what you are referring to?

Hmmm, Glock vs MAG-10 - I know which I'd want.

Neither, thanks - I'd rather be elsewhere.

So by the definition you're quoting, you'd be classified as a gun freak? LOL

Tom

I think Saturday morning is best - I've done Friday had your experience, done Sunday, but nothing left (+the Golf Club across the way don't serve food on Sundays ) , Saturday morning arrived at 10:00 and it was about optimum, queued about 5 or so mins whilst they open the doors and bought what I went for.

Steve

I didn't think he was quite that short

Regards, Tony

For a firearm certificate, you also need a "good reason" for possession of each and every firearm*. Membership of an approved target shooting club is the usual one; for hunting, you need to demonstrate access to suitable (safe) land for shooting.

The same requirement does not currently apply to shotguns; a shotgun certificate allows you to buy as many as you want.

You do now need character witnesses to show you are a sound type who is not likely to run amuk.

I can't be sure without checking, but ISTR that most self-loading (semi-auto) firearms are prohibited, but there may be an exception for .22 calibre weapons. Fully automatic weapons (machine guns, sub-machine guns etc) have been prohibited for as long as makes no difference, as they are in most countries (I think one or two states in the USA may allow them). Some of the things they use in the USA are truly scary - how about a semi-auto 0.5" BMG (Browning Machine Gun, as on some WWII tanks) with muzzle energy of 12,400 ft lbs (compare a .22 target rifle of about 150-200 ft lbs).

True, but there are specially adapted handguns with rod extensions (to prevent concealment) which count as "carbines" (i.e. short rifles) which can be used one-handed and are used by handgun target shooters.

Please don't take the above as gospel - it seems that our doctrinaire and authoritarian government changes the rules every year.

David

Being over 6 foot- unmetricated- and with a Clouseau hat- without the 'murths', most people are - a wee bit, disadvantaged. Missed you, Tony! Kind regards

Went today...pleasant banter with some of the stallholders (JS included).

Highlights:

- Excellent working scale model of a dragline - a well deserved 1st prize.

- The RC rowing boat (movie posted already I believe) - very neat. Had a chat with the guy that built it - apparently all his own electronics

- 5 PICs used to control the servos & decode the RC signals, a further microcontroller to figure out the right stroke sequence. He is seriously considering a Viking longboat next...

- Also on the "pond" - a RC motorised plastic decoy goose - the maniac that built it has armed its beak with a water jet & was squirting the spectators. Slightly surprised that he had survived the afternoon without suffering physical violence!

Regards, Tony

That the one with the skeltons? I was there yesterday and seen that. Was quite impressive :-)

moray

Self contained air cartridge weapons are section 5, you cannot buy them, or own them. however if you had them before they were 'banned' they were air guns, and so no licence was required. as a 'concession' to existing owners (so they didnt have to pay compensation) you could apply for a FAC to continue to own and use them, but they are non transferable. needless to say several hundred (thousand?) are missing, as there was no record of where they were before the ban... (some of the above may not be totally accurate, but is generally correct) Dave

Thats the one. Very nice piece of work.

Regards, Tony

Indeed. According to the police who visited me, and if I remember them correctly, there are believed to be a couple of hundred thousand unaccounted for. Only about 10-20% were legally declared. Insanity; it would be child's play to make new ones impossible to convert (vital parts of plastic) and the existing (undeclared) ones are quite out of reach. However, it is correct that the owners do not need to declare a specific reason for possession. The police seem to think that the only way of disposing of them is to hand them over (without compensation) but I cannot see any rule against exporting them.

However, now way of topic, even for this NG.

David

'cos I have less (ie no) guns?