Ideal

With the closure of Earl's Court, Olympia has become the new venue for the Ideal Home Show. This actually works out well for us. We set out around 0900 and drove to Arundel Station. Arundel has the advantage, locally, of having plenty of available car parking. Grabbing our tickets we headed up towards London, changing trains at Clapham Junction to pick up the London Overground. Three stops later we were at Olympia, and our tickets had been a lot cheaper than if we had used Victoria and the Underground.

The Show seemed better organised than during our last trip. Distinct areas had been set aside for Gardens, Home Improvements, House Wares, Technology, and Fashion and Beauty. This made it a lot easier to work your way round. As usual there were several show homes as the centre piece of the event. We worked our way round, section by section. Stopping here to look at this, or there to examine that. The Gorse Fox was surprised that there were not more stands featuring renewable energy... but in general there was plenty to see. We picked up a few bargains on the way round, but nothing too significant. We did, however, finally manage to replace the blades for our blender - the originals having been lost in one of the moves.

After about four hours we had exhausted the show and were ready for a final cup of tea and to head home. The trains were not yet crammed and we timed things pretty well, getting back to Arundel just after 1800. All in all it was a good day, but the Gorse Fox suspects it may be worth skipping the show next year, and returning the year after.