Rome, The Eternal City

After realising we had a 4 day slot with only a handful of events booked, I decided to take the family on a short break to Rome. Its been a while since any of us had time for a holiday, and this season seemed to have been non stop work so we deserved a break. Rome has the reputation for being one of the most impressive cities in Europe so I was expecting something out of the ordinary. What I found was a mixture of the good, the bad and occasionally indifference, this isn't meant to be a holiday review so I will summerise what I liked and disliked about the trip.

The Good

History

I don't think there is anywhere else in Europe that you could walk along a street of relatively modern buildings, turn a corner and be confronted by a 2000 year old structure, and not just the once, but time and again, Rome seems covered in ruins (although I use the term loosely as some buildings such as the Pantheon are pretty much intact).

The statues and fountains by Bernini or Raphael are utterly breathtaking. A visit to the Vatican or the Sistine Chapel and the wealth of treasures on display are equally awe inspiring.

Entrance Fee Discounts

Most all of the public museums and monuments have a policy of allowing under 18 year olds from the EU free entry. If you are lucky in England you might get a discount for kids, but I wouldn't bank on it.

Discounted Rail Fares

When buying two adult tickets on the Italian rail system, a child of 12 or under was allowed to travel free of charge.

The Italian Rail Service

Rome's train operator is the first one in Europe I have travelled on that actually makes British Rail look good. The first train we approached, the conductor closed the doors as we reached it and wouldn't let us on, I thought this might have something to do with making sure the trains run on time, but as no other train managed to turn up at the allotted schedule this obviously wasn't the case. The next train that arrived had most of the doors out of order, so it resulted in a panic as the crowd of waiting people were forced to run up and down the platform trying to find a door that opened, we made it this time, but many again fell foul of the system where the doors are arbitrarily closed and the train leaves irrespective of whether anyone is waiting to board.

Lack Of The Nanny State

When visiting the Castle De Sant Angelo, a prominent notice warned visitors to beware of the uneven flooring and steps which were original and dated back to the time of the Emperor Hadrian. In this country the castle would either have ot be closed, or the floor would have to be ripped up and replaced in case someone tripped up and sued. There were many similar incidents, and surprisingly we did not see a single fatal accident whilst we were there, surely without our all encompassing Health and Safety Gestapo the people should have been dropping like flies.

Air Conditioned Hotel Rooms

The temperature was a steady 38C whilst we were in Rome, air conditioning must be a prerequisite for living in a country with temperatures like that.

Swiss Air

We flew out with Swiss air, a budget carrier which puts Sleazy Jet and Ryan air to shame. We were fed, watered, given chocolate and the kids on board presented with a selection of toys and games to occupy their time, all fairly inexpensive touches which would put them well in front of the other low cost airlines in my order of preference for future trips.

The Bad

The Vatican

We are constantly told by organised religion that we shouldn't aspire to worldly possessions, why then does the Vatican Cities display wealth and splendour far in excess of what any European King or Queen would be allowed to get away with in this day and age.

Roman Traffic Lights

The first evening in Rome I was amazed by the amount of drivers who, when we were stood on the pavement at pedestrian crossings, stopped and waved us across even though the traffic lights were still on green. I thought at the time that they must be the most considerate drivers in Europe. What I didn't realise at the time, was that in Italy you stop at a green light and go at a red light, as we rapidly discovered when we walked across zebra crossings with the traffic lights at red, and had to dodge the lunatic drivers swerving around us. I think it would be an idea for this strange traffic light system to be more widely publicised to prevent visitors being run down.

Speed Of Your Average Roman

I have often maligned our fast food outlets in the UK for the speed (or lack of it) of their services. After experiencing the Roman equivalent I now realise we operate at warp speed in this country. I walked into a Burger King, which had 4 separate tills open, 6 staff serving, and 8 people in the queue. After 10 minutes the queue had not altered one inch and nobody had actually been served. The amount of historic ruins in the city initially had me thinking that the Italians must be far more respectful of history than we are and more culturally sophisticated. I have since realised that the reason there are so many ancient ruins, is because the construction workers in the city haven't got around to demolishing them yet, and given a few centuries more will probably have them flattened.

The Heat

At a steady 38C during the four days we were there, Rome is just too bloody hot in August. I don't like blisteringly hot weather at the best of times, but trying to walk miles around a city and clamber up and down the 7 hills of room meant that we spent a fortune buying bottled water at ridiculous rates from local street sellers.

The Indifferent

The Population

The locals were a pretty miserable looking bunch. Sure if you asked for directions they tended to help you if they could, there was none of the contemptuous look and ignorance you would receive in say Paris at asking a local for help. But equally there was no sense of pleasure either. Ask for directions in Holland, or Scandinavia and the people seems to genuinely enjoy talking to you. In Italy they just seemed, well, indifferent.


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Official Launch Of Our New Themed Games Stalls

We have always been able to dress our games units up for specific parties or events. However we decided recently to take things a lot further and offer a completely themed service. The first event we had planned for this was a World War 2 themed party at a British army establishment near Salisbury.

The Victorian decor was changed for panels depicting famous world war 2 figures, airplanes, tanks and a large image of the Victoria Cross. We added flags, guns, ammunition belts and ammo boxes along with camouflage netting, dummy hand grenades, barbed wire and reproduction documents and newspapers to give each stall an period feel. Games were changed to match the theme so instead of coconut shie, we had the guests throwing rubber grenades at images of Hitler. The cork gun shooting range had you killing Nazi soldiers, and ball in the bucket became toss the handgrenade into the fox hole.

To complete the feel, all of our staff were dressed in British Army uniforms, well thats not strictly true, most of the staff were in British Army uniforms, one of us was dressed as a German Officer. Oh all right, I was dressed as an SS officer to add some variety. In fairness the stall I was operating was called the Nazi shoot, with the objective being to kill 2 out of the 3 soldiers on display. Things went well, right up to the point when the Regimental Sargeant Major confiscated the flag in my games unit (a Swastika with the SS runes in each corner). In fairness the brief from the client was a World War 2 theme, and the Germans were ever so slightly involved in that particular conflict, so what they should have held was a 1940's allied troops party. In the end the flag was returned to me and the event was a complete success. It started with a mock dogfight between a Spitfire and a Messerschmitt BF109. I have to say that the sound from the Spitfires Merlin engine at some 50ft height was impressive.

Our next theme is Horror / Halloween themed games which we have just launched. An impressive array of props have been acquired including lifesized figures with decapitated heads, body parts, skulls, skeletons etc. Our new front panels with a horror scene displayed have been fitted, and we have designed a new range of games including hoop the skull, shoot the werewolf etc.

Our new brochure can be downloaded from HORROR BROCHURE.



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'New Arthur' is only three days old, but already he is learning at an accelerated rate. With 'Old Arthur' being short staffed, I took his alter ego through to Hartlepool Carnival today, within 15 minutes he was looking after the hook a duck stall. I've calculated that at the current rate of progress, the original Arthur will be obsolete by Saturday Teatime.



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We are still working flat out and have been for a number of months now. One of our biggest problems is reliable staff. We have a core of freelance people who work for us on an "as needed" basis, which is fine. But occasionally we require additional staff in more of the administrative role that Arthur and I usually occupy.

After finding staff of this type in short supply, I hit upon the idea of cloning Arthur. A top of the range ACME do it yourself cloning kit was duly purchased. I studied the operating instructions carefully, weighed and measured all of the critical components of the systems, and finally was ready to start. A sample of Arthurs DNA was duly obtained the ingredients mixed together and after a couple of week we awaited the unveiling of the new " Clone Arthur". The results were not what I was expecting, however New Arthur has taken up his role quite diligently. He is pictured below sat on one of our office chairs, whilst taking a short break from answering inquiries.



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