Funfairgames, aka trials and tribulations!

A New Addition To The Fleet

11 , 11 Mar 2010 00:08:00 GMT

We rack up quite a few miles throughout the year, our Jaguar Estate car piling on nearly 70,000 in a little over 15 months. Upto now we have hired vans in, partly because we have an excellent deal with a local van hire company, and partly because we didn't want the rapidly depreciating drain on our books that any vehicle represents. However since our acquisition of Chocolate Experience, the chocolate fountain hire company, we have had a need for a smaller, lighter type van than those we have been hiring. Traipsing down to Norwich in a jumbo long wheelbase high roof transit averaging about 26 to the gallon wasn't really suitable when you had around half a dozen smallish boxes in the back. The van hire company has a single Transit Connect, but this tended to be out on long term hire all the time. Anyway, we have just acquired a Citroen Dispatch specifically for these smaller jobs. Its a little larger than a Connect, but smaller than a transit, and has 3 seats which is an added bonus. We haven't had the van long enough to make a decision on how reliable it is, but on our first trip to London and back it averaged 39 miles to the gallon, which is only about 6 MPG behind our Jag, and well in front of the Transits we use. The Dispatch is identical to the Peugeot Expert and Fiat Scudo, the only difference being the Dispatch is fitted with Traffic Master navigation. This is a GPS system with a monochrome screen about the size of a credit card, and I was doubtful as to its utility, being more used to the widescreen full colour Garmins we have been using (although with their terrible back up service the Garmins are being replaced with Tom Toms shortly). However in use the system seems to work as well as any other we have used, also it links to the Traffic Master system and routes you around traffic delays. It also gives me the ability to prepare routes online and send them to the satnav system, so I can reprogram a staff members destination on the fly. The system must also be the most polite navigation system on the market, it doesn't tell you to take an exit on the roundabout, it asks if you would "Please take the exit". |

Mobile Bar Buzz

05 , 5 Mar 2010 11:44:00 GMT

We recently installed a bar at an event for a major motor industry manufacturer and a games console company. This was a pre paid job with us supplying a fixed package of drinks, including cocktails and one of our Jagermeister tap machines. The event went stormingly with everyone in fancy dress and the room buzzing. Sabine Schmitz (the German female racing driver who raced Jeremy Clarkson around the Nurburgring race track, with Jeremy in a Jaguar S type, and Sabine in a Transit Van, she lost by only 9 seconds. Ms Schmitz and a cohort of German friends managed to consume our stocks of Jagermeister, before moving onto frozen Margarita cocktails with an added shot of Vodka, something our cocktail mixologist insisted you couldn't do, but the Schmitz party proving you obviously could! |

Poor Bloody Pandas

06 , 6 Feb 2010 00:08:00 GMT

Have a read of this amusing story posted on an Orange website . Quite amusing, right up until you read that the Pandas are being carried back to China by Fedex, poor bloody Pandas, if they are lucky they will turn up in Siberia, or Tanganyika, or any where but China, if they are unlucky they will never be seen again, and to add insult to injury, when the Chinese government ring Fedex to ask where they are, they will no doubt be informed by Fedex customer services that the address is wrong and the delivery driver can't find anywhere called China. Read my last experience of Fedex here! An amusing little anecdote unless you are me, well guess what, I was stupid enough to use the same Australian printing company AGAIN, who used Fedex AGAIN, who have managed not to deliver my parcel 2 days in a row AGAIN, and who have informed me that its because I have supplied the wrong address AGAIN, thing is the address I have given them is the correct one AGAIN, the same one that is successfully delivered to by every other parcel company in the English speaking world, except for Securicor who employ the same morons that Fedex do. On a lighter note, we are trialling the use of Skype on our mobile bars website to allow people to contact us free of charge using the Skype service. The intention is that if it is successful we will roll it out on the other websites in our portfolio, (take note Fedex, I assume you don't have access to mobile phones with which to ring and ask me for directions to my address, well now you can use either Skype, email or snail mail giving you 3 more opportunities to find out where I am located). Clicking the button should automatically send a call out from your Skype system to ours, assuming of course that you have Skype installed, and as long as amember of staff is available to answer it we will take your call. Obviously the button will need to read online to indicate that the service is available at that particular time.

Complete Bar Package For Smaller Events

31 , 31 Jan 2010 19:18:00 GMT

As January draws to a close, I've been looking at our sales leads. Last year we posted an incredible 209% increase in leads during January. My target this year was a modest 10% increase as I don't think it is possible to keep growing at the rate of 200% per year. As it turns out we have posted a 95% increase on last year, which equates to almost 500% up on the year before! Chocolate Experience has added some of the increase as last January we didn't own that business, but stripping that out we are still some 85% up on last year. Everything is in place for the bar business, including a number of confirmed bookings for weddings. After looking into the market I noticed that there are plenty of bar companies offering complete packages for events with 100 plus guests, but very few catering for the smaller 30-40 guests event. We are quite happy providing services to events at both ends of the scale, and as a result have launched a new microBAR service offering draught, spirits, wines, alcopops and soft drinks on one of our Victorian style carts, or one of our new contemporary illuminated bars at a fixed price. Details are available at microBAR Package. This uses one of our new european designed integrated draught chiller/dispensers along with bar butlers to hold the optice and some mini wine coolers allowing us to provide everything in a much reduced footprint. We also sold the square helter skelter just before Christmas. Unfortunately we had to borrow it back for the 4 days of Stockton Christmas festival and I ended up having to build it up and pull it down after I had thought I had seen the last of it. Whilst at Stockton, we received the snow ahead of the rest of the country, with an incredible amount falling within the space of a couple of hours. On the final day whilst taking the ride down, I discovered that the chutes contained a thick layer of ice, not good when you have to walk up them. I eventually used boiling water to pour onto the chutes and defrost them, this lasted around 5 minutes after which the water cooled down and refroze and we had to repeat the process. Once we had the ride dismantled and taken back to a nearby yard for storage (as I didn't fancy driving it on the roads in blizzard conditions), all that remained was to wait for better weather and return the ride to its new owner. As it turned out that took nearly a month, as everytime the weather in Yorkshire was ok it was bad weather in the North East, and vice versa. Anyway the ride is now safely back at Rotherham and off my hands again. |

The Cult Of The Green Fairy

13 , 13 Jan 2010 22:41:00 GMT

We tend to add additional lines to our portfolio in a number of different ways. Sometimes, as is the case with our new mobile bar service, our existing clients ask us for it, with others such as the milk shake cart I think it has some potential, buy the equipment and then set about winning work for it, and with the Chocolate Fountain company we acquired it was a mixture of luck, being in the right place at the right time, and the fact that someones wife had decided to have an affair causing her husband to sell us the business. In addition to the aforementioned bar business we have just launched, we also added the option of a specialist JagerMeister bar. We have now added by demand a Baileys drinks fountain to our , and an Absinthe bar, simply because I like the ritual involved in preparing the drink. For those who have yet to sample the delights of the Green Fairy, as Absinthe is commonly called, it is a herbal spirit, which according to popular legend was invented in Switzerland by Dr. Pierre Ordinaire for use as a medicinal remedy. A mistaken, although widespread belief that the drink had strong hallucinogenic properties led to it being banned in many countries in the early 1900's, although surprisingly Britain didn't ban it, making it one of the few occasions we were less stringent when applying bans than our Euro cousins. In the early 1990's the drink made a comeback and the ban was gradually rescinded. The preparation of the drink is a ritual in itself. Absinthe can be anything up to about 89% proof, it is not intended to be drunk neat, (some people do drink it that way, but some people also drink meths or industrial alcohol), and needs to be diluted with water, not only to lower the alcohol percentage, but also because this releases different flavours and aromas which are otherwise locked into the neat liquid. To prepare it, a shot of Absinth is added to a glass, an Absinthe spoon is placed across the top of the glass, these are usually decorated spoons, which are perforated to allow liquid to drip through them, a sugar cube is placed on the spoon, and a small amount of iced water drizzled onto the cube, this is then left to dissolve and drip through to the Neat spirit. After this more iced water is slowly drizzled through the spoon and into the cup, the Absinthe is louched, which refers to a process where the clear green liquid is gradually turned into a paler, cloudy substance due to the various oils being released and mixed into the water. It is then drunk! The weather here was just starting to thaw, when it started to snow again, not heavy but we have had about half an inch since tea time. Arthur hasn't experienced any of this yet due to the fact that he is sunning himself on a beach in Sharm El Sheikh, expect news of war breaking out in Egypt at any moment! We have also just taken delivery of a batch of wedding chair covers we ordered from America. They were ordered on the 8th of January and we received them on the 13th, a mere 5 days from order to delivery. The same day we ordered them, I ordered some addiitonal equipment for our new bars, this was ordered from an English company, and we are still waiting for it. On Monday I am due to collect our new bar sections, and a wine cooler allowing bottles of red and white wine to be kept at different temperatures in the same cabinet. We also took delivery of some heavy duty counter mounted corkscrews, you insert the bottle in the bottom, pull the handle and the cork is removed and ejected, if when first examining the mechanism you tip it upside down whilst your finger is inside, it neatly corkscrews through your hand as I found out a couple of days ago! |

A New Year, New Lines

07 , 7 Jan 2010 10:55:00 GMT

Well, this time last year saw a massive increase in inquiries for our services. Truth be told I was a little worried about this year as I felt sure things would start to slow down. However they have done just the opposite. Not only are the level of inquiries almost four fold up on last year, but we also have over four times as many booking confirmed for the coming season as we had at the END of January last year. Of course the Chocolate Experience business has helped boost the total, and as the mobile bar business picks up steam I hope that will make a similar contribution. We have already added two new lines for the coming season, the first is a new pick and mix stand that offers twenty different sweets on the same display, and can carry upto sixty kilograms of confectionery. The other is a stand alone JagerMeister bar. For those who have never tried it, JagerMeister is a liqueur made from various herbs and barks giving a very dark almost licorice tasting drink. It is best served at minus fifteen degrees centigrade, to which end we have acquired JagerMeister Tap Machines for the perfect temperature control. The drink is also served in test tubes giving it another distinguishing feature and providing an interesting talking point at any event. |

Seduced By The Hype

27 , 27 Dec 2009 18:39:00 GMT

For the past 5 or 6 years I have used Windows Mobile smart phones. I was due to swap my phone in about a month ago and decided I was sick of the little quirks present in every Windows phone I have used, so following the mass hysteria generated by the Iphone I duly swapped allegiances. BIG mistake, I have been trying to use the phone for about a month and am now reduced to carrying 2 phones, one for making calls with and the other for sending emails, it turns out that the Orange Iphone is unable to reliably send emails from an Orange email account! So I have a very pretty but totally useful for business use phone. Orange technical support have tried a number of times to sort something out but can't, Apple support have had a couple of goes but can't, their latest suggestion was for me to take a morning off work, and drive 40 miles to my nearest Apple store to see if they are able to make it work, customer service per excellence. The frustrating thing is I am stuck with this bloody phone for 2 years now, I think my next stop will be trading standards as I don't think a modern smart phone that cannot send emails is fit for the purpose of which it was sold to me. On a more upbeat note, we have finally come to the end of the ridiculous workload we had for December, and have a little more relaxed schedule for a few weeks. The Chocolate Experience business should benefit from additional SEO work, and our new mobile bar company Tempus Bars is now up and running, so that can have some serious SEO work applied. Time for a rare relaxing evening in front of the TV, and some catching up of the various novels I am part way through reading. |

Scalextric Party Hire

24 , 24 Nov 2009 20:40:00 GMT

On our travels to various parts of this island fortress, we meet a weird and wonderful variety of people. This ranges from the incredibly interesting, to the mildly entertaining. Sometimes however we meet complete morons. Last week in London (one of 4 days there in just over a week), we had directions to the loading bay of a venue. As is often the case, we approached from a different direction, and missed the entrance. When this happens I've found the best course of action is to park up, locate the entrance on foot and then return for the van. I found the loading bay entrance and noticed a security cabin at the side, so I walked in and asked the on duty guard if it was the correct bay, he proceeded to look about 3 feet to my left whilst talking to me, but he seemed to be responding to my questions so I assumed it was me he was talking to. I told him that I would be back in a couple of minutes with a white van, to which he nodded his assent. As I drove into the entrance of the loading bay, he rushed out of his cabin and signalled to me to stop. He then demanded rather irately as to where do I think I was going? "To deliver to the hotel ", I replied, "You cannot just drive in here like that", said mr security man, "I didn't", I said, "I was in your cabin around 2 minutes ago and you told me to fetch my van in" At this point I could see him concentrating really hard, obviously the synapses in his brain made some sort of connection because he nodded, his next outburst caught me a little off guard though, "You've stopped your van in the entrance, you can't stop there, you have all of the entrance blocked up", WTF, you signalled for me to stop you cretin, although I didn't actually use that term seeing as I was in quite a pleasant mood, "I only stopped there because you shouted stop", this time he was really struggling, obviously the communal brain cell was in the possession of another of his tribe on this particular night, "Well don't do it again" was his parting shot as he lumbered towards his cave! Anyway the rest of the night was quite a success, with us presenting a range of items including one of our fully landscaped Scalextric tracks. This side of things seems to be picking up speed to the extent that we are investing in a host of new slot car racing products, and have launched a small website to cater for this market, this can be visited at Slot Car Party Hire I also received my personal alcohol licence from Wakefield council this morning, so I am now authorised to dispense alcoholic beverages, or to authorise their sale. The new outside bar business should launch early in the new year. |

Halloween

31 , 31 Oct 2009 12:37:00 GMT

Our horror themed props, See HORROR THEMED PARTIES have come in handy with a number of halloween themed bookings. I am out to night in person with a horror themed candy floss cart dispensing green candy floss, so I will post some images here after the event. I have also been roped in by my daughter to carve her pumpkin. Normally an aunt does it for her, but with her moving away its been left to me. I have to say that at 40 years of age, this is the first pumpkin I have carved, anyway an image of it is below; |

World War 2 Themed Parties

30 , 30 Oct 2009 10:31:00 GMT

World War 2 Themed Parties

As part of our ongoing launch of themed games units we have just launched our World War 2 themed party site. It can be found at WORLD WAR 2 PARTIES As well as a range of games units dressed up with World War 2 props and themed games, we also provide staff in military uniform, digital sound effects units providing a background ambience of dog fights, air raids, marching troops and some of the songs and music from the period. Our chocolate fountain hire business is picking up speed steadily, we are finding that the chair cover hire side of the operation has more potential than we expected. So much so that we have now added candelabras, lighting and drapes, tea light holders, wishing wells and bay tree hire to the services offered. We will shortly be launching a new website dedicated purely to wedding room decor. |

The Great British Worker

25 , 25 Oct 2009 17:43:00 GMT

We travel up and down the M1 motorway on an almost daily basis. For as long as I can remember, a large 15 mile section of it has been plauged by roadworks. Whenever we travel along that section I keep a keen eye out to see exactly what is being done. On the last 5 trips I didn't manage to spot a single person on the stretch, and put this down to the fact that the journeys were all early morning or late at night. Anyhow the other day I travelled the road in the middle of the morning, and guess what, I spotted people. 14 of them in total which equates to less then one worker per mile! Although I do use the word worker in the loosest sense of the word, as out of 14 people spotted, 4 of them were sat eating or drinking tea, 5 of them were sat reading newspapers, 2 of them were stretched out in the back of a minibus apparantly sleeping and the remaining 3 were walking, where to I know not, but judging by their fellow roadworkers I would say that they were either going to put the kettle on, or else to buy a newspaper. I need to found out if the company contracted to carry the work out is paid by the day, if it is I intended to buy a large number of shares in the company as I cannot see them completeing the work in my lifetime and should imagine if they have a number of similar jobs on the go then they will be employed for life. |

Bread

18 , 18 Oct 2009 19:39:00 GMT

Over the past month we have provided something like 8000 hot dogs to 3 corporate clients. The worst part of this job has been sourcing the bread rolls. The easiest thing to do would be order them from a bakery, but we have found that one of the major supermarket chains is half the price of the wholesale bakers, so logically we have been buying from them. Unfortunately the said supermarket chain has a bug in their checkout system which means that they cannot input multiple purchases of bread, each individual packet has to be scanned in, or as is more usually the case, a single packet is scanned however many hundred times needed to input the order. The upshot of this is that when I appear in the supermarket the checkout girls begin to say their prayers in the hope that I won't choose their aisle. Whenever I chance upon a new checkout girl she usually wastes 15 minutes attempting to discover a method of typing in more than one packet, but eventually she will give up like all the rest and accept the inevitable!

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Back To School

05 , 5 Oct 2009 12:03:00 GMT

Last Monday I was back at school, well not quite, what happened was I had to travel to an examination centre to sit the exam for my personal Alcohol licence in preparation for our soon to be launced mobile bar venture. I was duly placed in a little room and told that I was being monitored by cctv to ensure I did not cheat. I then sat down for a 40 minute exam which took 8 minutes to complete, although I did get 2 questions wrong so perhaps I shouldn't have rushed it.

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Whoops

04 , 4 Oct 2009 17:03:00 GMT

We are still integrating the Chocolate Experience business we acquired into our normal operations. Until we train some staff up to operate the chocolate fountains its going to be down to me, Arthur and our respective better halves to cover the wedding bookings we have. The second round of these took place last night and went off perfectly well, except for one small hitch. The event I was at I should have been able to access the room at six thirty in the evening. As most weddings do the main reception overran and it was after seven before I finally started to assemble everything. This left me with precious little spare time to get the chocolate melted for the fountain. I had just finished the final batch, and picked up the metal whisk and napkins I had been using and put them into the now empty microwave to enable me to carry them all outside together. Unfortunately I had not realised that I had opened the door before the timer had finished, so when I closed it again the bloody thing started back up. I meanwhile was busy pouring the final jugfull of molten chocolate into the fountain base. It was at this point that I looked through the door of the microwave and realised the napkin was now on fire! I quickly picked up the microwave to rush it out of the building, unfortunately the event manager was in the room with me so it ended up a bit Basil Fawlty as I tried to vacate the premises quickly without making it obvious I was vacating the premises quickly! Fortunately things get better from there and this chocolate fountain work seems ever so relaxed compared to some of the equipment we are used to operating, and in the past I have not been a fan of the chocolate found in these fountains, but trying the stuff we are using it is lovely, so either we are buying good stuff, or the chocolate I have tasted in the past has been rubbish. We have also started to invest in new chair covers and sashes, and intent to offer a complete room dressing service for weddings, with everything from bay trees to archways.

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Its A Funny Old World

16 , 16 Sep 2009 18:24:00 GMT

Our first ever catering cart was a candy floss stall which we were asked to provide to the Coca Cola corporation for 2 events in the Yorkshire area. Within 3 years we had added something like 14 different options to our range of carts and stalls. All through this process we resolutely refused to add one particular item, a chocolate fountain. Everyone agreed they were messy, there is an awful lot of competition out there with fountains and we just plain decided we didn't want them and were not going to have them. Well now we own a number of full sized and some medium fountains, as well as drinks fountains and a large number of wedding chair covers and various coloured sashes to tie around said chair covers. How did this happen, well we have just acquired the assets, equipment, goodwill and order book of a Norfolk based wedding company. In fairness I hadn't intended acquiring said company, I had travelled to Norfolk to pick up an item of equipment I had agreed to buy. I got on extremely well with the company owner who explained that he was having some personal issues and would like to sell the business as a going concern. After inquiring about the price and doing some sums I decided that it was too good an opportunity to turn down. He had a number of items such as candy floss machines and popcorn machines that we use anyway, the aforementioned fountains which fit in well with our existing wedding operations, and the chair seat covers which we are a little unsure about, but glancing through the order book, seem to be a popular and profitable line. What we will do with the covers is service the existing jobs, see how things go with them and then invest in building them up to compete with the other companies nationwide in that particular market if they look like a good line. What was the jewel in the crown was the order book and the goodwill with a number of venues that provide a steady stream of work. We intend to run the business as a going concern, separate from our other operations, but obviously with opportunities to cross sell games and rides from our other business providers. We also acquired a fairly popular website for the company, which we will release details of as soon as we have altered it to contain our contact details etc.Overall, it has boosted the order book for this year by about 25% overnight, and next year by around 250%. I must admit that I like the speed with which a business can be grown by acquisition, so we are now on the look out for a suitable inflatable/rodeo bull provider to acquire and possibly an outside bar company. Anyway the companies website is Chocolate Experience |

New Lines For Candy Floss Crazy

01 , 1 Sep 2009 21:35:00 GMT

In response to repeated requests from some of our corporate clients, we have added a couple of new lines to our portfolio of catering carts. Starting in November we will have a draught beer bar, dispensing various draught beers and lagers. The bar is based on one of our standard gold and white Victorian carts, to which we add a new continental draught beer system which both chills and dispenses the beer straight from the keg. This does away with the need to use a cool room to keep the kegs cold, or a bulky flash chiller and enables us to offer a bar at any venue. Although this service is primarily intended to be a draught drinks service we will also be offering the option of wines and spirits to create a complete mini bar system, further details at Candy Floss Crazy microBARS. This is designed primarily for smaller events, probably up to about 150 people. Larger events would require a full bar service, of which we will be making an announcement later in the month. We have also just bought a range of drinks fountains, allowing us to offer a top quality drinks fountain hire service for wedding, parties and private corporate events. This takes our current catering carts options up to around 17 different carts. More than enough to cater for almost any event.

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The Eternal City

23 , 23 Aug 2009 11:48:00 GMT

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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Halloween And Horror Themed Games For Your Party Or Event

12 , 12 Aug 2009 00:13:00 GMT

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. |

What A Guy

03 , 3 Aug 2009 23:22:00 GMT

'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. |

Clone Ranger

02 , 2 Aug 2009 14:10:00 GMT

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. |