Can Snakes Smell Water?
The short answer is yes, they can! Snakes can smell water from over a kilometre away, and even a dripping tap might attract them.
Can Fake-Snake Owners Smell Water? The short answer is no, we can’t. But (there’s always a but), strategically we [metaphorically speaking] can... Hold that thought, though and let’s discuss the weather and Stoneleigh.
Held over two days, the National Kit Car Show is a very good day out…
But which day is the ‘good day’ for me or you? And why is attendance getting less and less?
To answer, I’ll speculate and, give a personal viewpoint on why I think events like these are not attracting as many visitors or vendors.
But first! My thought process as to when to go to Stoneleigh for the national…
I had planned to go on Sunday, but the weather was predicted not to be brilliant. And the prediction was correct; it was cold and wet, so I decided to delay until Monday. Not ideal, but since Monday was supposed to be better, it was the lesser of two evils.
So why are attendance numbers dropping? I don’t believe it is down to diminishing interest, as kit-car and classic car shows and meetings are sprouting up all over the country.
I’m putting it down to the fact that we, the builders and attendees, are good at what we do, and today we have the technology at our fingertips to enable us to be more predictive and selective.
Background: We can all remember sitting on the beach in the rain, sheltering under a towel, waiting for the rain to stop so we could get back into the water.
And some of us can relate to tuning in to the BBC shipping forecast and estimating when some nasty piece of weather, usually a “Northerly or northwesterly 5 to 7 becoming variable 2 to 4 in the southeast”, will be close enough to us to cloud our decision-making process as to whether we should go -or not go- to some far-off event.
But all that is history, and we can now strategically predict to a good level of confidence, via the meteorological apps on our smartphones, if rain is heading our way.
And in the grand scheme of things, this helps us make a judgement as to the ‘when’ or the ‘maybe’.
But unlike snakes or cows, we are not good at predicting what is on the horizon and/or in sight of our polished and fuelled-up creation.
At the local level, we still faff around on the day in a total state of frustration if the silver lining heading our way is punctuated by a cloud… 🌦️
Up at six, picnic packed the night before, top down, and wet-weather gear stowed ceremoniously in the boot; but all this will go awry if we are not sure what colour the sky is, or whether the cows are sitting down miles and miles away at our desired destination.
All good points! But no good when you have to make a decision to drive a couple of hours to get dumped on multiple times by the same band of crappy weather that is tracking us.
So… back to the plot and some possible reasons why attendance, by both visitors and vendors, can be less than expected at a national event.
Attendance: We’ve established that Fake Snake owners can beat the strategic odds and plan ahead for a predicted ‘best day’. And this, in my humble opinion, is the main cause-and-effect of lower attendance.
And having made an assessment via the myriad of tools at our disposal, I speculate a vast majority of day-trippers will employ the same strategy and will knock it on the head too.
Vendors: Over the years, it is a fact that their attendance has diminished.
But that is also not down to the fact that the attraction for an event is not waning; it is a consequence of our ability to get stuff online and our ability to not go if the weather looks iffy in the Silly Isles at bedtime [the night before] and a south-westerly is mid-Atlantic...
It’s all down to economics and the vendor's ability to make the same kind of judgement using the same tools as us.
Let’s use the High Street analogy as an example! We all see and hear on the news about the demise of the high street, and technology and internet shopping do make it easier. We no longer need to compile an elegant shopping or wish list before we go to a shop… If we want something, we just get it online when we want it, and usually from the same vendor. So, because of our change in shopping habits, there is less of a financial incentive for vendors to attend… Okay, it’s not good for us rummagers, but it does make economic sense for them.
Meet-ups: It takes no effort to subscribe to various Social Media, blogs, groups or newsletters, and the benefit is that we get to know what’s on months in advance without having to do anything…
The decision is usually an effortless ‘maybe’.
So with this knowledge propagating effortlessly through the Ethernet and into our pockets, we can pick and choose which are of interest to us, and whether the cows are sitting down or not.
Moreover, I also predict that non-owners, potential builders, and day-trippers employ the same tactic to pick and choose, with the consequence also being a reduction in this passing attendance and trade.
To Conclude: With all these tools at our fingertips, and with the technologically enabled change to our planning process, it kinda makes sense why the number of visitors and vendors has reached a new level.
Moreover, I also predict those of us who regularly attend National events will continue to do so.
It really is the place for a proper catch-up and a hearty ‘Woes-&-WoWs’ chinwag as opposed to one-liners and a photo or two on Social Media.
And on that theme, I suggest there is still a place for a proper National event, but the current format and expectation have not yet normalised to its more focused and informed audience, with the majority of attendees now being the more hardcore type.