The Gripping Beast Expeditionary force in Belgium.

Wocha,

This weekend the Beast traveled to the continent for the Crisis show in Antwerp. As ever we set off at 'Oh Christ' hundred hours and began the first leg of the journey down to Folkstone and the Chunnel. Within five minutes Darren had set up his usual listening watch and was alert to any potential road hazards and remained at high alert until we got to the seaside.

We got to the coast and had a little wobble about where we were supposed to be going but the good people at highways signage cleared it up for us.

Under the sea for 35 minutes and we popped up in France. Flat innit? For a city boy like me it's a little disconcerting to see the sky going all the way down to the ground. Anyway, in due course we arrived in Antwerp and prepared to set up the stand. Whilst we waited for the hyper efficient loading crew to swing into action I whipped out the camera to take a few snaps of the venue when I caught Lord S striking a pose. You can just feel the breeding oozing out of the frame can't you.

With the stand set up we joined up with the usual suspects and headed out for a meal. One plate of continental nosh each later we adjourned to the hotel bar for a nightcap. As is the way with such things this evolved into a couple of nightcaps and then a few nightcaps and then suddenly people were sampling the bottles of sticky drinks on the top shelf...

Assembly in the bar before dinner

A few beers later and everyone seems to be doing Tommy Cooper impressions.

I'm making a number of emphatic points but god knows what they are and Hicksy seems to have glazed over so they can't have been that interesting...
As the evening goes on the jokes start getting funnier and the sampling of the sticky drinks begins

Around 2am, with the prospect of a busy show tomorrow, Lord S retired to his suite and I took the opportunity to slink off to bed as well, the bar was still full when we left...

Come Saturday morning we headed down for breakfast where one or two traders were conspicuous by their absence. I'll mention no names but the 'I forgot to change the alarm clock to continental time' excuse was heard once or twice. Eventually all the traders emerged, some still an interesting shade of green, and at 10am the doors opened and the world flooded in. The show was great and our new stand went down well.

Despite the venue getting very hot very quickly it was a fun day and a waffle mid morning gave us all the sugar rush we needed to keep going. It was good to see so many of our European customers again and we had a brief and entertaining visit from longtime customer Daniel. Check the video out but you might want to turn the volume down if you're at work.

After a long days trading we packed up the stand loaded the van and headed to Arras to begin part two of our continental adventure.

Next entry will cover the following few days we spent in Belgium and France.

Stay lucky,
Soaps.