Every entry
Diary
Entries written after the walk, in the car park or at the kitchen table that evening. Halls in Nelson Mandela Bay, lawns along the coast, and the drives that get us to both.
New entries follow the show calendar rather than a publishing schedule, so the gaps are honest. If a hall was quiet or the display was thin, we say so instead of padding the page.
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How to work a show floor without wasting the day
A full hall in the Bay puts roughly eleven kilometres of aisle in front of you across two days. Most visitors walk six of those kilometres twice and miss the stands they came for. This entry is the order we use. -
What a concours lawn actually rewards
Lawn events on this coast are won by details that photograph badly. Correct fasteners, a dry boot floor, an engine bay that smells of nothing. Once you can read a judge's clipboard, a display stops being a parade and becomes interesting. -
Driving the R72 to a show and getting home comfortably
The coastal road east out of the Bay is about two hundred and forty kilometres of two-lane tar to the lawn events around Port Alfred and Kenton-on-Sea. It is a gentle drive and a tiring one, for reasons that have nothing to do with the distance. -
Test drives on expo day, and how to use eight minutes
A demonstration drive at a show is a fixed loop, a stranger in the passenger seat and about eight minutes of your hands on the wheel. Used properly those minutes answer things no brochure will. -
What comfort means on Eastern Cape tar
Comfort is not a soft ride. On our roads it is seat support that lasts three hours, suspension that survives a pothole edge at eighty, an aircon that copes in a hall car park, and parts you can buy in Korsten on a Saturday morning. -
A hired car for a show weekend, and what it teaches you about buying
Hiring the type of car you are considering is the cheapest long test drive in the country. A show weekend gives you a reason to do it, and the hire desk fine print teaches you a surprising amount about ownership.
Rate card
What we do, and what it costs in rand
All prices are indicative and quoted in rand, before any travel outside the metro. We work for the person reading, not for a stand, and nothing on this card can be bought by an exhibitor.
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01
Show weekend
R2 400 indicative
A couple attending one indoor show in the Bay with a purchase in mind within the next few months.
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02
Coast and lawn
R4 300 indicative
Readers driving out to a coastal display who want the route and the event handled as one piece of planning.
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03
From the hall to the driveway
R7 800 indicative
Someone who saw a car at a show and intends to buy within the season, and wants the whole decision checked.
Travel beyond the metro is charged at R5.20 a kilometre indicative, from Parliament Street and back. Work at a lawn event on the R72 therefore usually carries a travel line; we quote it before we start, never after.
Rate card