[Moderator David@stives]

I Just want to say how much of a fantastic time I had at the NEC, I arrived at about 12.00 on the wednesday and thought i would get my bearings by walking round to see where everything was, I hardly got 50 yards when i had a good chat with Steve and Julian and the other guy. Then on to the bar where i spotted Ian Giles, Macc and Tosh who i recognised off there photos, they couldnt guess who i was, they were looking for a guy with a tash LoL.

All three of them were much shorter than i thought, but they were all great guys, we all had a good laugh and a walk round where we bumped into Brett Walker,Chris@cms, somebody @wcs , and one or 2 others. Had a good Laugh with Terry Burrows who couldnt believe i was david@ st ives, he just thought i was Dave M, He also thought i should look like Borat with a Tash, I must say Emma was a nice girl as well theres more to her than meets the eye, she even took my e-mail adress and is meeting me at Blackpool.

I also met up with Craig Mawlam at Terrys stall, I dont care what anyone stays he is a thouroughly nice and decent bloke , he may be a bit ruthless but who wouldnt be in his shoes. I have met him about 5 or 6 times now and he always has time for you , so make your own mind up .

Anyway i went in the comp and forgot to wipe the cill , people were shouting cill, cill, cill but i just stood there like a prat for about 10 seconds before the penny finally dropped.

Another guy who suprised me was Mark Henderson, he is such a nice guy, we had a few long chats over the weekend. He also has a georgeous Italian wife who was very nice to get along with to.

That evening I met up with Tosh , Ian Giles , Shiner and i forget the name of the other 2 , needless to say we all got a bit drunk apart from shiner. Ian got a bit more drunk than all of us and we all had a great time apart from me losing that bet.

Day 2

Started with a chat with Philip Hanson at the pwc stall where i met up with Jon Jones before going off for a pint at the bar with him and having a good laugh

I met up with loads more people Gaz20 who was another nice bloke, he was another who i thought was a bit taller,no wonder he has a pole theres no way he could reach tose bottom windows with a squeegie.



Another guy i was suprised with was Propole, before i met him at the show, i thought he came across as a mouthy arrogant git, but yet again what another decent nice block, i think he is very misunderstood on the forum,no wonder he uses a pole though , cant squeegie to save his life, how he came 3rd i will never know, but did you see the opposition lol

I practised the technique for the comp and i came a cropper whilst running back wiping the cill, I slipped and both feet left the ground leaving me in mid hair flying towards Terry before landing inches from Terrys feet, I just missed skittling him



Time for the comp on day 3 I got asked to be an official timer along with Mark henderson on Terrys world record attempt it was a real honour to be asked.

The look on Bryan Dolbys face was a picture (Hi Bryan) anyway terry took 3 attempts and his best time was only half a second out, such a shame because i would love to have timed the actual world record time.

I also met Sean Rimmer for the first time and i was impressed with how helpful he was, he was also very knowledgeable and had an extensive range of poles.

I was also impressed with the foreign maufacturers especially the guy with the blue modular poles, i will look into them further, I think each 5 foot section only wighed 550 grammes.

All in all i had a fantastic time, and wish i had another day, there was just too much to digest  and i could hardly walk 10 yards before bumping into someone.

Would i go again?  You bet , i just wish I went for the full 3 days, It is a great place to network, meet up with old friends and forum members, most of all to see the great strides being made with all the wfp gear.

I hope i have not bored you all too much , but just wanted to give you an insight into my stay at the Show

Dave

[Sir Squeaky]

Not boring at all Dave.

I just wish I'd been there.
Shame I'll have to wait another year.

Still, if I'm heading for St.Ives anytime soon I'll catch up with you for a pint!

[Jon T.C.]

Hi Dave,

I enjoyed your company in the bar as well - wish i'd gone Wednasday and stayed over to " network " in the bar with you and the others.

You and Bryan Dolby remind me of the 2 fellas off the muppet show - lol

Regards Jon

[Moderator David@stives]

Jon

John

It was a pleasure i didnt know you were john T.C as well.


We had a few giggles didnt we.

We should all start planning where to stay at Windex, It would be great if we could all take over one hotel


Rog

Anytime mate

There is always the fed show at Blackpool next month.

I will be there just to annoy Bryan

Dave

[Tosh]

To be honest, I enjoyed meeting up with people from this site; and other window cleaners; more than looking at the poles and stuff.

When's Windex and where is it held?

[Moderator David@stives]

Tosh it is Blackpool before windex, in fact it is in about 5 or 6 weeks

Dave

[Jeff Brimble]

Squeeky its another 2 years to the next Nec, Blackpool is next then Win/carp/ex

[P®oPole™]

Hi David,

Thank you for your kind comment, it to was a pleasure to meet you in person and have a chat. everyone I met at the show were really nice guys.

David & Debbie, Macc, Tosh, Ian, terryturbo and his lovley assistant, brett walker, phill hanson, steve fox an Co (window cleaning warehouse), central window cleaners, and err some bald guy from kent

And anyone I forgot to mention or spoke to while at the windowcleaningresources

Whats all this about blackpool then, anygood?

ProPole

[Terry_Burrows]

  its the Federation do held at the De VERE HOTEL 28 April window contest
much smaller show but evening do,go on Fed site find out
david st whatsits going,and he will fall over again for us hopefully

[Art]

Hi Dave,

 I spotted you twice at the NEC on Thursday, but both times you were busy chatting so i didn't like to interupt.
If your at carpex hopefully i'll get a chance to say hello.

Arthur

[Moderator David@stives]

Art

you should of butted in, It would have been nice to see you

Dave

[Moderator David@stives]

wheres the " prety damn quick or else " reply gone

[Russell Macdonald]

Hi Dave.

It was good meeting you too, i think we are short because of how tall you are, LOL.

I agree with Tosh, it was good having a quick look but for me meeting the guys on the forem was great, seeing we are all human & having a good chat & laugh.

Macc

[Moderator David@stives]

Macc

It was a shame you couldnt make it to the evening booze up with the reprobates.

Ian Giles stories were well funny, especially the one about the shed he rented out in his back garden to a window cleaner to live in. it didnt even have a roof on it, lol

I will let him tell the tale , because he yells it funny

Good to meet you too

Dave

[Ian_Giles]

I thoroughly enjoyed the show this year, more so than in other years because so many of us got to meet up and chat...I think this is going to become a real event for many of us in the future

Watching Dave standing there and looking around as his good lady was screaming at him to do the sill was good...I wish I'd been there now to watch him try and take out Turbo Terry with a sliding tackle

Chatting to Macc, Propole & co was just cool, and getting bladdered in the evening was a blast.

Tosh reckoned I fell asleep and started snoring as he was talking to me...wasn't true of course...I just thought it was a good way to shut him up...I was only pretending to snore :

And the shed at the end of the garden ....ahhhh Lance, where are you now!

This is a long tale, so maybe I'll compose it offline...Perfect for the other chat section, not sure about the window cleaning section...but what the hell, give me a day or two and I'll post it here anyway, Trevor can always shift it sideways into Dave & Sarah's section if it's deemed unsuitable!

Ian

[Russell Macdonald]

I met Ian & Tosh first, great meeting you too guys & thanks for the drink Ian. 

Having a good chat at the bar when over walked Dave, did not recognise him, about 8 foot tall. Interduced us to his wife after 10 mins, i think he held her back because of our great looks  , only joking.

We went over to Terrys stand & there was a good crowd of us, that was great, faces to name & all that. What i liked was the fact we were all a good crowd of blokes & all got on well.

I look forward to meeting you guys again sometime.

Macc

[chris@c.m.s]

I had a great few days up there although after going to Excell last year I knew what to expect at the show, again it didnt fail to dissapoint me, I was hopeing to at least decide what my next pole would be, myself and the Shiner both lifted a Tucker pole and the guy nearly had kittens quoting that health and safety guys had already been on their back, not a gripe at Tucker poles but how are you to decide if you cant lift the poles :, Apart from show, on the Tuesday I pulled up at the b&b and instantly recognised  Paul (the shiner) had a quick natter then booked in found somewhere to eat then went off to the show where Paul had found Brett Walker & Andy@w.c.s, we all met up again for a few pints at the Innkeepers which made it a great 1st evening. Day 2 met up with the others already mentioned then Dave Morris was called up for the Window cleaning comp so we knew where he was, Then I spotted Tosh, and several of us all met up. 2nd evening in the Inkeepers with Tosh David his wife Debbie, Paul & Ian Giles, Again another great evening even my son thoughly enjoyed it and he hadnt a clue who anyone was. I hope these sort of meetings will continue to happen at future shows they make it so worth while. Thanks to all those I met and I'll be looking forward to the next show.                         

[chris@c.m.s]

Just a thought with so many that have found the C&M show  disappointing isnt there room for another trade show just for window cleaning, at a smaller venue affordable to smaller firms ?  perhaps something for the APWC to look into, or is that what the fed are doing at Blackpool?.   

[Terry_Burrows]

  yes the Fed is doing one one 28 april at the hotel de vere next door to the zoo thats a sat,

[brett walker]

I had a great 2 days with all you lads hoping to get up to Blackpool for the day but very busy at the moment

I think Terry was head over heels in love with Emily are you bringing her to Blackpool 

Brett