Hell on Earth: Slough Swapmeet - 2nd November

The Slough Swapmeet may have been revived from the dead by what must seem like angel's in the VW scene but the setting, which is not too dissimilar to your local rundown leisure centre, was hell on earth.

For the non-British readers, any town/outside setting in the UK is usually described by the following term, a shithole. Slough Town Centre was none other then a big pile of steaming brown liquid created by your Dog who looks at you lovingly, wagging it's tail like nothing happened. I thoroughly do not recommend setting foot in Slough.

'Cars May Appear Quicker Than They Seem'

Anyway, toilet jokes aside it was show time! For me, it meant that my brand new camera was taken out for its maiden event which was pleasing. For others, it meant that shots of people looking suspect, idiotic, and mental are now upscaled into stunning High Definition.

As for the show, an early start meant an early finish. After working on earlier shifts recently, I felt fully prepared for the 6:30am wake-up call and 8:30am arrival for show day, as the show's parking was basically a logistical nightmare (a bit like Slough then really...). However, we had arrived early enough to bag a decent space next to several other fellow VW's and annoyed, athletic, do-gooders who love swimming early in the morning and travel up to the event in their Vauxhall Zafira with their 2.7 children. It was great to ride shotgun in good ol' reliable Doris, something that is commonplace for many shows, but has been subject to some great memories this year, so it felt right to take 'Do' out one more time for 2014 before she heads to bed as well.

A small wait was all that was needed upon arrival and when the clock struck 9:32 because the attendants were just as hungover as the majority of the visitors, the doors slowly opened and the eager traders were greeted with a wave of tired VW enthusiasts which I can only imagine was akin to a scene out of Dawn of the Dead, with all the Halloween vibes still going strong in many of our minds and blood streams.

After a walk around and persistent haggling with traders, we managed to grab a couple of good deals such as a cylinder head for £10 which is VERY CHEAP plus rear lights and a grille for our rolling '67 resto, Jake Bugg who has been somewhat on the fringes recently but should be experiencing some limelight and first team football in the coming days.

In terms of the traders, a notable mention was the boys at Ultra VW who I had a good chat with and purchased the latest edition, which I highly recommend!

Also, the wittiest item for sale was at Hayburner. What was it? A limited edition Hayburner Halford's Sponge of course!

Outside where the cars were parked wasn't too bad, the organisers managed to kettle the rowdy VW's from tormenting much of the car park and visitors into one area of the car park, but other's were let loose as it seemed like crowd control for the VW's wasn't high enough and reports of Overflow and Over-Overflow car parks was rumoured as the naughty VW's were causing enough of a fuss as the pretentious and often hard to understand classic cars were a force to be reckoned with in numbers.

Overall, the swapmeet was actually pretty good! It may seem like from my musings that it was a really poor show, but I was impressed and I am sure to (unfortunately) grace Slough with my presence in 2015. Maybe it might perk up the dreary town, who knows? It was about as good as a small show could get in the beginning of November really and to be saved from the depths of Slough Council, which in my eyes really is a rock-bottom moment in anyone's life, to be revived with a solid amount of hype and traders behind it made for a good event.

Really I was just happy to have a cheeky wee in Morrison's on the way home...

Anyway, here are the rest of the photo's, some of which may go on Pinterest this week.