[SEL] Dogs on show grounds (OT?)now fences...again.

[Curt]

Barry,
In years past you have espoused a LOT about fences and such all claiming 
it was the law. Did not get the chance to meet you at the Naracoorte 
ralley to discuss insurance and fences with you, but there was a rumor 
floating around the National this year that the fences were NOT the law. 
Apparently there was considerable backlash against the folks manning the 
insurance tent and that during some meeting one of the insurance reps 
stood up and stated that the fences were NOT a requirement of the 
national insurance body, but rather that was a decision left to the 
local clubs managing the shows. With that said, I have to question if 
there is really such a trivial law on the Oz book that bans unrestrained 
pets in public places. Hard to imagine legislators wasting their time on 
such trivial matters. Perhaps local ordinances could dictate....but laws?

Since I have mentioned the fences, I'll comment on them and their impact 
on show attendees. Missy and I started off looking at engines from 
outside of the compounds. The advantage the compounds have are to impose 
extremely well managed arrangement of engines. I'm guessing the 
compounds were roughly 10 metres wide and several hundred metres long. 
There was a removable fence section at each end. This arrangement made 
unloading and loading one's engines quite difficult unless you simply 
relinquished the task to the crane operator who would set your engine 
over the fence edge. If you wanted to do it yourself you had to roll 
your display all the way down the length of the compound since there 
were no intermediate openings in the compounds. Most displays were set 
with the more interesting side toward the fence.

For the general public who knows little about the engines wandering down 
the aisles is likely sufficient. But for those fascinated with the 
workings of the engines being outside of the compounds was not going to 
do it. After the first row we hopped the fence so we could get a better 
look. Now we could walk all around the engines, study them, touch them, 
meet and shake hands with the owners, exchange business cards, take 
pictures without having to wait on spectators to clear the area, read 
s/n's and other tag information, etc. From inside it felt just like an 
engine show in the US....except that we were in side shaft heaven!

Towards the end of Saturday I ripped the seat out of a brand new pair of 
shorts crawling over the fences. I'd guess having my big white bum 
showing in public was against the law too ;-)
So I gotta say I incurred more risk and injury from the fences than from 
the thrashing, maiming, rotating machinery on display :-)
Perhaps Missy or Nick would care to comment.....
Curt Holland
Gastonia, NC
P.S. Pictures on the way....sorting thru 801 photos.


Barry Gorman wrote:

> Reg ,       I am Really sorry to hear this, But it is The Law ,
> Our rally is due in two weeks , a lot of water has travelled
> under the bridge since the last one so I hope you don't try to
> throw the blame in the wrong direction ,
> Regards ,
>              Barry Gorman