I suppose we've been going to the boat show at Excel now for a number of years, possibly four or five, and usually we've gone on the final day, a Sunday. This year we went on the middle Sunday, although I don't think that makes much of a difference to the visitor experience. I used to think that if you wanted to buy something specific at the show, good deals were improved hugely by offering cash in exchange for a further discount. Stallholders were sometimes happy to do this on the last day. This time we had no possible (sizeable) purchase in mind, so it didn't matter.

What was more interesting was to reflect on the changes over the years. Gone are the guided visits of Royal Naval frigates parked at the dock - the Navy can't spare the ship from duty any longer. I didn't even see an RN stand this year. The huge motor boat hall was full as usual of improbably huge and opulent craft, full of stocking-footed visitors, and this year there were also a large number of cars and heated outdoor hydropools. (Difficult to understand where you are supposed to put these on a 32 foot yacht?????) But there is obviously a market for opulent craft somewhere in this so-called recession!

The chandlery and small stalls hall was pretty full of people this year, more so than last year, I thought, and there was a great variety of things to look at and choose from.

But overall there is a feeling of the whole event shrinking year by year just a little. The floor space occupied by the show shrank last year to accommodate an outdoor show in half of the small stalls hall. Fun if you are interested in bikes - I had a look at the celebrated Brompton bike last year!

So, a bit less animated, a bit less to see, just a bit less all round.

For me the real marker was the absence of the hot-chestnut seller at the exit to the exhibition this year. Not enough departing punters to make it worth his while. Well I missed him!

Our visit was made really memorable by seeing our old friends Frank and Joyce and having a good blether over lunch. And Dot and Noel managed to find this year's sweater among the clothing stalls. So it was a good day out, overall.