At 5.30AM I find myself setting off from my house in the pitch black destined for the farm where I keep my boat, it took a while for me to hitch it up to the car but once that was done I managed to set off and headed for the Olympia Exhibition Hall in London where Storage Expo 2008 was taking place - this was going to be the home for the day and would be the first time I'd taken my boat out in public. I was quite nervous towing the boat up the M3 and along the A316 because I haven't done much towing before, especially through London, however it proved to be no problem and everything went smoothly. I arrived at around 7.45am and positioned the boat near the entrance to the train station and adjacent to the grand hall entrance, unhooking the boat from the car only took a few moments. Within minutes of the boat being on display I had lots of interest and found myself speaking to loads of people as they walked past wondering what this yellow object was.

The event played host to over 4,000 people and over 100 exhibitors ranging from multi billion dollar global organisations through to the more specialist market players, all of which walked passed the boat. It was my first show and I wasn't sure just how much attention it would get but it soon surpassed all my expectations as young and old people, secretaries and VPs alike all stopped to have a chat and show interest in the project. I ended up staying at the show until 6.30pm, all of which was spent standing all day talking to passers by. The most common questions went along the lines of 'where's the engine!?' and 'what is this thing!?'. What really made me laugh though was the amount of people that asked me if I was crazy. All that aside the day was very successful. I raised a fair bit of money for the NSPCC and also managed to secure a sponsorship deal with a company that was exhibiting at the show.

I have plans to attend a lot more shows, so watch this space.