Telling anyone you’re off to the Melbourne Royal Show is akin to saying you like Simply Red or those spearmint leaf lollies. People are surprised or suspicious. They rewind your words and tone for irony. They wonder if you need a tiny lie down. They just don’t get it.
Then my friend Amanda bought a house in the shadow of Adelaide’s showgrounds and had a crack at show cooking. Her trio of unbaked slices won a blue ribbon. Hooked, she sucked me into the show culture which eventually led me back to Melbourne. One year we went to the wrong gate at Tullamarine and had to leg it to the other end of the terminal. The running decimated Sadie’s entry, a jar of decorative mixed fruits and legumes in a spiral design which had taken an anxious week to perfect. She tipped it out on Amanda’s floor and redid it hours before entries closed.We expanded from cooking. One year we walked in the show’s opening parade dressed as flowerpots. We volunteered at the CWA cafe in floral pinnies.
I thoroughly enjoy watch the sows. TheShow RuralSkills
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