AMS6¢----¢¢Well, for want of being extremely¢original, I give you MY account of the¢recent AMS6.¢*¢ I had planned to crawl out of bed at¢six, this would have given me ample¢time to have a nice cup of tea and a¢bath before I was due to meet Spite and¢Alias Maximus outside the latters house¢at seven. Unfortunately I didn't get to¢bed until 5.30 and so when the alarm¢sounded at six I decided to have 'five¢more minutes' and didn't wake up until¢twenty to seven. It was all rush then¢and my idea of having a relaxing bath¢went out of the window, the best I¢could manage was to splash a bit of¢water on my face.¢ Anyhow when I got to AM's house he and¢Spite were already waiting for me and¢both claimed they had been doing so for¢fifteen minutes (I later found out this¢was a lie). We had decided to walk into¢Manchester because we had plenty of¢time, the train not being due until¢8.18.¢ It took us about an hour to reach¢Piccadilly station (much longer than¢we had anticipated) and so we bought¢our tickets (#9.50 return) and waited¢for the train to arrive.¢ When the train did arrive we were¢faced with a bit of a dilemma. There¢were three of us which meant one would¢have to sit all on his own. Both Spite¢and AM dashed to get a window seat and¢so I took my place next to AM, Spite¢had put on his walkman (Danni Minogue)¢so I didn't think I'd get much¢conversation out of him.¢ The train ride passed smoothly with me¢alternatively sitting next to AM and¢Spite, giving them both the pleasure of¢my company.¢ We arrived at Stafford train station¢at approx 9.30 and after a quick use of¢the toilet we set out for Bingley Hall.¢ We didn't have a clue where it was,¢but surely it couldn't be too far from¢the train station? How terribly wrong¢we were! After half-an-hours aimlessly¢wandering around and being ignored by¢the locals who we asked directions¢from we decided to get a taxi. Why did¢we not do this in the first place? It¢only cost #4 and we shared the cost¢between the three of us.¢ Excellent! We were here at last!¢Unfortunately we didn't order any¢tickets and thus had to queue up but it¢didn't take long and then we were in!¢ After another quick dash to the toilet¢we set off around the stalls, losing¢Spite after about five minutes. The¢first thing I bought were some old¢Analog mags for 50p each and then we¢decided to visit Derek Ferns stall and¢buy some blank disks. Fifty blank disks¢were bought but I still can't figure¢out why I was charged #5.50. Anyway I¢tried to get some more disks from Mrs.¢Fern but she was having none of it, I¢sent AM back for some more and off we¢went again.¢ The next stall we visited was the¢Tiger Developments stall. I had a nice¢chat with Raphael Espino but he didn't¢seem to like me telling him he should¢have put a high-score save feature in¢'Speed Fox'. I also talked to Neil¢Ottaway about his forthcoming game¢'Lizard', on which he does the coding¢and the graphics are by Robert Stuart¢of Excel fame. I ordered 'Lizard' for¢the special show price of #4 and I was¢extremely pleased when Neil recognised¢my name as being a regular buyer! I¢tried to persuade Spite to buy it but¢his philosophy of "I'd copy it but I¢wouldn't buy it" shone through again. I¢can only assume that he doesn't care.¢ In the meantime Spite had gone off and¢came back to tell us that he'd found¢somewhere where they were selling 100¢disks for a fiver! We quickly dashed¢over and after a quick check to make¢sure the disks had hub rings (my drive¢will not format them if they haven't) I¢purchased 200.¢ On another stall I bought a 65XE¢computer for a fiver. No guarantee that¢it worked, but for that price I could¢not complain. When I got it home and¢tried it I was overjoyed to find that¢it worked! Unfortunately it doesn't¢anymore.¢ My bag was becoming increasingly heavy¢and my wallet was getting smaller. I¢had only set out with 100 quid and I'd¢borrowed forty of that, so I wanted to¢make sure I arrived home with at least¢forty pounds to repay my debts.¢ Spite and AM decided to get some food¢and I was very thirsty so I thought I'd¢go along and buy a can of diet-coke.¢60p! And it was the vastly inferior¢diet-pepsi! I don't know how much AM¢and Spite paid for their food but they¢didn't seem to have much of it.¢ We decided to have one last walk¢around and then we'd set off for the¢long journey home. I visited Dean¢Garraghty's stall and he kindly gave me¢a copy of 'Atari Classics' which is a¢good read. I also met Richard Gore on¢that stall and Spite had a chat with¢one of his contacts, James Haworth. We¢had a look at James' high-score list¢and oh'd and ah'd at some of the¢high-scores we could beat. Actually,¢according to Spite, I was trying to¢chat-up young Mr. Haworth. Where does¢he get these from??¢ We chatted with friends for awhile and¢then decided to set off for the train¢station. Skinflints that we are we¢decided to walk rather than call a¢taxi. On the way to the station AM and¢I were delighted to see a squirrel¢calmy eating in a tree. Spite couldn't¢understand our euphoria but then he¢isn't one with nature.¢ Spite popped into a shop to buy¢some cigs or something. AM and I were¢waiting outside but I decided to go¢into the Co-Op next door and buy a¢can of diet-Tango. Unfortunately we¢didn't inform Spite we were doing this¢and when we came out of the store Spite¢was quite a long-way ahead. We shouted¢and waved but he didn't stop and it¢wasn't until we reached the train¢station that we caught up with him.¢ Our journey home was eventless,¢spoiled only by Spite swanning off to¢a smoking compartment and leaving AM¢and I to our own company.¢ Overall it was a great day out for us¢all (I'm sure I can speak on behalf of¢AM and Spite) and I'm already looking¢forward to next years show.¢ SEE YOU THERE!¢¢John E. (TEBSF)¢
