Favourite showbag?

The Sydney Royal Easter Show will be here before we know it. I was asked about my favourite showbag.

Now, showbags have certainly evolved a lot over the decades. When they first appeared, they were free, and specialized in promoting various commercial product brands by way of cute, miniaturized bottles and packets.

Then there was a move to full-sized products, collected by theme or manufacturer, in reasonably-priced bags, complete with a few plastic novelties and a "Phantom" comic.

As a kid in the 60s and 70s, our traditional Easter Show gift from my grandmother was a Minties showbag each, made of thick paper and with string handles. I think she must have analyzed all the showbags one year, and designated this as the best value for money. There was always a cellophane-wrapped cardboard box of Minties, plus a box of Jaffas, a box of hard Marella Jubes, liquorice novelties, and some sweets you only ever saw once a year - in the Minties showbag! (Plus a few plastic novelties. And a "Phantom" comic.)

These days, there seem to be two types of bags: a bag of novelties, or a bag of varieties of packaged sweets plus one novelty. Most bags are plastic, except the ones promoting non-plastic, recyclable alternatives.

Back to nostalgia, though, my grandmother's own annual purchase was the Easter Show bumper-sized box of Vincent's Powders, a size that wasn't ever available in regular chemist stores, corner stores or supermarkets. Can you even buy Vincent's Powders any more? They seemed to fade away once the codeine had to be removed from them...

The magic cupboard

Poor little Jack dreads what comes out of the magic cupboard. Sometimes it's doggie chocs (Yay!), sometimes worming medicine, sometimes itch tablets, and sometimes Puppy Milk - or liver sprinkles to put on his morning puppuccino.

This week, I've been pulling out my own treats from the same cupboard: contents of several showbags from the Royal Easter Show. Wicked! My resistance is low. No such thing as a half-empty packet!

Today, I headed into the city for a lunchtime meeting of Sydney's blogging community at Star Bar. Five of us turned up this time - improved from the last meeting, certainly, but still not very representational of the whole membership list.

However...

Sunday's magic number: 91.3 - Yay! Doing okay. Not much progress, but still stable.

My Easter pilgrimage

Not counting the religious significance of the holiday, somehow it never seems like Easter Down Under without a trip to Sydney's Royal Easter Show. Due to my ongoing dieting attempts, there has been a noticeable shortage of chocolate temptations around the house this year - although the supermarkets really seemed to go overboard this year. (I haven't checked, but I'm anticipating lots of cut-price chocolate Easter goodies to be offered this week. Resist, I must.)

Some years I've attended the Show with friends, and sometimes I've given it a miss altogether, but I often feel like I've missed out on something when I don't go at all, so I took myself today. It was a glorious day for it and, while the attendance seemed high, it never really felt claustrophobic, except for some of the bargain areas of the Showbag Pavilion.

Nothing much to report. I make a point of watching Shane St James, the hypnotist, when he's at the Show - always good for a laugh - and a brisk tour through all the commercial stalls and the arts, crafts and bakery displays is essential.

I didn't really pick up any bargains of note, although I did stock up on some packets of Bondi Chai Latte Tea, my current fascination in beverages. Yummo.

It's times like the Show, the Zoo, and toy stores at Christmas, that I get wistful that all four of Uncle Ian's nieces and nephews spent most of their childhoods in Queensland. Sigh...

The glorious weather held until my return train approached Penrith Station - and thus I got to trudge home in a raging thunderstorm.

The Royal Easter Show: 10 years at Olympic Park

So where did that decade go?

Sydney's Royal Easter Show celebrates 100 years of its Grand Parade this year, but also ten years of shows since the move from Moore Park! I had plans to write up a report last night, of yesterday's visit to the 2007 Show, but I ended up fully absorbed in a conversation with a friend on MSN Messenger and midnight slipped right by.

I like attending the Show on Easter Sunday. When I was a kid, Easter Sunday was the one day the Show wasn't open; I guess to give the Show people a chance to celebrate Easter. It seems that many people still avoid that day - many families seem to have a particular, traditional day to attend - although the afternoons start to get rather busy. As a child, we almost always went to the Show on what used to be the last day: the Tuesday after Easter, known as Children's Day, when kids' entry was half price, and prices on showbags and some rides were slashed. The change to the Four Term School Year changed all that and, this year, the Show didn't actually start until the day before Good Friday.

The weather was kind. Not too warm, not too cold, and dark clouds lingering but never dropping their load. I've ben to the Show on many a wet day. Moore Park used to turn to sludge very quickly! I must say, the Homebush Bay venues (built for the Sydney Olympics of 2000) have made the Show more comfortable, if a little clinical and perhaps less nostalgic.

I spent wisely; only a few indulgences, such as King Island cheeses, fruit flavoured licorice and el cheapo Bertie Beetle showbags.

Antennae all round!:


Left: Bertie Beetle, 2007; Right: Thizzard with Andorians, 1984.

But: I must share a bizarre anecdote from the 80s! Every year there seems to be some wacky must-have novelty at the Easter Show. One year, it would be yo-yos, or silly headbands with stars on springs, or inflatable hats. One year, people all over the show "walking" wire leashes with a dog collar attached, as if walking an invisible pet canine. The next year, everyone was "walking" lizards on leashes! Their foam rubber bodies made these simple puppets look incredibly realistic.

I was with a group of new "Star Trek" friends that year, and I bought myself a blue lizard, with the intention of attaching little blue pipe-cleaner antennae to make him into an Andorian "thizzard". We were standing around in the car park after the Show, with me demonstrating my thizzard-walking skills, when actor/entrepreneur Joe Hasham (Don Finlayson of "Number 96" fame) came walking past with his two sons.

About six months later. My thizzard accompanied a group of us to a "Star Trek" costume party which, coincidentally, turned out to be several doors down from the "Number 96" building in Moncur Street, Woollahra! When we arrived home, my thizzard was missing, apparently having scuttled off into the dark, where we assume he made a home for himself in the cellar of "96".

The next year, you can bet that I was back at the Show, hoping to be able to replace my lost thizzard. I was successful! As I was standing in the car park, practising my thizzard-walking skills once again, I enthralled my small audience with how Joe Hasham and his sons had walked by last time. We looked up, and who was walking towards us? Joe Hasham and family! I kid you not. (I wonder if he thought, "There's that crazy stalker guy with the blue lizard again? Keep clear, kids!")

Have a great time at the Show if you decide to go this year. The popular item this year seemed to be magic haemitite juggling stones. And, as far as I know, Joe Hasham's still in offshore, and it was Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban at the Show today!

Note: The above photo of Therin, Tharrah, child and thizzard is from the premiere night of "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" at the Pitt Centre, Sydney.