Judging Experiences

During a recent get-together with some judges, we were telling tales about various sorts of accommodation we had stayed in. I had to relate my “worst” experience, and thought there would be others reading the blog who would enjoy this reminiscence.
This takes place back in the early 80’s in Australia and so I have blurred the name of the hotel in the picture above, to protect the innocent….because I am positive there would have been a change of management and things would have improved by now!
The story starts with 4 lady judges driving together, to a show some 8 hours away from home. The show was an Agricultural & Horticultural show, popular in Australia at that time, in every small town around Australia. The show had competitions for all sorts of livestock – sheep, cows, horses, as well as dogs plus floral art, baking competitions and fruit preserving. We arrived in the small town at about 6pm on the Friday and we had been told we were staying at the local hotel – pictured above – this was a classic Australian country “pub”. This was at a time when ladies were not allowed in the bar (strictly men only) – ladies could only go into or drink in the “Ladies Lounge” so we sort of sent one person into the BAR to find out how we found our rooms for the night. We were told that we were all sharing one room, with 4 single beds. That was OK, as we all knew each other well. What was more interesting was the bathroom.. There were only 2 bathrooms for all the rooms, so we had to share and there were probably 10-12 rooms, with multiple people in each room. The other rooms were mostly occupied by the horse and other livestock judges (all men) A preliminary reconnaissance on Friday night ascertained that it was going to require teams of 2 to use each bathroom, in the morning – why? The bathrooms were extremely large (at least 10 foot long) and there were no locks on the doors – the reason for this was that the fire escape exit was through the bathroom and thus it was against the law to lock the door to the bathroom. So one person was going to have to stand guard, to prevent the male horse judges sharing the bathroom, whilst the other person had a shower. Whilst this was going to make the stay interesting, the best was yet to come.
After a basic meal at the local restaurant, which I remember nothing about, it was off to bed. Now I have to tell you that this show was in February, which in the Southern Hemisphere is high summer and the temperatures were predicted to be hot (+100° F) all weekend. Anyway we all went to get into bed – and it was obvious that the sheets were “pre-loved” and had been used by other guests before us – but there was no other option in town as everything was all booked out because of the show – so we all got into bed and turned out the lights and tried to go to sleep (the bar was immediately beneath and things were still “rocking”. After we had all been lying in the beds for about ½ hour it was apparent we were not the only things in each bed – we were sharing the beds with something biting us – bedbugs! Fortunately one person had some sunscreen protection with them, which also had some insect repellent in it – so we all covered ourselves in the product and headed back to bed and attempted to get some sleep.
We all awoke early next morning – to beat the other people into the bathroom (and the 2 toilets – shared) we accomplished that and were more than ready to judge by 9am – get us out of this hotel!
The show site was just a part of a fairgrounds, with lots of dry grass and an umbrella for shade in each ring. And it was HOT – so hot in fact that I remember at lunchtime I went for a swim, instead of eating lunch – there was a pool on the grounds and I ha a swimsuit – but I had no towel, so I went back to judging in the afternoon, quite wet – but cool!
Saturday night and Sunday were just a repeat of the first day.
Whilst at the time I did not particularly enjoy the assignment, it has left me with many tales to tell and unforgettable memories. I do remember that when I told another judge I was invited to judge this show, their only comment was “its such a pretty location” and it was……..