I had fully expected that
the first post-move
show report would be from Atlanta
itself. The timing and location couldn't be better: the
AB&GC
calendar showed that the old Southeastern Bottle Show & Sale was now being held
less than 15 min away in the northwestern part of the city in just a matter of days!
The show ad was confusing in that it mentioned an early-buyer session but failed to mentioned the hours. I e-mailed the organizers for clarification a few days ahead of time but received no response. I called Jack Hewitt (mentioned in the ad) on the day before, but was bounced to voice-mail. Again - no response.
I was thus somewhat irritated when I got up on the morning of the show and headed out
with Mapquest directions and an hour of early-buying in hand, but it was a
clear, bright morning and a mild 90ºF at 8 am, so I was happy to be out hunting
glass once again.
Happiness turned to frustration when I stopped at a Micky-D's to fuel up on caffeine and took a wrong turn out of the drive-thru. I was only a mile away for crying out loud - where were Club signs that are so prevalent and helpful for the direction-impaired collectors of the northeast???
After multiple U-turns and many choice phrases about Hickville organization (I was mentally composing a seething report for the site), I finally located the Community Center where show was to be held. The event board outside confirmed that I was in the right place, but I hadn't seen signage ANYWHERE until then.
The Community Center was located in an assemblage of non-descript buildings and I still wasn't sure where to go. And it was way too quiet. There should be pickups pulling in at the main entrance every few seconds and gaggles of bottle collectors wandering through the parking lots headed to the show building. After circling the area several times and drawing the attention of a wary security guard, it dawned on me what was wrong. I headed back to the entrance and looked up at the event board. Yup, there it was, "Bottle Show, August 11". I looked at the day and date windows on my wrist-watch. It read SUN 12.
Well damn. Shows up north typically are held on Sunday and it had never occurred to me that southern events would be any different. Damn!
I banged my head on the steering wheel three times and sheepishly headed back home.
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