What a difference a decade makes

We’re back from another year walking the halls of Spielwarenmesse in Nuremberg. It’s hard to believe we’ve been going to Germany every year since 2016 (COVID hiatus aside). This year’s event was as busy as ever. According to our iPhone apps we’ve walked more than 75,000 steps over six days.

Sadly, we missed out on our First-class points upgrade coming home this year. However, we did secure the first two bulkhead seats in Business that offered extra leg room, so all wasn’t lost. This year we caught a late flight from Frankfurt to London and stopped overnight before continuing to Sydney.

We made the most of our stopover with a day trip to Windsor. The day dawned with clear skies and sunshine making it ideal for some outdoor activity. We arrived in Windsor shortly after noon. We walked along the Thames before embarking on The Long Walk. This is an arrow-straight path extending 4.2 km from Windsor Castle to Snow Hill, home to an elevated statue of George the Third on horseback. 

The walk took more than an hour each way. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people were doing the same thing. The statue on Snow Hill was impressive up close. The monumental bronze statue is larger than life size, about 7.9 metres high, and is mounted on a rugged stone plinth 8 metres high. The view from its base, looking back to the castle, is impressive, to say the least.

However, one unforgettable sight captured our attention. Windsor Castle lies directly under the flight path of Heathrow's southern runway. As a result, low-flying passenger jets descend like clockwork over the northern end of The Long Walk every few minutes. The stream of aircraft was unrelenting. I've read that up to 37 flights an hour pass overhead. I'm surprised the Queen enjoyed staying at Windsor as much as she did.

Once we’d completed the walk, we returned to London. With an hour to fill before heading to Heathrow, we decided to try out Vagabond, a wine bar on the Grand Canal we’d spotted the previous week. We used the bar's quirky self-vending wine wall to toast another successful business trip. We've returned home with two new brands and a greater appreciation for everything we’ve achieved over the last decade.

We’ve developed some wonderful friendships with people from around the world. Our suppliers have become friends, and we regularly encounter people at the show and the airport who treat us with enormous respect. We’ve certainly become known as established players in our own right.

This was evident on our final night in Nuremberg when we organized dinner for an eclectic group of industry colleagues. Our table included a supplier’s trade show team, distributors of similar brands and other industry contacts. Nations represented at dinner included Australia, The Netherlands, Canada, the UK, Belgium, and Italy (plus two expats, one from New Zealand and one from Ireland).

It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years this month since we met John Daniels, Artiwood’s former owner, and decided to buy his business. What a ride it's been!