I love Miniatura. I used to love it because it is the best show for Dolls’ House Miniatures that there is. It still is.
I loved it because all the exhibitors are hand-picked and I was proud to be one of them, I still am.
But most of all I loved it because of the people, both visitors and exhibitors. Miniatura always was and will be a huge hall full of like-minded people. People who choose to minimise their troubles and focus on the tiny world they make to their own specifications, rather than big world troubles which they cannot do anything about. You still have to live them. If you have a problem body, a difficult family, wrong funds, wrong job and a horrible backstory, miniatures doesn’t take any of that away. What the hobby does is it gives you a breathing space so you can deal with the awful stuff with equanimity.
To be in a hall full of wonderful people who don’t let the awfulness of life get to them, is incredibly uplifting. It’s not often you see people in shops hugging each other but you see it at the Min all the time. It’s a hall full of brave people smiling.
As always I was the last exhibitor to finish packing up and go. A thousand porcelain things have to be packed carefully. I try to do reverse order from putting out but inevitably dolls have wandered round the table. I am still exhausted but the weather is so sunny, I’ve been out painting the fence and gardening. After the next bit of gardening I will do the garage and all the books and then I will repack all the trolleys with boxes, ready for next time.
10th and 11th October is the next show, be like the savviest visitors and book your tickets now. Some people do, you know. Like me for the last nearly forty years, they live from show to show.
Reality is rubbish and frequently disappointing, currently in large parts of the world the baddies seem to be winning.
Miniatura has always been good and is getting better, it is the place where the miniature world meets, for hugs for love, for amazement, for a great day out.
I love Miniatura (did I mention it?)
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