Durham Wargames Show, makes one depressed.

Well I attended Durham Wargames Show after a sabbatical of some three years. Billed as The Friendliest Show in the North I found myself at a loose end, so braved the rain and the students at Durham Regatta to see what was appertaining.
 I could so easily knock the show, as it fails on so many levels, but I will attempt to avoid that. The Durham Wargames Group have been around since the late 1960's early 1970's and to be honest always had a decent setup club wise. Some of the former members were pretty innovative wargamers and very keen to boot, now I think they just seem happy to turn up weekly and play a game, which I suppose is acceptable.
 What struck me yesterday was at the Bring and Buy sale where one of the members was selling off a load of wargames books, unpainted figures and ephemera on behalf of a wargames widow.
 He was doing a good turn to help a woman out, whose husband had clearly been a long serving wargamer judging by some of the books for sale.
 It must be the mood I was in, after the Election and a day on the drink waiting to hear Rod Stewart on the night, but I found the sale depressing. Mortality and all that I suppose.
 One spends years usually building a collection of figures, books, magazines, and God knows what, and then suddenly someone is left with the responsibility of clearing it all out.
 Sorry if I'm sounding maudlin.
 To an untrained eye, boxes of wargaming magazines from the 1960's and 1970's suddenly look like a bonfire waiting to happen. Oh and all those fusty smelling books containing blurred black and white photographs of toy soldiers just crying out to be dumped at the Council tip, and dont get me started on my painted armies.
 I came home after the show feeling I should compile a ledger for my next of kin, in which I would record the worth of my life in wargaming. Except it would be a very time consuming task and too much to hope they would be sold to someone who would appreciate the wonderful legacy they have inherited.
 Sorry about sounding really depressed, its hardly a great endorsement for a wargames show. One should feel invigorated after such an event. Maybe it was the weather and to much JD.