And when the national press found Diana Spencer was living in Colherne Court - behind the Colherne gay pub - Earls Court suddenly became South Kensington in their reports.

Dress it however you like, Earls Court was always a thriving, noisy, dirty area of London.

ExCeL and Docklands will seem strange. Just as Earls Court must seem strange to first time visitors.

But I can assure you there is life over there. I have spent some time around ExCeL and Canary Wharf and intend - with a little help from others in the industry - to spend more time in the area, finding the same kind of restaurants and nightspots we have been used to.

It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.

National Boat Shows (NBS) has set a target of 200,000 visitors for the first show.

But when the 2003 Schroders London Boat Show - the end-of-anera last Earls Court show - didn't reach its target, I wonder if going for a 33% increase on the 150,000 they did get is a good idea?

Think about it. If we get 180,000 at ExCeL - a huge increase as exhibition attendances around the world continue to decline - NBS will have a failure on its hands.

John Clarke, Paul Streeter and James Gower all say they wanted to set themselves a real challenge for the first ExCeL show. They have certainly done that.

They have a £2 million promotions budget. They have the advantage of the curiosity factor. They have a friendlier start date.

But, as we all know, it takes only a few days of bad January weather - or a rail strike - and targets vanish only slightly quicker than a show organiser's reputation.

And while they are in the unfortunate position of being wrong, whatever target they set, I hope they are not raising expectations unnecessarily.