ained Out Again

ome time ago Baron Von Lodge was the head of a small country near Switzerland known as Lilliland.

The Baron liked to see the many tourists visiting Lilliland because they seemed happy and the revenue that they produced was good for the economy.

However, the Baron would not like to see sad tourist faces when an event had to be postponed or cancelled due to heavy rain or storms.

The Baron called Lady Angela and Professor Hamblin together for a meeting. The Baron wanted to know, over the past five years, how many events had to be cancelled due to being rained out.

The Professor checked the records and found that it was twenty-five events. The Baron said, “That is an average of five events a year. That is just too many cancellations and think of all the sad tourists who came to Lilliland to see a specific event.

“Since Lilliland revenues are well up, we could afford to do something to have fewer events cancelled.” The Baron wanted a large auditorium to be constructed so if a storm was approaching Lilliland, and it looked like the event might be cancelled, the entire event could be moved into the auditorium and could go on as scheduled.

“But,” the Baron was quick to add, “the auditorium must look natural and not out of place in Lilliland. The auditorium should also be next to the outdoor area that would normally hold the event.”

The Baron asked the Professor to hire an architect to design such a building. The first drawing was rejected because it looked out of place. The second drawing was rejected because the design did not fit in with the surrounding architecture. The third drawing was rejected because it looked like something from outer space. The next drawing was just right. It seemed to blend into the natural surroundings. It was large enough inside, and yet looked smaller from the outside.

It took two years to build the auditorium and was an instant success because even if an exhibit were scheduled to be held outdoors, but had to be moved inside, one would still get the feeling of being outdoors.

As the Baron looked back at the number of events that had to be cancelled, he found that now the number of cancellations was zero, partly because when an event was planned, there was always Plan A and Plan B, and it was very easy for the exhibit planners to move quickly from A to B. It was very successful.