A sobering thought and .....
not drunk on success
t was only last Monday that my dear friend Lynda talked me into doing a two day fair this last weekend at Aldermarston. It was large show, in its 10th year, well established, about 100 stall holders and, according to another friend, Debbie, well worth doing as people have to pay to get in and are therefore more likely to be in a shopping mood, rather than a ' lets pop in here for something to do because it's started to rain' as those customers are usually not out to spend anything! So we booked up. £190 for 14' space and two tables, not too bad a price, we were open two days from 10 til 6 each day.
Then we got down to work and did we work? Yes we blooming did! There was not an inch of free space in my bedroom! Everything that could be covered with half painted china was! Some rather precariously balanced, some on the landing windowsill, lots all over the dining room table and a fair amount dotted about the kitchen and conservatory. I even went on Friday to collect my wares from a shop I sell through, leaving her shop looking rather empty and depleted, but I needed the stock to sell to all these hordes of happy shoppers throwing money at me! I slaved my guts out, but it was all going to be worth it in the end! Just think of all those bills I would be able to pay!
o Saturday morning, rather bleary eyed I crawled into the shower, into my clothes, made my flask of hot soup and opened the front door - it was only snowing!!!!!! Groan! So I persevered, got into the car, turned the heater up full blast and left the house at 7am. Off I drove towards the M4, wondering how long it would be until I was really awake and thinking if I am tired now, what will I be like at the end of the day?!
Got to Aldermarston, looked for signs, saw none, went through Aldermarston, no signs, stopped in a lay-by, had a quick chat with another crafter who was also lost, turned round, went back, found the post office, got directions and finally got there! Evidently the villagers had been rather annoyed that the fair was still going on because of the foot and mouth problem and had been going round taking all the signs down again as fast as they were put up! This did not bode well really.
id very good time even so and got there just before 8 - brilliant. That left me 2 hours to set up and get the stall looking just right. It can be done in an hour when push comes to shove, but the more time you have, the better it looks. So I started to unload the car, cursing slightly at the foot and mouth disinfectant trays that I had to walk through in my suede boots, and also realising that it was quite a hike from my car to my pitch. It was all on grass and everything was rather wet about so really my big boxes of china were just going to bog down, so I would have to carry them all by hand. As I counted up how many trips this was going to take me, I began to curse the fact that I had been such a clever bunny only the day before and had bought some new boxes as the ones I already had very incredibly heavy when full of plates, so these new ones held less but were easier to carry - until they actually were put into practice! Yes, they held less and were lighter, but I could still only carry one box at a time! This meant approximately 15 trips back and forth to the car! And just inside the gateway was a stone that was sticking up slightly, and if I fell over that once, I fell over it all 15 times I believe! By box number 12, my right arm had gone into a cramp like type of seizure and by box 15 I was ready to collapse! This was now a great start to my day!
I thanked him for his confidence in the organisers ability and drove in the opposite direction where I abandoned my car next to some other stallholders in a small car park. On the approach of the steward I smiled and kept walking. When informed that I couldn't park there I kept smiling albeit through gritted teeth and told him that I need to get back to my stall before the public arrived to complete setting up as I was on my own and when they had rectified the van situation if he would come and find me I would be more than happy to put my car exactly where he wanted it!! Can you tell what sort of mood I was in? It's not difficult!
Another hot tip (excuse that pun too!!) is bubble wrap in your boots!! I know it sounds crazy but it really works! Instantly your feet feel warmer! I did have trouble trying to slip my boots back on and they were a little tight for a short while, but it worked! We all crackled slightly for a short time, but that soon stopped! You must remember to take it out before driving home with the heater on your feet, or you will do what I did last night and my feet got incredibly hot as the plastic heated up! Opps!
So many cups of soups and coffee later we were all praying for 6 to come round! I had phoned my husband at 4 to ask if he had remembered to put the stew on to cook that I had lovingly made the previous night at midnight (so I wouldn't have to bother when I got in). No, he had forgotten but would do it now. Fine, hot stew would be exactly what a body needed when I got it. That and an industrial size whisky and ginger! There were hardly any customers through the gates on Saturday. It was abysmal. I only took £70 all day. I had six customers and sold 9 pieces. I even knew exactly what I had sold and to whom! How sad is that! Still, at least tea would be ready when I got home, and that was one less thing to worry about. 5.30 arrived, there were no customers left so we all sheeted up our stalls and ran to our cars in
glee at the thought of the car heater on full blast! Well, when I say ran, we hobbled as our feet were totally numb by then! Drove like a maniac to get home as quickly as possible (not really Mr. Policeman, I was within the law all the time, honest!). As I started to defrost, my face went bright red! We had been telling Lynda all day that it had been Friday not Saturday that was red nose day as she had been doing a Rudolf impression the whole time! Gosh, was I happy to get home!
Hang on, no car outside, strange, no family inside to meet and greet and sympathise, and worse of all, I couldn't smell my wonderful stew escaping from the kitchen! Yep, you guessed it, he hadn't turned it on! The the phone rang, it was him.
He was doing the squash run with the kids, I was obviously behind the time and social arrangements for the evening had completely changed! Anyway, to cut a long story and a verbal lambasting for him, he had thought I had meant for him to leave the stew for the Sunday night instead and we would do something else for tea that night. We did, I made him take me down the pub to eat before he had to go and collect the kids from squash again at 9!! Ha ha! Serves him right! Not that I was feeling at all bitter and twisted or vindictive that day!!!!! (You may be seeing a new side to me during this article!! No more Mr. nice guy!) And so to bed. At least it wouldn't be such an early start on Sunday, I didn't need to leave until 8.30.
And so to sleep, perchance to dream of the fortune I would surely make on Sunday.
I arrived and parked in the same place as I had the day before (as I never did get asked to move off). Parked up, a steward approached me - I ignored him until he tapped on the window. Just let him try to argue with me!! 'Morning' says he, 'are you a front or rear wheel drive?' I smiled, looked at him and said 'How should I know! It's a car!' I let him grovel on the ground for a while, looking under my car, I'm not really sure why, but I let him have him fun! Then I told him it was rear wheel drive. (I discovered later it was front wheel drive as I moved across the field, turned the wheel to the right and completely covered the left side of the car with mud!! I think I managed to hit a few bystanders with the mud too! How to be popular and make friends eh?! Wait until my husband see the colour of it!!) He then made me park most of it on the grass with the driving wheels on the tarmac so they could fit as many people in the car park as possible. Fine, yesterday we couldn't use it at all, and now we can! There's organisation for you!
Actually that is a bit of a lie, as I wasn't prepared at all. I wasn't prepared for 5 times as many people through the door - great! But they all have their wallets super glued shut! By 3.30 I had taken only £20! I had spent loads mind you! Wonderful man making homemade curry, another doing dips and cordials, another making door signs - got one for my middle son which is far too rude to print here but made him laugh! And one for me that says beware of the dragon! Rather apt I think!! And the man opposite me who had water features for indoors and out so I bought a small one for my window sill. It was going to be for my bedroom but I think the noise will make me be up and down to the loo all night!! (Look out for Charlie Dimock using some of his stuff in her program soon! Can't remember if it was the water features or the large metal bird that he had on his stall - but you will know what I am on about when or if you see the program! )
So, retail therapy does work! I was still laughing by the end of the afternoon, although Lynda did say it sounded slightly hysterical by then! It wasn't just me that made no money, one poor lady told me she had lost £450 in the last 3 shows! I really do believe that it is a knock on effect from the foot and mouth crisis. It just goes to show how far reaching this disaster is for all of us. I have taken the decision that I shall not be doing any more large expensive fairs until this crisis is over. I simply can't afford to lose money like that and if any of you are thinking of starting up on the craft circuit, maybe you should think again for a while and postpone your launch into this sometimes rewarding, sometimes depressing career. Loads of shows will be affected with country shows cancelled, others having the venues moved. For example, next weekend was Ardingley in West Sussex, which is a well established show and was really great when I went there, but this has now been moved, due to the crisis, to Brighton Race course. There were loads of exhibitors who didn't want to go there but have to as they have already paid, but do not expect to make anything again as one show there a couple of weeks ago was awful!
Anyway, I suppose I must now go and do all the housework that didn't get done at the weekend! I just wish my feet would thaw out properly! Ho hum, back to the grindstone!!
Jude
Jude and I would love to hear your comments about this article, or indeed any of her other articles. You can post comments to our forum board or send an e-mail to either myself or directly to Jude. Please share your thoughts and views!