Well I was off to Betley show yesterday without my co pilot Kate :( but was hoping for a good day despite the loss of my sparring partner ;)
The day started out cloudy and looking showery (now Betley show was a last minute idea of mine as my Dad (who I work for as a kitchen designer) decided to take Ringley Woodcraft out on the road to sell to the masses :) and thought it could be worthwhile) but the initial gloomy weather did thankfully turn out nice. However the forecast was for rain so we managed to get hold of a little gazebo Kate used at her wedding and after about 20 mins of fiddling Dad managed to put the thing up!As you can see the stall looked great and I believed that everything that could be affected by rain was underneath....
Unfortunately after 2 hours of glorious sunshine at 4pm the heavens opened.
When I say they opened I mean within the space of 30 seconds it had gone from burning my face the sun was so strong to soaking me to the skin!!
I sprinted to the front of the stand, throwing the 2 chairs at dad (bless him he looked so startled lol :-P), as he had a near empty space compared to me (you know by now I don't do minimal!), then rolled the trike over whilst the wind got up and at one point it looked like the whole thing was going to blow away!But I have to thank dad for his heroic efforts to hold on for dear life whilst getting soaked through as well!As if that wasn't enough, when after 2 mins I had got all (I thought) of my goods out of harms way, I realised my trunk with all the cushions and vintage eiderdowns in was right in the firing line as the water off the roof poured down in the gallons onto them!DISASTER!! So after a bit of quick thinking I remembered I had brought 2 vintage umbrellas which I promptly put up and covered over the trunk.Phew!!Unfortunately the rain was in for the rest of the afternoon so we called it a day at about 5pm.As you can imagine its not the best having to pack up in the rain, especially when you have to drive home with a wet bum!!
It wasn't all bad though we got a lot of positive feedback and sales and got the word out about the Kate and Lexy's Vintage Fair in October. Also met some really nice people and lots of gorgeous dogs! A really cool vintage couple who I didn't get their names but might be exhibiting at our show!?? lol came over with the cutest French Bulldog called Buddy :) now if you've read our blog you'll know that my baby is gorgeous George my cat but Buddy might just of planted the seed of a dog in my mind. After Kate's new arrival of Bunty I'm not sure if I'm getting puppy fever!Ive always liked French bulldogs but seeing Buddy my heart melted :) super cute and very funny because after apparently trying to play with just about anything that moved, Buddy was tuckered out and falling asleep!!Bless!
One other funny moment of the day came in the form of a little girl who was about 3 years old. She was standing about 20m away from the stand with her parents and other family members when she turned and saw the stall. Myself and dad first noticed her as she was running fall pelt towards my stand and it was like watching in slow motion as she ran and jumped head first into my steamer trunk full of cushions and eiderdowns!!After an initial worry that she was going to take down the whole gazebo, laughter shortly ensued with embarrassment on her parents behalf which hopefully was eased when I said I'll be doing that later after the early start that morning lol !!
All in all though a most enjoyable day and thank you for all those people who took an interest in our little stand xx
