Show Diary!

Good morning!

Wow, in a blink of an eye it's Tuesday, where I have to write. I mentioned a while ago about writing a diary of what it's like to work the shows, so after a long Easter weekend today is a good day to do that. 

I hope you all had a good weekend, before you read about mine, please note this is not a look at me, look how hard I work blog, this is an insight into what it is involved when you make the decision to either make something to sell at shows yourselves or decide to work for someone else selling at shows.

My Easter weekend started Thursday evening, which seems ages ago now. We had a gin tasting in Aldreth which is about 30 minutes away from us. Now Thursday was one of those days, everything that could go wrong did go wrong, right up until the gin tasting started, but thats the way its goes, yet its how you deal with it which matters. 

Thursday 7.30pm Gin tasting, I had a fantastic evening, 63 people were there and they really were a great crowd. We finished about 10.30 and I got home around 11pm. Despite being tired you are on a high so a large glass of whisky to relax then off to bed.

Friday 

I had to be at the distillery at 6am to unload the van ready for someone to collect, then off to the shops to deliver stock etc. Arrived at Hunstanton at 8am, a quick unload of stock and reload of stock which needed to be taken over to Wells shop. Unloaded at Wells, had some time so had a massive bacon and sausage roll (got to fuel up!). Collect Cider from Whinhill which are based in Wells.

I was doing the Holkham show on Saturday so as I was driving back to Hunstanton and going past Holkham it was an ideal time to unload the show stuff which would make it easier on the Saturday morning so quickly did that. 

I got back to the Hunstanton shop around 11 and then stayed there until 4, meeting and chatting with people. Finally got to meet Chezza, thank you for coming in. Told her off because she lives close to the distillery and that's the first time I have met her.

I was then planning on going back to the distillery, however traffic was bad which would mean I wouldn’t get to pop in and see my grandkids so scrapped that in preference of seeing them, which was great. A quick pop to the shops to buy things to make a packed lunch then a quick coffee at another of my daughters then home around 8pm.

A good day, everything was where it needed to be for the weekend so a couple of large whisky’s then time to get your head down.

Saturday

I needed to be at Holkham for around 8am to actually set the stand up ready to open at 10am so left around 6am. Got myself all set up, met some traders I had not seen for a while and then was ready to go.

Worked on the stand from 10 to 4, the weather was beautiful and I had a really good day, met lots of lovely people, many of whom followed us, so I was in a good place when it came to leave. I even managed to save eating my packed lunch until lunch time, usually its gone by 10am!!

Because I didn’t go to the distillery Friday night I had to go now, so I headed straight there, I needed to sort some things and meet someone who was collecting the other van as they were taking over from me at Holkham for the Sunday because I was heading to Kelmarsh in the morning.

Sunday

I had to leave the house at 6am to get to Kelmarsh around 7 to set up, as the Kelmarsh show was Saturday and Sunday I decided to stay over on Sunday night in the van. Several of my friends were doing the same, they have decent showers on site so I was more than happy to do this. I have to have a shower, if there are no showers then either drive home or stay in a hotel. I didn’t have my proper bed to hand so I chucked an airbed in the van and a pump, sleeping bad and a duvet so I was good to go. 

Sunday the weather was lovely and it was a very busy show, met lots of people and had a good day. Didn’t manage to save my packed lunch for lunch time, and demolished it all by about 11am! I went out with some friends who were staying over on Sunday night, we had a curry and a few beers so when it was time to get my head down I was certainly ready for bed. This was early, around 9pm. 

Monday

The weather had been amazing all weekend and the shows and the two shops had done very well, but around 2am this decided to change. Now this is when sleeping on an airbed in a transit van is not ideal because heavens opened and it poured with rain. This was on and off all night. When I decided to open the side door and stick my head out at 6am, yes I had a lie in from the usual 5am, it was pouring with rain and everywhere was starting to flood. Hey ho, that's the unpredictable nature of shows, no two days are the same. I got showered and dressed, had a couple of cups of coffee, found a decent breakfast roll and was ready to go at 9am, when the show started. 

It was still raining, someone went out and counted the cars in the customer parking and there were 6! This changes the mood between the traders, it's mentally tough when it's like this, some want to just pack up and go home, which I totally understand, I have been there too. I was fortunate that I was still on a high from how the overall weekend had been so just chipped away throughout the morning and had a pretty good morning. Plenty of people turned out for the show, in waterproofs, raincoats and hats.

Early in the afternoon the sun came out but then so did the wind..Not from me eating too much but very strong gusts of wind, followed by rain storms and then sun again. We can handle the cold and the rain but sudden gusts of wind can close the shows down, several traders had their stands and gazebos blown away, this is not only dangerous but also devastating for them. 

The show decided to close around 3pm as nearly all the public had left by then. I am fortunate that it didn't take me long to pack away and I had my nephew give me a hand so I was out of there by 3.15 and home by 4.45.

A few hours chilling aka dozing then it was an early night before starting again this morning.

So that was my Easter weekend and I bloody loved it, some will say it's too much you will burn out etc, but I am not any different to the many over traders who do the same. It's simply what needs to be done. What I do throughout it is to take care of myself, sleep as much as I can, try to eat as healthy as I can and try not to drink too much. It's easy to get carried away and eat takeaways all the time when travelling around, staying up late with other traders drinking and chatting but then you will soon burn out. Everynow and then we will all have a good party at a show, but then we all have to suffer the consequences the following day.

So if you are thinking of having a go, hopefully its given you an insight into what is involved. We will be looking for someone to work at shows soon so if you are up for the challenge keep an eye out.

Have a good day, off to the meeting, then got vans to unload and plan what we are doing.

Thankfully the sun is back out!

Catch you later