What a week! Never. Ever. Again.

This coming Friday and Saturday,17th & 18th August, we have a two day event in the centre of Taunton, just behind the Old Market House (Come along and see us!) and it’s been the biggest headache going…..

Firstly, the chap supplying our market stalls and tables has a heart attack. Not knowing this, I’d been trying every method possible to get hold of him to confirm arrangements and cussing fluently when all attempts failed. When I finally heard the news I felt incredibly guilty….so, get well soon Adrian! We need you!

Now, you wouldn’t think it, but market stall hire, in this part of the country at least, is hard to find. It took ages to find another supplier, and when I did they charged the earth. I’m talking thousands of pounds here plus VAT on top! Biting the bullet, we booked our stalls. Phew! At least we had stalls and all was well………or so we thought!

Last Friday I phoned the stall hire guy to confirm delivery. What delivery? he said. Mine, for Apple Tree Craft Fairs. No, nothing showing on our computer missus! Aaagghh!! But it must be there, you’ve had our money?? Well, off he went to check this out. Later he phoned back to say that yes, they’d received the cheque, and yes, they’d cashed it, but no they wouldn’t be supplying us with stalls. When I’d booked them the prat man I spoke to hadn’t entered the booking on the computer, so they’d been hired out to someone else for the dates we needed them. But not to worry said the chap, I’ll send you a cheque. We’ll give you a full refund! (how magnanimous, I thought) Yes, well. Still waiting for this cheque….

So, the hunt went on, with only 6 days to go. This late in the day there were no hired stalls to be found and I was panicking. I felt physically sick. We’d already had to cancel one very large event because of the heavy flooding, two was just asking too much. Finally, we found some EZ-UP gazebos on eBay. I’m a huge fan of eBay, but even I baulked at sending off almost £2000 through PayPal, it just seemed so dodgey. Anyway, they arrived yesterday, and we’ve had a practice set-up in the garden. They are soooooo good, and at 3 metres square, quite large too! Plenty of room for all the crafters’ needs.

Whilst chasing up the gazebos we’ve also been dealing with tables. These too are darned hard to find at such short notice. They were orginally coming from the chap who had a heart attack. We booked them through a very large hire company who, in turn, double booked us with a wedding. The wedding party was booked first, so I had to back down. Thankfully, I’ve found a great company in Bristol and the tables are being delivered today! Yay!

Now we’re all set for Taunton!

But no, we’re not. The council have phoned this morning to say that there is now a major problem with the electricity supply to the gazebos. I don’t pretend to understand any of the technicalities here (the vagaries of electricity escaped me after first year science lessons) but apparently it’s not working properly and HSE safety regulations are not being met. And the council, being the council, can’t guarantee a supply for Friday and Saturday because they don’t have a free electrician to sort it out for us, they’re all busy. If I want the problem sorted out, I have to find a qualified electrician, approved by the council,  and pay him to do the job myself. I thumbing through the yellow pages as we speak…. 

On top of this – yes, there’s more! – one of our moggies, Desmond, has broken his leg. If a job’s worth doing, do it properly, so not content with just the one nice fracture, Desmond has broken his in two places. One is a good clean break half way up his ulna/tibia/whatever, the other is right on the joint of the other bone and is more than likely going to cause him huge problems. He is not a Happy Cat. He’s bandaged up to the shoulder, and has to spend the next 6 weeks in a cage. No running, jumping or doing any of those roughty-tufty things a respectable cat should be doing, it’s all banned. And, to make matters worse, we keep having to bundle him off to the vets every few days to keep checking all is going as planned. Poor wee Desmond….he’s a sad sight. Hopping along, holding up the offending leg (front right) and meowing pitifully whilst he watches the other cats enjoying their summer in the garden.

I thought I’d share these problems with you. Next time you arrive at a craft fair, spare a thought for the organiser before you take everything for granted…………