Alright, alright

I'm just showing off now, but look!

A customer bought me this! She said it wasn't much but I have literally no money to buy things like this for myself and I've wanted it for about forever and I didn't know but the first pattern is an aran using a stitch from Gladys Thompson's Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys and Arans which I love but just couldn't do when I tried it a long, long time ago. Lovely.

Nextly:

Cakes! Christmas ones! From the girls upstairs!

This next bit isn't showing off:

it's commiserating...

Sort of. These little dogs, as a commission for two different people. Blurgh. I was going to do a blog post about them playing in a field or something like that, I thought the incidence rate of four knitted dogs together at one time has got to be pretty small unless you're a mad wo/man so I was going to take advantage. But no, I tent to get a bit frustrated with fiddly knitting after a while and this has been a bit of a marathon. But now they're done I love them. That's a pug, a jack russell, a British bulldog and a miniature schnauzer. I never knew that miniature was spelled like that - weird.

This is why I don't like knitting small fiddly things:

Look at my angry face. Haha.

It's over now and I'm pleased.

That's what life has been like in the shop this week. Sort of good, sort of bad and ridiculously busy. Forgive us our absences.

And then - finally - we'll be at the The Nottingham Bead and Craft Show run by our friends at The Bead Shop, Nottingham. We went last year too and it was great so we're really excited. Apart from the early morning... Here's a photo from last year:

Exciting!?!!?

And I'm taking three boxes full this year. Three and three only.


Finally. I want to have a bit of a moan and a whine. About the council, of course.

T'other day I was outside the shop having a chat with a customer when a Community Protection Officer came and asked about our waste practices. Now, I've been brought up to be a bit of a hippy. I hate waste and nothing gets chucked here apart from my fag ends and the occasional crisp or biscuit packet. Normal things that normal people throw in normal bins. No? Well, apparently not if you're a small business. I have to pay money to get that collected. Not part of the business rates (which are the equivalent of council tax as I see it).

Now, this would not be a problem except that since we've started we've been treated to "small business rates relief" which means essentially that business as small as ours don't pay the business rates. Brilliant! Great idea! More of that please! Only, the council obviously aren't making enough money so they start harassing us for more money from other places. I'd so much rather pay the bloody rates that have to pay bits here and there for whatever services they think we ought to use.

Right, so, ignoring how frustrating that is - we'll pay it. No problem. The Community Protection Officer promises to come back later that day. Does he turn up? I think you know the answer. Okay, fine, I'll ring in the morning. And I did, I started ringing at 11 o'clock and I didn't stop until somebody finally put me through to an appropriate person at HALF. PAST. TWELVE! The incompetence is staggering. Staggering.

So I get through to somebody, who speaks to me like I'm five explaining that 'the law says this' and 'the law says that'. So I ask, 'which statute is that?' - I'm a lawyer, I can look it up. I'd quite like to in fact. The answer: 'well, the law says this' and 'the law says that'. Don't make me rip my own eyeballs out now, Mr Policeman. Jeez. Anyway, he can't do anything, he'll get his colleague to call me back. 'Oh, is that the kind of calling back that's a lot like the 'coming back' that your colleague didn't do a lot of yesterday?'. 'Well, the law says this'. Oh piss off!

Anyway, he didn't call me back, I had to call him. Finally somebody came around with an idiots guide to waste management and nothing to fill out. Somebody will come and 'help me fill out the form on Monday'. The saga continues...

That feels better. How frustrating! I feel like becoming one of those busybody business owners who starts a petition about some ridiculously minute issue. But honestly, how am I supposed to run a business when I spend half the day running after people who should be the most efficient workers out there? And how the bloody hell am I supposed to run a business when I'm spending all of my money on waste services that I really don't need?


Bravo council!

Now I'm going to do some knitting and some reading Elizabeth Zimmerman to cheer myself up.

Blurgh.