Fannying About in front of Proper Business Owners and Politicians.

WOW! Yesterday was quite a day! The weather was spectacular, the place was stunning and I was, as always, effervescent. Ha.

First thing's first, I'll post the speech:

Hmph. It's really hard looking at yourself on video. It took me three attempts to watch this but overall I'm pretty happy. I spoke too quick and waved my arms around too much. I'm also slightly worried that I made us sound like something out of Grand Theft Auto. I maybe should have made it more clear that the vast majority of my time is spent with my lovely customers talking about wool, knitting, crochet, gossip and drinking tea. My mum also reckons I should have taken more time to speak 'properly' but that's not how I speak so I'm pretty happy that I didn't.

Having said all of that, whilst I was eating my (beauts) lunch I had all sorts of people coming up to congratulate me and do something about it! WHAT!??! I wasn't expecting that! I seem to have hit some sort of a nerve. Vernon Coaker MP (for Gedling) actually texted Paddy Tipping (Police Commissioner for Nottinghamshire) in front of my eyes and told me that if Paddy didn't ring then I had to e-mail him. I spoke to Richard Stones of the National Business Crime Forum - he has all sorts of letters after his name but, I think most importantly, his wife has her own small business and is a fellow member of the FSB. We also met Mark Spencer who is the MP for Sherwood (and therefore Verity's MP) whose wife also owns a small(ish) business (Spring Lane Farm Shop) he came up to me afterwards to tell me I was brill and I, really weirdly, found him rather attractive...

Now, this is all brill, fantastic and if something gets done then all the stress was worth it. But, why should I have had to do that in order to get some sort of service?! Let me remind us all that no fingerprints were taken at a break-in! None! Why the bloody hell not?! And what about all the other people who've been treated like that and haven't got the platform or the confidence to speak like I did? Now, I know that there's nothing that can be done for my actual crimes but I'm going to do my damndest to get something changed. Whilst bearing in mind that I'm no longer a lawyer, nor am I a politician, I'm not really even a business person - I am a mere knitter and I'll try not to get myself bogged down.

Right - let's get on with the day. It's going to be a mixture of mine and Verity's photos because on the whole we took the same ones and mine are a bit more blurred than hers - terrible photographer. I'll post a link to her blog because she's deffo going to write one but hasn't got round to it yet and I know I'll forget to link when she does so maybe she'll have done it by the time that you read this... 

So, we met earlyish at Starbucks to have a calming coffee before we set off. We had some rants together, called a taxi and we were off! As we rounded the corner to the house we were both blown away. I'd completely forgotten how stunning it was:

Me looking a bit shocked. 

At this point I was a bit overwhelmed. So glad to have Verity there wittering on about bits and bobs because I might have pooed my pants that that point. And that would seriously have shown me up... 

We signed in and got our name badges: 

Which Verity said made this a very. posh. engagement. Oh dear. 

We milled around a bit taking 'photos for the blog': 

And then a lady rushed out to tell us that I was down to do some filming. Oh god. I had no idea! But them I am the least organised person in the world so it's probably my fault... She took us up to a smallish but grandly-painted room in which we met THREE FIT BOYS! FIT! Omg! I felt like a teenager. And then I had to sit there and be filmed whilst I talked about why small businesses are important. I lost it a little and did indeed say 'fml' at least once... Vezza says I was professional but she would say that...

AND THEN! 

We went to the toilet....

STUNNING IS NOT THE WORD! We were so excited we squealed quite a lot! Screeching... I hope nobody heard us. 

My bag looks at home here... 

Look at that marble! That big slab of marble!

Hand carved? Beauts!

The corridor in and out. 

Us in the mirror. V. myspace. 

Vezza, Vezza's bag and I enjoying the thrones. :)

Then we made our way into the reception room and stood around waiting. I was so nervous I started crocheting and then Vezza followed suit with knitting and we spoke to a few people but on the whole we sat in the corner wishing we were in business suits or that the people around us were wearing something more comfortable... 

We enjoyed looking at the booze cupboard: 

And then we sat outside in the sunshine. The speeches were late (I think) so it was a while. A lovely while: 

(Geese!)

Then we all piled into the room where the speeches were taking place. I asked Verity to film me so that's up at the top and she took a few photos before that started. I was a bit put on edge because I was supposed to be last but the lovely people before us from Aubergine Cuisine had a mix up with their slides so I had to get up earlier than expected. But it was fine: 

Fine. 

Then it was time for lunch and we were sat on tables with very. important. people. I had no idea what to do so I channeled the Titanic cutlery scene and started from the outside. People kept talking to me and I was the last one to finish each course. That never happens. Never. 

We went out for a fag after lunch and to take some photos of my new bag (pattern-ish to follow I promise): 

And we ended up going for an impromptu stroll around the lake and grounds which meant that we didn't get to say goodbye to anybody. 

So I'm going to to the professional thing and e-mail them today. 

It was worth it though: 

Beautiful. 

Once we'd walked all around the big lake and put the world to rights, we headed towards the road and ended up walking through a meadow type thing which was lovely. We rang for a taxi and sat down for nearly half an hour whilst it battled through traffic. Lovely. 

I honestly thought that I'd be good and do some work after this but we went for a beer and then I had a BBQ and then I spent the rest of the night crocheting and admiring my granny squares. I was knick-knacked. 

And what a glooooooorious day it was!

I'll keep you updated if anything comes of it. 

Love Eleanor. xx