Sitting Down!

After five days at the NEC - catching up in the office today is a welcome respite for my legs!
We had a great show - after the initial hiccup of a poorly located stand.
We moved the stand from The Countryfile area to a great spot next to Debbie and Andrews sausages! Unfortunately Paul was at a meeting Thursday night, so I had to set up the stand again by myself, although Darren, and a few of his friends from the show organisers office did help me to carry the stock over.
The new location was not great for our waistlines, (yummy sausage sandwiches for breakfast), but it did mean we had a constant flow of customers, and we handed out over 500 leaflets. My lovely friend Kim, from Lavender Ladies helped me on the Thursday and Friday, so it gave us time to talk about our new project as well. (Watch this space, more info coming soon!).
We did a bit of star spotting as well - James Martin wandered by several times, as well as Adam from Countryfile, and John Craven!
We had been warned that breaking down and getting out on the Sunday night was manic, so we had a great plan to drag all of our stand and stock to the car park, rather than queuing to get into the back door. We looked more like travelling gypsies, as we left the show - with everything piled high on our trolley - but it did mean we were home by 8.30pm Sunday night, which was a big bonus.
Adriano, our lovely Portugese supplier came to stay on Monday, and we had an interesting visit to John Lewis, where he could see a lot of his ranges being sold. We took him to a local pub on the Monday night, which was quite amusing, as it has been run by a Portugese family since 1972! Adriano had been in the UK for over a week, so it was a nice break for him to be able to chat to the staff in his own language.
One day to catch up in the office, and then we are off to Cheltenham tomorrow to set up for The Food Festival. I am looking forward to it, as it is only 3 days, and after the NEC, it will seem like a breeze!