The Patron Saint of the Denial

Happy Mother's Day to all that celebrate today. I got a lovely text from Corey saying he'd phone on his way home from work. Which is thankfully around 8 today and not late shift bar closing hours.

It was the Consett Cats craft fair yesterday. I knew going in we wouldn't make any money due to the location, and that's exactly what happened. But what I did do was get to talk to many other adopters, give some money to the rescue from items that did sell, and come home with a Consett Cat tote bag and a ridiculous amount of baked goods and cake. Even more cake than I planned as I was talking to one of the bakers at the end of the afternoon and she asked if I wanted to take three leftover cupcakes, and really, how could I say no?

There was also an Easter egg drive in the run up to the fair, with the donated eggs being put in brown bags and sealed up for a lucky wheel spin. At first they used the wheel correctly, but they'd had so many eggs donated by the end of the fair anyone spinning the wheel won an egg no matter if it landed on win or lose. At £2 a spin I got the eggs I need for the nieces and nephews, and maybe a spare for myself.

There was another good thing, the lady on the table next to us was a professional shopper for M&S for her day job and she was giving us tips on stall product placement and most interesting, the new trends coming in. Apparently, it's going to be tissue box covers, decorative trays that hold candles etc that can sit on coffee tables, wooden bangles and hare decorations. Now, most of those James can do, maybe not the bangles, but the rest, yeah. So, I think he's going to try for some of those for the next fair, which is this coming Saturday.

I enjoyed the season finale of Star Trek Academy, and am glad that season two has not only already being announced, but shown as wrapped via an Insta video from Karim Diane. It really has been my favourite new show recently, and there's not a character I don't like.

I've also watched the last ep of Call the Midwife, and what a bittersweet episode it was. The show did lose it's way a little at times, and was often the Dr Turner show, but I did enjoy it and will be watching the film and prequel show while waiting for season 16 to eventually be show, which will be a while from what the show creatorshave stated.

It was the second craft fair of the year yesterday, and it went okay. Quiet with only a few sales, but at least we made our table costs this time, and even had money left over after buying coffee. Not that it started that well, it was held in a church, which is a lovely venue, but to get there you have to park on the other side of a very busy road and go down to the greenman crossing. We did that, James carrying the A Frame we use to hang the hanging stuff, me trundling the festival trolled loaded with two big crates and three bags. Finally got to the other side of the road only for some guys in a passing van to yell we'd dropped a bag, and yep, there it was sitting on the other side of the busy road.

Thankfully, some lovely ladies grabbed it and brought it over to me, but still, not the best start.

We were talking to the organiser at the end of the fair, and I was saying how we hadn't made the table cost at our last fair and she was worried the same had happened that day. I could reassure her that wasn't the case, but even if it was, it's our risk to take. At this time of year we're really just out keeping PyroRex's presence going, hanging on until people have spare money again.

To which end, we're at another fair next Saturday, this one in aid of the cat rescue. Historically, not a good one for sales at any time of the year due to the location which has no passing footfall, but a cause we believe in so we'll be there trying to raise some funds for both us and the cats.

Right now James and my Sil are out watching Chris McCausland's stand up show which started at 4. It's their thing, watching comedy shows together. It's also a show they've been waiting a long time for as James bought the ticket back in 2024 as a Christmas present for my SiL thinking the show was happening in 2025, but in fact, it was actually March 26. So, after all that time I hope they enjoy it.

He sent me a message earlier, and I thought he'd managed to see Chris or something, but nope, he'd spotted one of the new Just Eat robot delivery things that have just arrived in Sunderland and sent me a video of it trundling past. They are cool to see, though, I do wonder how long it'll be before one ends up thrown in the river wear or vandalised.

And now as I have an evening alone I intend to have an early lobster bath and book. I know, shocker, right?