SHOPPING AROUND - A Little Bit O Red

As is always the case with high street retail, there comes the time to hold a Sale. To be rid of all those stock purchasing mistakes, left overs, end of lines and odd hangers on, you are thoroughly sick of the sight of. We have found from experience that in Sheringham, its best to run our Sale in the Spring. Not in January when there is no bugger about. And so after all the kerfuffle of the Coronation weekend, and the Makers Market - which went very well 'thank you kind sir'. we put up our Sale after the second Bank Holiday weekend of May. To run until? Well, to whenever we think its not worth pushing it anymore.

The week after the Coronation was like death warmed up.  All our Bank Holiday visitors scarpered on Monday. Leaving us at the perilous unpredictable mercies of coach parties and the few who'd stayed on because they'd nowt better to do.  I knew the signs were bad on Wednesday as I walked across the car park, on my way to do my afternoon shift. There was a coach parked from Barnsley whose eventual destination was Great Yarmouth, which is the definition of the kiss of death for us. Had they been from  the Home Counties or North Yorkshire heading towards Holkham Hall, we'd have be on the money. As a consequence we had one of our worst days take this year. 

In our Sale was a small decorative glass panel with a wire hanger, made by the same makers as our range of very successful glass cards. Reduced from £6.95 to £3. A bargain you would have thought. A lady and her husband came in to the shop, they spotted the glass hanger. 

'You've not got anymore of these 'ave yuh?

'No, that's the last one'

'Only these are a much better idea than the cards, cos you can hang em up after'

'Well, yes, we thought so. But they weren't as well presented as the cards, so they didn't do very well'

'Oh..... mebe we'll av the cards then'

The husband went out to give them a second look, only to return empty handed.

'Ave just discovered they're made in Wales'

'Yes, they are'

'We like to buy stuff from where we been'

The wife returned to the glass hanger, picked it up and muttered disconsolately

'Pity its not more red though, I like red things, see.' 

She brought it over to the counter and sighed, stroking it gently as it lay there as thought it were an ailing animal on its last legs.

'If only it had just a little bit o red on it......  These ud make really good fridge magnets you know'

'Maybe, as they're transparent you'd have to find a way of fixing the magnet so it didn't show'

'Oh Yeh,..... I suppose so.

Followed by a very long pause, then another deep sigh.

'If only it had a little bit o red on it just here, or somewhere on it.......... I suppose I could buy it for miself '

She gave me three pounds, pushing them towards me with a slightly resentful implication. as if I'd made her buy it. I put the hanger in a paper bag. And she and her husband left, leaving behind a dark cloud of feeling that I and the shop, had somehow failed them in their not unreasonable expectations of us.