Selfie with wheatbag and darned jumper

I didn't take any photos of my last Saturday at the market. I felt a bit sad about it. To give you the background: in late 2015 I started selling greetings cards and stationery, and approached R, the indoor market manager, for a stall. I got the odd stall now and again, more often on Fridays than Saturdays, and liked the atmosphere and location. Because I wasn't a regular there, I ran stalls in other locations in Stroud and Nailsworth, and villages at Christmas time, but always wanted a regular slot in the Shambles.

Fast forward four and a half years, reader and, I got it! CoVid had sucked the life out of it; many former traders left, and for the first year we operated under socially distanced conditions, with only six stalls, ten customers at a time, compulsory face masks, and two lockdowns, one of which lasted four and a half months. When we came back after that long lockdown, there was no central heating and no PRS licence, so we couldn't even play music as we hugged our hot water bottles.

Fourteen months later, the Saturday market has picked up, we have twelve stalls, music, and regular customers. Fridays are still quiet. The older people who used to shop in town on a Friday morning before the pandemic have not returned. Some of the old-time traders have moved away, or hung up their money belts for good. Other traders only attend on Saturdays.

I've started a new job, and feel that I could do more good in the world, and earn a more regular income/pension by being in the office more frequently. I'm increasing my hours by roughly one day per week, spread over Thursday/Friday and reclaiming Saturday as my day of R&R, or socialising, if anyone wants to go out and play...


Today I brought biscuits/chocolates  for the traders and played their favourite tunes on Spotify (I've been doing the music, via Spotify, for the past two years). Abba seemed the most popular. Then, come leaving time, I left. Of course, CleanSteve will still have his stall there and I'll haunt the place because I like the other stalls.

Back at home, I had a massive sort out of my stuff. The remainder of my greetings cards can be sold to friends or staff members or in a small box  on CleanSteve's stall, and I'm planning to offer my Christmas stock as a sort of pop up 'cart full of Christmas' to selected customers.

Then I tried out the new William Morris patterned microwaveable wheat bag that I had ordered, to keep myself warm over winter. I've ordered one for my mother, too. I was delighted to discover that it goes with my tastefully-darned jumper that my friend S created for me, after I handed her a badly-holed sweater and two cards of darning wool. The jumper has received many accolades for its originality.