Happy Easter

A busy week with things coming and going, I had more giant millipedes and mantids arrive, I now have a good selection of both. Millipedes have become really popular in the last year or so. They are very easy to care for and don't cost much to keep. They are happy in a plastic box or old fish tank and they feed on rotten wood, leaf litter and the occasional piece of fruit and veg. They can also be set up and left for a couple of weeks while people are on holiday. I really like stick insects and praying mantids but they cannot be left as they need constant care. Going on holiday and leaving the bugs is a huge problem for me. I spend weeks cutting down on stock and then try and set the animals up to look after themselves. It's a nightmare but I do love my holidays and when you work from home, you really need to get away. I realised yesterday that the A.E.S. (Amateur Entomologists Society) annual show is one week before we go on our cruise in October. I won the cruise in a competition so we couldn't plan the dates. I certainly cannot go to the show and spend hundreds of pounds on new stock as I normally do. I may have a table to sell off stock but really it will be too late for that. The show is generally the first Saturday of the month, it really threw people a couple of years ago when it was held in September. I had quite a few people asking me when it was and I had to tell them that they had missed it. Well this year it has thrown me as it is two weeks later. I may not go, seeing all those wonderful bugs and not being able to take any home would be torture!

I have just read the above and wanted to point out that I never leave the bugs alone. My daughter will be here, perhaps my mother in-law and I have friends who are willing to help out. However I don't think they will take offence if I mention that they are a pretty useless bunch. None of them like bugs and only carry out the exact instructions that I leave them. Oh to have someone local who actually likes the bugs and wants to care for them!

The Royal Mail are once again putting up the price of postage on Monday. I cannot believe how much the price of stamps has risen over the last few years. I don't want to increase my postal rates but I am losing out on all my heavier parcels and during the winter I spent a fortune on heat packs. They are a brilliant invention but I was putting them in every parcel that I sent. I am thinking of ways around it, perhaps I will need to charge a summer and winter rate for parcels or perhaps add a little extra to my stock prices? In reality I will probably have to raise the price of postage soon. It is nice that a fair number of people collect their orders from me. I find that people are willing to divert from their route visiting family and friends around the country. I suppose sat nav makes this a lot easier now. I love my Tom Tom, it saves so much time and I hate trying to follow other people's instructions, gone are the days when I had to scribble down directions while on the phone eg. Left at the pub, 2 nd on the right, over two roundabouts etc. (I always go lost).

With Easter next weekend I will be unable to post after Wednesday this week so please get your orders in early. Both Friday and Monday are bank holidays. I hope everyone has a great Easter and that it is dry and sunny, we are having a family barbeque on Easter Sunday.

Last thing, as you know I'm always full of ideas, some are good and some are bad. I have decided I cannot cope with a 'late calls' evening and have taken it off the site. Last Tuesday I sat by the phones, nobody called (it was the first week so not surprising) but I realised that I was on edge and couldn't relax at all. I get up early in the morning and need to sit down and take it easy in the evenings!

HAPPY EASTER