Rush, rush, rush

Rush, rush, rush - this week has been crazy. The BTS (British Tarantula Society) annual exhibition was great last Sunday but as usual I went nuts and couldn't resist all the beautiful spiders and other creepy crawlies (actually I was pretty good at mostly sticking with spiders). Consequently I have been chasing my tail ever since, all the new stock needed feeding, housing, labelling, cataloguing and entering onto the website. I have now entered it all onto the website other than a couple of species that turned out to be in the nymph stage and not quite 'proper' spiderlings yet. They will need to moult before I can send them out. Everything has been fed but quite a few spiders are in 'temporary accommodation' until I can sell some others and make room for them. I sent out some spiders yesterday so that freed up a few new homes. Unfortunately Monday is yet another bank holiday! I cannot tell you how much I hate bank holidays, they cause chaos with the post. I no longer feel that I can send orders to countries outside the UK until the following week. It seems that even sent by Airsure, parcels are likely to be held up in the UK and there is then a risk of them not arriving until after the weekend. Most things still arrive fine but it's a worry that I could do without.

Back to the exhibition - the show this year was held at a new venue, a football stadium in Coventry. It was a lovely light and airy venue with everyone in the same hall. Often shows are quite disjointed with several small rooms to negotiate, one large, spacious room was a real bonus. I flit around looking for items on my shopping list and any bargains going and often then forget which room I saw something in. People always laugh at my lists that I carry around but it is necessary as I need to make sure I am buying the right spiders! Some have just the scientific name, some the common name, some an out of date name that is no longer used. I need all my lists to ensure that I don't buy the exact same spider twice. It really is pretty complicated and as we left the house at 6am, I was shattered anyway but it's amazing what a bit of adrenaline can do. The shows are very exciting (my husband possibly wouldn't agree, make that definitely wouldn't agree). It's the getting home and then realising just how much work I have to do that I don't enjoy. I did spend all of Saturday preparing the bug room as best I could. I scrubbed and cleaned, fed all my current animals and set up as many new houses as I could but it is still always utter chaos after a show.

There didn't seem to be as many people at the exhibition as usual but that could just be because the venue was that much bigger so we weren't all squashed in. I had plenty of time to chat, which is something I always enjoy. It is great to catch up with old friends and customers that I haven't actually met face to face. I certainly have a lot of new stock now and as our summer holiday is only a few short weeks away, I need to get selling! Next week will still be hectic with the bank holiday and half term activities with the family but the following week I am hoping that things will settle down and I will be able to take stock and get better organised. I have quite a few special offers on the website now and I intend to add some extra special 24 hour offers to keep up interest. I may run my 'make me an offer' promotion that I did last year. I think it was before my holiday but it could have been Christmas. I certainly do remember it being very popular and clearing a lot of stock. We are going away for ten days, rather than our usual week so it will take some planning. Our daughter will be here and others will help out but as I have said before nobody actually likes the bugs in my family, which is a huge draw back when going on holiday. My nieces two sons are quite keen to help but at six and three they are a little too young. Our daughter loved bugs as a child but sadly she grew out of it and at 22 (today is her birthday), I now need to both bribe and threaten her to get her to actually put in the effort required (yes, I know she has a full time job but who still does all her washing and ironing).

I need to speed up, can't sit here all day! Brilliant to hear that Royal Mail are looking into Sunday collections and deliveries again (shame we are not in London anymore or we would have been in the trial area). I am once again selling Cave crickets but they are the most annoying things ever to pack. It's a case of one in the tub and three loose in the bug room. I have tried various things, the pooter idea was useless, my hubby cut a hole in lid of my expensive Exo Terra tank but I then realised I need two arm holes to get the crickets in the tub. I have even resorted to putting the tank in the freezer while packing the tub but it was rather dangerous for both me and the crickets so I'm still working on it. The Green Banana cockroaches aren't much better, they fly out as soon as I lift the lid and I mean fly, not just run fast. The joys of being a bug keeper......

Anyway as we are having another bank holiday whether I like it or not, I hope you are doing something nice and the weather is good. We have a birthday barbecue for our daughter on Sunday so fingers crossed the weather is warm and dry.