Happy Halloween! I am writing my blog a day early as tomorrow is my niece's 40th birthday and we are holding the celebrations at Chessington World of Adventures (undoubtedly with several thousand other people as it is both half term and Halloween). Still it is her choice and she does have 4 kids (my sister's other 6 grandchildren will be there too). I love Halloween with all the bugs and beasties but I will obviously have to take it easy on the rides with my bad back (baby rides only I think). I will take myself off to the zoo bit, they have some lovely animals there. The Binturong is amazing, Google tells me it is also called a bearcat. She comes out for shows and the audience are asked to sniff her as she evidently smells of popcorn. Sadly they only pick out kids for this task so I haven't actually smelt her myself, life isn't fair!
Sales have again been pretty slow this week. Everyone is probably out in the sunshine, amazing 20c at the end of October, long may it last. I have had a couple of customers call in this week. I am really hoping to encourage more visitors during the winter. It is so nice to actually chat to people face to face and show them my wonderful bugs. Unfortunately most of my customers live far away but do feel free to arrange a visit if you can. I had someone come up from Sussex yesterday and I have a guy travelling all the way from Plymouth in a couple of weeks. Just in case you don't know I live slightly north of London in High Wycombe. I need to yet again change the wording on my 'notes to visitors'. I would love to continue Saturday open afternoons but since moving out of London they just aren't possible. In London it was generally a vibrant and fun afternoon with people steadily coming and going but up here I seem to attract one or two visitors if I am lucky. The main reason has to be the transport links or lack of them. You need a car to get here, I am often saying that our village of Flackwell Heath would be great if it had an underground station but it isn't likely so I am now encouraging people to call in when they can and I will try to slot in around my visitors.
I haven't had anything new in this week and I am cutting back until after Christmas but I had news yesterday that an order I put in for some African bugs/spiders some time ago, should be arriving in the next couple of weeks. I thought they may not arrive at all so I am really pleased. I have been trying to condense my beetles down this week. They are driving me nuts, I get one adult hatch of one species, then three males of another species. They are seriously going the way of praying mantids. I love mantids but haven't sold them in several years and haven't regretted my decision. Beetles are the same, fantastic as pets but they cause way too much work and stress to supply them as part of my business. With both insects the adults don't live long and they are difficult to post as they are always moulting. I often get an order for beetle larvae only to discover that they have turned into cocoons. The cocoons are too delicate to post (I can't see inside to tell if the pupa has fully formed) so I have to disappoint my customer. The boxes that the beetles are housed in are of course full of substrate and this means they are heavy and not good for my back. All in all, it is sad but I 'think' I need to stop them. I may change my mind? So much is going on at the moment and as you probably all know by now I hate change. I admit to being a complete control freak and wanting everything to stay the way it is even if the changes actually turn out to be good!
My hubby did indeed upgrade my computer last week. It hasn't crashed again but lots of things need to be reinstalled or adapted so it is still causing me minor problems. He started his new job as a vehicle examiner this week (after a lifetime in his previous job) so it is all very different for everyone. He will be in training until next February and neither of us had realised that this will be taking him away roughly every other week so he will only be at home for the weekends. This is going to be a big change as his previous job meant he had days off in the week but worked most weekends. What am I going to do if I have a problem with my computer, printer, internet, iPhone etc? He will be hundreds of miles away, panic! (and I will miss him as well). See - you blog readers will have to come and visit me or I will be all on my own!
Last but not least my health; the back continues to improve but I can't see any improvement in my vision (no pun intended). I am visiting the doctor this afternoon and hope she will refer me to a specialist. I have an appointment with my optician next week and I will have to order a new pair of varifocal glasses to suit my eyes as they are now. I seriously hope my sight will improve but it has been six weeks and I am fed up with constantly changing glasses and not being able to see properly with any of them. Oh how I miss my contact lenses and wish I had taken better care with them!
Happy Halloween and try not to eat too many sweets (I love sweets)
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