We made it to Harrogate, I can’t believe it. Having been offered a last-minute spot at the Country Living magazine fair, it seemed too good to turn down. Even by my nutso standards of flying by the seat of your pants, this adventure was bonkers. I signed the contract for the stand on thursday, had to work full time including saturday till the next tuesday and the fair was starting on that thursday, 280 miles away. My boiler broke down on friday so I had no heating or hot water. No, it wasn’t like the blasted Blitz spirit; it was an absolute nightmare. Meanwhile I couldn’t rustle up any helpers to assist in producing stock as it was so last minute, etc, etc. DPD, curses be on them, didn’t deliver my supplies despite my paying £50 for sunday delivery. Oh how I laughed as I desperately trawled the shops for tiny bottles of essential oils, not. And believe me, deciding to lay artificial turf in my display was not the sanest idea I ever had. Still, I found some and my rock of a niece painstakingly inserted baby’s breath in the grass. It was awesome, and so is she.

So there I was, car laden to bursting point with grass and boxes, setting off for the 300 mile drive. By the time I passed Birmingham, I was so exhausted that I had to pull in to the motorway service station before I killed myself and other drivers. Got to Harrogate four hours later than planned because of the crazy weather. See those shelves in the pic above? They and the lighting cost me £650 because I didn’t have time to bring my own stuff. Happy days 🙂 And I didn’t even get to bring them home. If you’re thinking of exhibiting anywhere, don’t even THINK of hiring furniture from the organisers at short notice – lesson number 1. Meanwhile, my first helper left late and didn’t arrive till midnight that day so I had two hours in which to set up by myself. Have you ever tried to cut artificial grass with scissors? I highly recommend it if you wish to practice all the swear words you know, and some you didn’t even realise you knew…. One stanley knife later, I felt like Bob the Builder in my fab hi-viz jacket. They made me take off the hard hat as it was a bit excessive. ‘You’re setting up a beauty stall, not buiding the Severn Bridge’ Haterz gonna hate 🙂 Day one over, I managed to get most of the stuff on-site, ready to do some guerrila installation the next day. By 8pm when they threw us out the exhibition hall, I was incoherent with fatigue; it reminded me of the crazy days at KLC when I would get so exhausted by the end of a project that I’d be swaying as though I was punch drunk. End of day one.