Another massive week and the 7 day sessions are likely to continue through the summer. We were at HMS Sultan down in Gosport last weekend – heart stopped every time they fired one of those huge guns, but the kids seemed to like it… This weekend we’re at the Gun Wharf food fair in Portsmouth and next weekend is the Brighton eco-fair at Preston Park.
The one good thing about working through the weekend is you don’t sit around wondering what to do – although the chance does seem appealing some times – particularly as my shift in Portsmouth on Sunday comes off the back of 3 days of in-store demos in London – the Food Hall at John Lewis in Oxford Street, and Whole Foods Market in High Street Kensington.
Each time I do a demo, the feedback is tremendously encouraging and there are a few offers of help from various enthusiastic new customers. One lady yesterday seemed committed to helping us break into the US market and I’ll certainly be following through with an e-mail on her return – one never knows how chance encounters might turn out if approached with an open mind. The fact we’ve won ‘best bottled water of the year 2008’ in the QATRAH awards was a great way to address the “so it’s just water” comments – sorry I had to slip that in somehow…
I fell asleep watching the Nelson Mandela birthday convert last night and was warmed by the genuine love with which fellow humans can communicate about a man they probably don’t know that well personally. Stephen Fry in particular eulogized so eloquently, he certainly made me feel as if I know the man better and watching Eddy Grant sauntering on the stage took me back to a time when it wasn’t wise to play Eddy’s music too loudly (back in my home town of Durban). Jim Kerr sang Mandela Day with emotion, replacing the anger with which he used to sing it the first time around – and then there was Amie (dazed and confused) Winehouse who I really don’t know, but she looks like she needs a rest.
Part of me still believes that when ‘the old man’ was released from prison and hurried off on a world tour, the schedule was set so vigorously that certain sectors of the ruling party at the time must have known it could kill a younger man trying to do the same thing. Happy 90th birthday Madiba – you’ve proved to the world that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and you have epitomised what it is to face adversity with dignity…
NeilT's Weblog 