Hi all. I am really missing not doing the newsletters for the Magpies Club. There was just nothing left to write about, at least not enough to fill 6 pages. I had been doing newsletters for over 16 years and covered a load of Avon things.
I miss contact with people a lot. There are very few people around where we live in France. Our French is falling behind a bit as visitors to the museum mostly want to try out their English and we end up teaching them things in English - not a lot of good when we want to learn more French!
Boot fairs have been quite good recently and I have found a couple of bits of Avon I did not have in the museum.
I managed to buy a whole load of Avon samples at one boot sale. I usually make up a small packet of samples for each lady visitor so they can try out the items and them order directly from their own Avon lady. Funny, as I have just sent a letter off to Avon in Paris (again - this is about the tenth time I have tried to contact them) asking for samples that I can give away. Bet I get no response this time either.
Weather is fantastic although I am currently working inside the house. Have had visitors and trying to put everything back as it was. All the washing has been done, dried, ironed and put away so that is a good start.
We have sold our car - the main one we use - as we got a buyer almost as soon as it was advertised so we thought it would be a good idea to let it go straight away. Our new car will not be ready until mid-September so we are currently just using "Christine" our Sunbeam Rapier. Unfortunately she is a gas guzzler so we won't be going far for a while.
We all went to a zoo in Jurques - bit expensive but loads of nice creatures. The other local zoo at Champrepus has larger animals and is slightly cheaper for entry. If these places were to charge half the price they would get at least twice as many people and make more profit - is it only me that can see that? The more you charge, the less people can afford to visit, especially whole families.
I am still making fairies and will be taking them to our local village boot sale next week (called Vide Greniere here - empty attic) but in France you are only able to take part in 2 per year or you have to be licensed (different one to having a shop). As I don't drive it doesn't seem worth it to do more than our local one - it is just across the road from the museum so we can walk and carry tables etc with us. I used to have the larger car there so I could sit inside if it rained etc but Christine is a bit small and won't have room for a table and thins for sale. Never mind.
I have decided this year to have three parts to my table - 50 cent things, things for 1 euro and things for 5 euros. I will be taking a lot of Avon wit me and also some of my jewellery. If anyone shows interest in any of my bits and pieces I can direct them to our house. I have a load of English novels and other books which usually go down well but if friends want them they can borrow them for free, if not, they are sold for 50 cents and usually the money goes to charity.
My book of hints and tips has been printed and is ready to go. Priced at 6.50 a percentage will go to Cancer Research. The promised advertising did not happen and all that has been printed about it was in a charity section of a newspaper and obviously resulted in no sales. I did sell a few at our church though. A very handy book with hints and tips about all kinds of things, housework, cooking, cleaning, gardening, how to behave in France (don't park on a verge - look it up!). Some French words are known as 'false friends' as they sound like English words we know but mean completely different things.
All for this time - hope to write more now I have found the way back to my 'dashboard'.
