The Profit Motive

Wyckham Market is a beautiful Suffolk village - all sweet and nicely kept with a row of cute shops surrounding the tidy green and car park. One of these cute shops is called 'The Teapot Cafe" - aahh! It sells homemade scones, flapjacks, fruit cake, eclairs and a gorgeous lunchtime soup with warm rolls - yummmmm!

On the other side of the double-fronted building there is an antiques and collectibles shop and here you will find Wedgewood, Coalport, Mintons in abundance; fabulous sets of ancient dinner plates, tea services, silver condiment sets - oohhhh!

But in one corner lurks a disturbing and disgusting sight - a glass cabinet filled with Nazi regalia and memorabilia. I literally (and for the first time in my life, I think) actually  gasped  with horror when I saw it. I collected my thoughts, stilled my thumping heart and, politely, said to the elderly woman at the counter "What a shame that you are displaying these things." She looked at me blankly and said she wasn't the owner and, as luck would have it, the owner herself arrived at this very moment. So I said the same thing to her. She looked at me as if I had just arrived from the planet bonkers. Then she said "Well, it does sell very well, you see. It's very collectible."

I said "Hmm. So were various members of my family in the 1940s. They were so collectible that they were rounded up in the streets and from their homes and taken to concentration camps where most of them perished." She didn't say anything so I took one more stab at this and said that I would like her to remove them and stop selling them in her shop. She shrugged her shoulders.

I left then, feeling pathetic that I am not enough of an urban guerilla to go back with an axe and destroy the glass cabinet. Did I do enough? Probably not, but you know what? It ain't over yet - not by a long way.

Any ideas?

See you soon,

Angie

To blog or not to blog, that is the question

But what is the answer? It's been weeks since I had a minute to write and I have felt the gap but simply didn't have the time to do anything about it. Why? Because I am just emerging from planet 'working too hard' and am functioning on some very strange level of just about managing to remember to breathe in and breathe out again.

Not complaining - as a freelancer, there is nothing better than having a full diary but this time it seems that I have overdone it somewhat. So here is what I've been up to:

Delivering seminars and coaching for the wonderful clients who have asked me to work with them - you continue to inspire me every single day - thank you; visiting, talking to, texting and generally keeping in touch as much as possible with our dear dear friend Paul who has been battling the dreaded big C and is the bravest person I have ever met (apart from the gorgeous husband, of course); writing the materials for 100 Great Ideas and meeting with my business partner, Hannah, for this - it's an enormously exciting project and we are aiming for lift-off in November, but there is so much to do that I am thinking of putting my head firmly in the sand and keeping it there!

In the middle of all this, somehow, we managed three days in fabulous Aldeburgh, Suffolk. I love Brighton, almost more than anywhere in the world, but Aldeburgh certainly has a great deal to offer by comparison: cleaner, cheaper, nicer, friendlier - hmmm, we are certainly impressed.

Now there are two more 'delivery' days to go, then a weekend of admin, paper-work and some socialising. Then Monday - two meetings and Tuesday: haircut (essential), pedicure (why not?), invoicing (to keep the bank manager happy) and packing (well you have to, don't you?)

Montpelier, here we come

(or nous arrivons tout de suite!)

Will blog on return - take care everyone and may the sun keep shining.

Love,

Angie