How time flies

The past month has certainly flown by!

Not least of the events to occupy my time has been the return of the mouse. It managed to access the linen supply so I've been doing a lot of laundry. I imagine our neighbours must be thinking that we've gone 10 rounds with Norovirus... However, the mouse has been dealt with once and for all, and there are no signs of any 'family' or 'friends' so, I'm hoping that that particular pantomime can now be put to rest.

A more worrying event though was the disappearance of a pattern that I posted to a customer at the end of December. To date, it has still not arrived so my faith in the postal system has been thoroughly shaken. Surely there must be a contingency plan for snow, Christmas rush and wild cat strikes? Other countries around the world cope with such events so I really don't understand how it all went so terribly wrong in the UK. At the end of January, I was still receiving post that was dated from the middle of November so I'm not convinced that it is safe yet to send anything else through the post.

I feel as though my business is being held to ransom because the only financially reasonable options offered by Royal Mail do not guarantee on time delivery. Even recorded signed for delivery gives no guarantee. Special delivery gives a guarantee but is priced well beyond what most people would be willing to pay. Are there any other viable solutions out there? If you think so, please e-mail me so I can check them out!

Another event of note has been the recent down time of our ISP service. Gales in the region, over the last several days, played havoc with local exchanges. We were off-line from Friday afternoon until yesterday afternoon - the longest time ever with this particular ISP. There has been the odd occasion when our service has vanished into the ether for several hours, usually attributable to scheduled maintenance, but it has never been down for this long. The timing was absolutely classic... my husband was finishing off his dissertation over the weekend and needed the internet for literature searches. I have aged about 20 years as a result!

My exhibition at Gibside has now finished so I am looking for other venues at which to show my work. My income tax return has been submitted so I can now concentrate on getting ready for the Pins and Needles show at the end of March. I will be attending the Morpeth Gathering as well at the end of April so there is much to be done. Must crack on here but I will post again as newsworthy events take place.