Why is it when we have a packed calendar, we get the fear
and yet the prospect of free weekends seems exciting but also daunting? With freedom of choice comes
indecision. How will we fill our
time? Where will we go? Somehow, passing the time doing anything
short of amazing feels like wasted time, when so many weekends have been
accounted for. Panic sets in.
I call it “the
comedown.” Regularly engaging with our
supporters/friends galvanises the feeling that we are on the right track with
Voodoo Street, but take away that dialogue; the festival vibes and suddenly we
feel cut adrift. Out of touch.
Processing orders online is anonymous. As grateful as we are for them, it’s just
not the same as engaging with a friendly face.
T-shirts are T-shirts at the end of the day, or so you might
think, but once you have been privy to a man’s 20 minute deliberation about
whether the large or extra large tee “hangs” better from his neck, you realise
that:
a)
It’s a myth that women are a nightmare to shop with and;
b)
Buying a standard fit T-shirt is obviously a more exact
science than either of us ever realised!
So whilst receiving an online clothing order still offers
the usual thrill of having been chosen, it’s now also filled with the
trepidation of sending it out there and wondering if the neck will be ok!
Touch wood, we’ve never had any issues with clothing sold
online and love it when people take time out to photograph their purchases and
tag us in them. It makes it
worthwhile. Here are a few recent ones.
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| Photo courtesy of official_jr_skating |
Thank god for Instagram and Facebook! Those who choose to interact with us on social media may not realise it, but they are like co-workers – our own little cyber office. By day, we’re beavering away in our dungeon, at Voodoo Towers and this contact with the outside world gives us a buzz. (There’s only so long you can spend chatting to the postman without coming off as creepy J)
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| Lee Foulkes in his Voodoo Street Urban Army Cap |
At this point, we’ve sold one of our stickers to nearly
every corner of the globe at some point and have encountered some pretty “out
there” surnames. However, on Friday
night a particularly familiar name popped up on an order of stickers. After a little Internet research, we
discovered that it was indeed the son of a certain Cypriot born member of BBC’s
Dragon’s Den. Not necessarily worthy of
champagne popping, but definitely a talking point. Another swiftly followed this order, from one Martin Kemp,
although we’re doubtful that it was Spandau Ballet’s bassist.
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| Photo Courtesy of Steve and Cat Bath |
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| Vespa Love |
So, back to our free weekend. What did we do? Well,
after a week of stock taking, updating our online store, washing rain battered
odds and sods and reconciling a mountain of receipts, we were kept busy with
family birthday celebrations on Friday. Saturday’s
torrential rain and consequent flooding also made us grateful that we weren’t
standing in the middle of a field somewhere, although the enforced time indoors
did result in the beginnings of a new little project for Voodoo Street. We also spent a little time on a design that
we periodically tinker with. (Hopefully
we’ll be able to share these new bits and pieces with you very soon). We rounded off Saturday with a curry and beers with friends.
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| Can you buy grey jelly? |
In other news, our favourite time of year - Halloween - is
fast approaching and already, ghoulish Chinese tat is creeping into our
house. So far, we have some tea light
holders, a jelly mould in the shape of a brain and 2 pumpkins. There will be more. This year we seriously need to up our game
on the pumpkin front. Both of last
year’s gourds were hurriedly carved on Halloween and in all honesty would probably
have looked better if we had taken a machete to them blindfolded!
Incidentally, in an update to my last blog, we discovered this sign
nailed to a tree in the woods. Our
familiar outlook of tall woodland pines at the end of our garden (a view we
fell in love with when we first looked at the house, which looks like a
location from a Stephen King novel) is clearly not going to be around for much
longer. It looks as though their days
are numbered. Very sad.
Today marks the fourth sunny day in a row, which makes it
hard to focus when I have a day of admin ahead of me. Warm as it is by day, the temperatures seem to be plummeting at
night in these parts and as we all know, the drop in evening autumn temperature
marks the arrival of my nemesis – the spider.
I can handle zombies, ghosts and anything else Halloween throws at me,
but I find these creatures truly terrifying.
I’m not a fan of insects in general; anything bigger than an aphid
increases my heart rate and not in a good way.
We have had some roasters in our house: unnaturally hairy, too many
legs, muscles ffs! Gaz has to carry out
a night time “sweep” before I go upstairs.
Maybe I should consider hypnosis.
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| An accurate artist's impression of a typical spider found in our house with frightening regularity |
Anyway, onwards and upwards! Til next time!
