Newmarket Calling Again
Had a busy few weeks leading up to my holidays. It's the best selling period as far as Avon is concerned and I generally hope to at least double my normal sales in the 2 or 3 brochures before Christmas. I do a few parties too where I show a good selection of products so this boosts my normal 'doorstep' customers.So right in the middle of this busiest time of the year for me, we go on holiday! Timing can't be helped though as we come down to Newmarket for the Tattersalls 'December' sales (held entirely during November this year!) so it's a fixed time. There is a week of yearlings and foal sales followed by a week of mares and fillies (or thereabouts). We just come to be amongst it all and not for buying or selling, although we have done so over pervious years. We've rented the same cottage in Hartest, near Bury St Edmonds, for the last few years and we travel in to Newmarket each day. It's like home from home (only tidier).And I do some shopping too. In fact I usually hope to have got Christmas presents sorted by the time we go home.Well it's the last day of the sales today and tomorrow we go home, to about 50 boxes of my big Chrismas Avon order which was delivered whilst we have been away. The weather here has been much warmer than normal. I'm wearing at least 2 fewer layers of clothing than I've needed in previous years. No thick woolly tights under my trousers. No extra t-shirt. No scarf wrapped round my head. I expect it will be freezing again next week when I'm out doing my deliveries.Have enjoyed a break from poker too but looking forward to getting back to playing a few games. And catching up with everything on Punters Lounge which I've only been able to dip my toe in when we could get a wireless connection.So goodnight from Newmarket and I'll call you when I get home.
Pleasure (part three): horses - for love not money
Spent a couple of days in Newmarket last week, selling one of my babies. Perhaps I should explain...We breed thoroughbred horses. I'd say racehorses, except most of them haven't quite lived up to that name, unfortunately, but we live in hope. We've no children so our horses are our family, even though they may one day be sold. So that's a big advantage over kids then. We've 6 at the moment.It started 12 years ago when we bought our first mare, Runabay, in foal. It was a simple plan - sell the foal, breed the mare back to the stallion of our choice, keep the foal to race, sell the mare. Runabay is now 25 and still very much with us, in her retirement. She loves carrots and apples, and to rub her head all over your coat.The foal was called Jacko (or Jack if he's feeling grown up) and he is now 11, and still with us. We did try to sell, but no-one wanted to buy, so he became our first racehorse and raced as Runadrum. We had a lot of fun even though he never won or placed. Our other mare is Flo's Choice (Flo to us) and she is in foal again this year. She has a colt foal to wean, Otis, and it was her yearling who went to Newmarket sales last week. Nutmeg had been a premature foal and quite weak, but had grown into a sweet little filly (auctioneer's description). That just about summed up her value, and she was bought by a Hungarian for 1500guineas. Oh well, one less to feed. Hopefully we will be able to follow her progress even though it seems she will race abroad.We still have a 5year old of Flo's, called Fizz, who didn't sell as a yearling. We raced her ourselves as Sheliak. She injured her leg at 2 and needed a year off, coming back at 4 to give us our most exciting day racing when she actually led for while before finishing 5th. She then injured her leg again, and having had another year off has now been retired. We may breed from her next year, but probably not to a thoroughbred stallion.Our other yearling, Mimi, is a troubled little soul. Her mother, Plainsong, died last year when she was about a month old, so she needed several months of hand rearing, and companionship from a miniature shetland pony called Poppy. She's a beautiful filly, but (not surprisingly) has been traumatised by losing mum so young and now frets when she is stabled. Things are improving a little and all we can do is give her time to grow up. If she ever races, you may see a small white pony running alongside her.So Runabay, Jacko, Flo, Fizz, Mimi and Otis are our 6 children. There have been others (20 in total actually) but I'll save their stories for another day. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Other news - My ipod arrived today. :-)Must be like a tardis. Otherwise I can't see how my CDs are going to fit in it.I'll call back when I've figured it out.
