Did you see the charity shop queen Mary Portas on BBC2 last night? She's great isn't she? Given the task of turning around a Save The Children charity shop in Orpington staffed by geriatrics who volunteered mostly for a bit of company she was up against a challenge of gargantuan proportions.The volunteer workers' motto was "If it ain't broke don't fix it" but it was unquestionably broke and the attitude remained the same.I've nothing but admiration for the way that Mary managed to come up with fresh ideas and get the turnover up by over 100%.With her long legs and flashy rings Mary is certainly a character and one who doesn't mind speaking her mind (although I suspect that there is a softness under all that tough talk) and I loved the scene with the disgruntled shopper who was used to buying tennis racquets for 70p and was horrified at having to pay £1.50 under Mary's new regime. After listening to his gripes he departed with a "sod off" from Mary under her breath - brilliant.
Looking at the disgruntled shopper's less than athletic physique made me wonder why he was a regular buyer of tennis racquets. I suspect that,like many others, he was using the charity shops as wholesalers for his car boot or eBay business. Regular readers will know that I am an eBayer myself and I'm not averse to picking up a bargain but I have to draw the line at trawling charity shops. What pleasure would there be in finding a Picasso in Oxfam or a Van Gogh in the Hospice shop? I can only imagine an overwhelming feeling of guilt unless the profit was returned to the charity.
Today's special offer is 10% off the 3000LCD. That's a reduction of £45 to £405. The offer is valid for all orders received at Instanta by 5pm on Thursday 18th June.Orders MUST quote reference blog offer 170609.
An email arrives via Facebook from Jan Harbon who used to work here at Instanta. Jan offers the advice that field mice like nothing better than a bit of Green & Black's chocolate and, if I bait the humane trap with it, I will be guaranteed success. Green & Blacks? Organic chocolate that's like £1.89 at Tesco. Who are these mice to have such sophisticated taste buds? Yuppy mice? Do they go for the 70% cocoa solids or are they 85% types. Why can't they have Cadbury's dairy milk? Jan also suggests that if one pops up in the trap I need to release it at least two miles away or it will be back.I'll probably release it in the Waitrose car park. With those tastes it will be at home there.
Just when we thought we were having a few months' rest from football, the factory is buzzing with discussions of the fixture lists that have just been announced. Surprisingly as it may seem lads it's not rocket science.Everyone has to play everyone else at home and away. Let's give it a break now until August. But we are off to a football film tonight with our Orange Wednesday choice "Looking For Eric". We were right to chose that ahead of "The Hangover" which we'll save for next week as the Cantona film is only being screened once daily after the weekend.
Here's something a bit different - an interactive YouTube video.
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