Is It Really A Year Already?

It hardly seems five minutes since one of our Instanta babies, Natalie Drummond's Olivia, arrived and yet today she is having her very first birthday. Nat has taken the day off to make sure that she does things in style and we hope that it is a great day for all.



Speaking of kids, I found myself in a difficult situation last night. I went for a swim after work and, as I was getting changed, in bounced a little lad of about 8 who proceeded to tell me how great he was at football and then started cracking jokes which needed a response "knock knock" etc. He was a total live wire and just wouldn't stop talking. But aren't kids supposed to avoid speaking to strangers, especially in a swimming pool changing room? What do I do? Ignore the charming little lad, encourage his conversation or do as I did, put my clothes on whilst I was still wet and scarper. I'll probably go down with swine flu now.



I know everyone has been talking about swine flu all week but I see that the pig farmers and pork producers are asking for a change of name as it's damaging their image and there's no proof that pigs have got anything to do with it. But it does seem that pork sales are falling. A bloke on the radio this morning suggested Tequila Flu but that could damage tequila distillers. If it's Mexican flu do we boycott Chiquitos or stop eating fajitas and chilli? We need a name for the virus that is serious enough for us not to become complacent but not too scary or damaging. I've been thinking of some names and have come up with maybe Lincat Flu, Calomax Flu or Marco Flu. Just a thought.



Marion and I keep banging on about how wonderful Venice is so Jenny and Craig just went for a few days. What do we read in yesterday's paper? Water levels in St Mark's Square at very high levels. I do hope that it didn't ruin their break.

Last day of the month today. That's when we invoice everything that moves. First indications are that we will be slightly up on last year's turnover for April so that's encouraging. At least we only invoice things that have been ordered. Some of our suppliers are sending us stuff that we ordered for next month. I don't know who they are trying to fool becasue we won't be paying for them any earlier. Because we sell almost exclusively from stock and have virtually no forward order books we can usually gauge the financial climate quite quickly. Our own experience of the recession to date has been a drop in growth but no significant drop in sales. May might well turn out to be different. We had a huge order last May which is unlikely to be repeated so I can see our sales being down next month.



Sales might also suffer as Peter is on the run from the Garda after the other day's blog when I grassed him up. He's lying low at the moment.

Having missed out our Orange Wednesday last night, curiosity about X Men Origins Wolverine got the better of me. So here's a taste.