It’s June 3rd today and it’s bucketing down!! No doubt though, by the time I finish writing this, it will be blazing sunshine! The effect that the weather has on trade is amazing. Here we are with all these summer clothes and all anybody wants is wellies!

Bob is a very happy bunny now, due to the fact that his most favourite hand puppet, Rabbit In a Lettuce is back after being out of stock for ages.  And the excitement is mounting as we have just returned from a trade show where we were tantalised with a view of several new hand puppets, one of which is a monkey in a palm tree, complete with baby monkeys and bananas! These are not going to be ready for about three months, so Bob will just have to contain himself until then!

We had fun last week building pirate ships. One was to display the ones that we sell and one was for the new window display. The one in the window will be auctioned when the window is changed and we will give all the proceeds to our favourite charity, Winston’s Wish.  We have already had a nice big bid on it, which we are really pleased with.  Also, as a bonus the lady who put the bid on, told us this joke “Why are they called Pirates?” answer “Because they aaaarg”" (has to be said in a pirate voice for full effect, even better if you stand on one leg!)

Great excitement on the rag doll shelf this month, with the arrival of our new ethnic ballerina flower girl doll. Beautiful little doll dressed in her white tutu, perfect for bridesmaids and flower girls. We have so many rag dolls now, we may have to get a new shelf!

Tom, our boy rag doll is proving very popular. One nice little story is of a little boy who is expecting his baby sister to arrive shortly. Mum has bought a Francesca rag doll ready for the new baby and he has been taking the doll to bed each night to “get her warm ready for the new baby”! aaaah. Well, you will be glad to know that this little boy now has Tom to look after, which is great, because I have a feeling he may not have wanted to part with Francesca when  the time came:-)

Now I did say that I would have a rant each month.  So, just so no-one is disappointed, here goes:-

Spiderman. He was great – to start with.  He  climbs up buildings, plays the hero and  generally saves the world,  but why does he need to be plastered all over pyjamas, lunchboxes,  umbrellas, wellies and any other item you can think of?  Just in case we should forget him? It’s just not going to happen is it? My son is 24 now and I can remember when he was 4, he spent about 6 months dressed as spiderman most days. So, this just proves that we don’t need reminding, Spiderman is NEVER GOING AWAY. Yes, we have Spiderman T-shirts and pyjamas here in the shop, and at Christmas we had dressing gowns. I blame the grandparents. I’ve lost count of the number coming in asking for anything with Spiderman on for their grandsons. I have this vision of all these little boys, opening yet another pressie from Grannie and stifling a yawn when  Spiderman underpants pop out:-)

Bring back Buzz Lightyear I say – now he really was a Hero:-)

Carol & Bob