Sleepy Bowness starts to come to life

Our neighbours from the Two Egg Cups cafe have just come back from Marbella so now, for the first time this year, everyone is open for business on Ash Street. A shop just just down from us which has been closed since October has a new owner who is refitting it ready for the half term holiday and Anne Wilson, a ladies clothes shop which has been on the market for some time, is holding a closing down sale as it has just been bought. The "mutter in the gutter" (I love that expression from Paul from the chippy) is that it's going to be another, more modern, clothes shop, but all sorts of rumours abound and the current owner is keeping schtum.  
Louise

4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire?

John Lennon might have thought that was a lot of holes but I can report that there are at least as many on the A592 from Bowness to Newby Bridge. The journey to and from Love the Lakes now involves evasive action in many places and it has now become a bit of a game I have with myself to see if I can remember at night where to swerve to avoid the potholes. There is one hole by Hill of Oaks caravan park that is so deep that there is now an ever increasing pile of hubcaps littering the side of the road in it's vicinity. If the holes aren't filled in the next few weeks, I can see an awful lot of claims being made by irate motorists over the half term holiday or, even worse, the holes might become so big that cars are swallowed whole and we might be wondering 6 months later what happened to our tourist season!
Louise

My big moment!

Well I've finally recorded my 5 day diary and the first instalment will be broadcast on Radio Cumbria at 5.45 this evening. The programme is called "Little Cumbria" and I think there are several contributors each evening who have each recorded their diary for a week. It was a bit bizarre recording my bit in an empty studio with the tape running and I hope it sounds ok. Anyway, the 15 minutes of fame (or rather a couple of minutes) is not limited to me in our household as Sean is doing the same thing this week and his diary will be aired the week commencing the 1st of February. I wonder if Casper and Dougal allowed a supporting role....
Louise

Internet sales

Many independent retailers fear the rise of internet shopping. We set up our site, lovethelakes.net, not long after we opened the shop nearly 2 years ago. Specialising in locally sourced gifts, we knew we could offer something a bit different and after a lot of hard work, we got it to the top of the list when you google “lake district gifts”. Having worked in the gift industry for over 25 years, I was fed up of the influx of products made in China and I’m now really proud that we can support local, quality businesses both in our shop and on the site. Today, in deepest, darkest January, a dead month for retail in the Lakes, I’m sending out the most internet orders I’ve received in one day since we launched the site……Love the Lakes loves the internet.
Louise
P.S. Have sorted out a new electricity contract with, guess who, British Gas. That was a waste of approx. 6 hours of my life!

Louise

Parents, who'd have 'em?

If I had a pound for each parent who issues the warning "look with your eyes, not your hands" to their children as they walk into our shop, I could retire right now. People with children divide into 3 separate camps: those who strictly supervise, those who leave one partner outside with the children and those who let their children run riot with or without intermittent warnings of dire consequences if anything is broken. Our first customer today came in with two gorgeous little girls, issued the classic warning (one more pound for me, kerching!) and then proceeded to take a phone call which lasted over 20 minutes as she wandered round the shop. I know it lasted 20 minutes because that's how long I sat on our windowsill and chatted to Grace and Gemma, age 4 and 6, living locally and loving our loveheart cushions......anything to stop them running riot!
Louise

Let the new season commence

January is a unique month in the Lake District calendar for shops like ours in that most weekdays we can count the number of customers we see during the day on our fingers, thumbs and, if we're lucky, toes. This January has, so far, been particularly grim as the weather has conspired against us - after floods, snow and ice we expect the plague of locusts to arrive in May. However this week, along with the slow thaw, has come a trickle of visitors to Bowness and today the trickle has been almost nonstop all day. The other fact of note is that, for the first 3 weeks of the year, the vast majority of purchases are made by credit card whilst this week the split between cards and cash is almost 50/50. What does this mean - have people received their January paycheck or are their cards up to their limit? See what happens when we have time to navel gaze...all these questions and more...perhaps we'll start a survey.
Louise

Buried in paperwork shredded by Dougal

I've had a paperwork day today, only lightened by dog number 2's insistence on getting his head stuck in the wastepaper bin not once, not twice, but three times in his quest to shred all paper in the house. The third time he got his head stuck, he tried to sneak out of the office without my noticing and only succeeded in banging his head (in the basket) on the door jamb much to my amusement and his mortification...daft pup. 3 hours of my time has been spent trying to find an electricity provider for the shop as my current supplier (who shall remain nameless....oh, go on then, British Gas) has promised to fix my prices for 2 years at nearly double the rate I currently pay. I went through this rigmarole last year and remembered to keep all the details I need to hand as we have 2 meters, 2 different tariffs and a plethora of reference numbers to quote. 3 hours later and I've still not sorted it... a glass of wine beckons.
Louise