Today
brought a relaxing end to a busy weekend that could have been a lot worse.
Looking back at it, it’s really hard to believe that – in spite of unexpected
problems – Colleen and I took everything that happened in stride.
Saturday
was the day of the Royal Medieval Faire, one of the events we’ve been selling
our chainmaille at since we started Ringcrafts. For me, it was a 16 hour work day,
starting with a 5am alarm so we could get to the park in time to set up our
tent, table and wares.
The weather
was looking rather iffy, and we fully expected it to be raining when we
arrived. To our delight, it wasn’t (two years ago we had to set up in the rain –
it was awful). In fact, the day was looking far better than we expected.
Little did
we know, the rain had adjusted its schedule to visit us later. The festival was
going very well and was in full swing when the deluge hit. The rain poured
down. Luckily, our tent held out – as it has in the rain before – with only one
spot dripping inside. Thankfully not on top of anything (or anyone – since
people came in to get out of the rain). The bad weather didn’t last too long
and we were able to relax a stop fretting about how long the tent could
withstand the onslaught.
Next came
the wind. Not too bad, at first, but getting worse. It got to a point where we
had to take down parts of our display that kept blowing over. It was
frustrating, but that’s just part of outdoor shows (one of the reasons we do so
few of them). Besides, it was close to the end of the day.
Then came
the clean-up. We’re fairly efficient at packing up usually, but being outside
always throws in snags to slow us down. Firstly, there’s taking down the tent
added to everything else and this time around it was a disheartening task –
because of when the rain came, it was still wet, meaning we’d have to set up
the tent again (soon) so it could dry out properly. Next, there was the wind
that started blowing over displays the moment the chainmaille wasn’t weighing
it down. Then we had our newest problem – the wind flipped our tent right over,
breaking one of its joints.
Well, there
wasn’t anything we could do about it, so we just kept packing up – although it
slowed us down even more. It ended up being a day where we the first to arrive
to set up and the last to leave. Still, it could have been worse. We could have
had to set up in the rain and had it falling and windy all day. The tent could
have flipped during the festival
instead of after. The day’s sales were good, in spite of the weather, and we
even traded some products with another vendor.
So, we went
home in high spirits without fretting about all the problems that had happened.
After all, there was nothing we could do about them.
And today turned out to be a
sunny day, so in spite of how tired and sore we were, we put up the tent first
thing in the morning to dry – using a bandage to hold together the broken part.
Then, since it just happened to be there and with the weather so nice, we
decided to spend the afternoon just relaxing and hanging out in the tent with
my sister-in-law, all of us working on various writing and art projects (there
was also this orange fuzzy caterpillar climbing all over the tent that provided
ample entertainment). It felt like a mini vacation.
So, in
spite of all the troubles, we went with the flow and everything turned out fine
in the end. It makes me wonder why anyone ever bothers getting upset by
anything. The past can’t be changed, after all, so all you can do is make the
best of it.
If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.
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