Today we had a visit from a dealer who has not been able to get out much in the last twelve months. He was looking for new stock and has one of those irritating scripts. According to him, he has a lot of stock so he doesn’t need to buy any, his is all better quality than ours and he is able to buy it cheaper elsewhere.

It’s a common script and the people who use it think they are being (a) original and (b) clever.  What actually happens is that we didn’t show him any of the good stuff. Twenty years ago when people told me that sort of thing I used to reply that if it was cheaper elsewhere they were welcome to go and buy it there.

I lost a few trade customers that way, and it might have been one of the reasons I eventually decided to go gardening. But it did mean I didn’t have to listen to the constant carping.

Cliff Richard in his younger days (1963)

After he left, the shop became a quieter and a calmer place. I added an Elvis Presley gold coin to our eBay listing and then started on the 1960s sheet music that came in as part of the bulk postcard deal a couple of weeks ago. First, however, I had to get the scanner to work. This is not as easy as it sounds because they have recently altered things so you have to have an account with HP to allow you to use your own printer on your own computer. Fortunately there are other people apart from me who think this is a bad idea and one had posted a link to enable me to get round the problem.

What is the world coming to when you can’t use your own printer on your own computer without permission from the manufacturer? In my case the world is coming to a place where I won’t buy HP products. It’s a simple solution.

The original cheery Irish boy band.