Pessimistic Costume Jewellery Seller

I am just about anybody else!

18th November 2008

Well, I guess I should start by saying hello to everyone (who reads this of course) and welcome to my blog! I could go on and on about my life, but I will just give you a few quick bullet points that will quickly bring you up to speed, and I'm sure you will pick up on the rest as this blog evolves . My name is Simon and I've just reached the dreaded age of 30. My Mam gave birth to me when she was 16 and my parents divorced when I was 3. I was brought up in a very poor area of Middlesbrough and spent a lot of my childhood around my Grandparents who I literally adore (they are now in their mid 80's). I never saw my Dad that much, and my Mam's family always put him down, whereas I always had him high on a pedestal. He was a big bloke into all the martial arts and was well known for his no nonsense attitude. - I was quite the opposite and resented myself for being this way. Yes, I'm lanky and some might say medium build, but I have always wanted to be a bit of a tough nut but it just hasn't really happened. I guess those are the cards that were dealt to me and I've slowly learnt to realise that now.

I did quite well at school with my GCSE's, but copped out of college half way through. I joined the Merchant Navy at 17 and should probably publish a whole book just about that! I became a Deck Officer earning good money and got involved in an unhappy marriage. I eventually made contact with my Dad, met up with him a few times then had a big fall out over the phone. 2 months later I was called into the captain's office whilst floating on a boat in the middle of nowhere, only to be told my Dad had died on me suddenly from cancer at the age of 42. As the title of this blog would suggest, this has made me convinced that I will follow in his foot steps and will probably snuff it in the next 10 - 15 years. Not that I've helped myself by smoking since the age of 14. Something I'm battling with, but losing. I tried to get back to the funeral and only managed to get back to the UK the day before. I found out that my Uncle had told my Grandparents if I went to the funeral he would punch me lights out, so I didn't go- He wasn't happy because I had fallen out with his brother.- Charming. This tipped the balance and I left my career, I didn't like the whole salty sailor thing anyway and my marriage was breaking up, as indeed it eventually did!

The "British Tamar". The first ship I ever stepped foot on.

Subsequently I've had numerous jobs earning from £5-£6 per hour, and realised an important part of my personality is that I just don't like people telling me what to do! It was in one of these jobs I met my now wife of 4 years, Fay. She is Chinese (that is not a negative statement by the way), and we met in ALDI. That is not a part of China, but simply the low priced supermarket. I worked on Security at the time, okay I don't like saying it but I was a Security Guard. She liked my bum and it was eye contact then "Love at first sight". It really does happen!! 4 years later and I now work for myself (or try), and we have 2 boys aged 2 years and 1. Very hard work indeed.

I am an honest person, probably too honest, so I will tell you straight away that you will find links on this blog. This blog is written with a hope of getting people onto our site, and I make no pretences in admitting this. I've already said that I'm probably too honest for my own good. However, this blog is to also hopefully educate women into realising our whole business idea, which we must feel very strongly about or I wouldn't be sitting here doing this right now. I will also be adding links to other places, not all websites, some just funny stuff I've found on the net. My wife speaks brilliant English, but her grammar and spelling leaves much to be desired, so it is I that has been given the task of doing this. I decided that it would be very difficult for me to blather on about jewellery ALL the time, and I would probably struggle with this, so I have decided to try and attempt to make my publishing's more informal, a bit of fun probably at my expense. You certainly don't have to use the links I've provided and you are more than welcome to just read and do nothing more.

I don't know if others have ever felt the same as me but growing up I always wanted to believe that "I am special & different". Even at a young age of about 6 I can remember feeling this overwhelming sense that I can only describe as a feeling of importance, an uplifting sense that felt like it was telling me, "You are special, they don't know it yet (meaning the world), but when they do, by God they wont know whats hit them.". I always convinced myself there was truth in this, but have started to wonder if my mind had been corrupted because my Mother carried me in her womb at such a young age and smoked through her pregnancy! It's a much more plausible idea that unfortunately I am probably just the same as everyone else.

Okay, so I've given you a general snap shot of my life and now want to start getting to the nitty gritty. Like one of those really annoying movies, this story will start about 4 years ago and as the Director I will slowly build up an extraordinary picture in your mind of how things have got to where they are now. You will be gripped and addicted like a cyber junkie to junk and will keep coming back for more. That's the plan anyway, but I will point out again that I'm completely new to writing and NEVER read! So if there's lots of typing errors and stuff like that, then here's an avdance alopogy.

Bet they wish they had spell check!

Here goes......

Like most other immortal humans in this self indulging world I have nearly always had an interest in "making money", but when Fay showed me some costume jewellery I wasn't catching the vibes. Fay asked me how we could sell some of this stuff and I replied "I'm not sure". After all, why was she asking me? I was just a Security Guard at ALDI, or as the staff often referred to me as, "A Toy Cop". I said that maybe we could have a go at flogging some down at the car boot sale in Blaydon, that was as far as my intellect could take me after a 10 hour shift at ALDI.

It ended up that that's exactly how this venture began... at a car booty one misty autumn Sunday morning 4 years ago. At this point, unknown to me, my soon to be wife was carrying our first child!! I know it's not a great thing to advertise, and I'm not saying it's correct. - But, by the time we were taking our first step into the world of car boot sales my then girlfriend of 2 months was carrying our first little boy! Actually, I was very very happy for the first time in my life. In fact it is safe to say that I was over the moon because I knew I had met the right person. I know it sounds so cliche, but it really is true that you know when you have met "The One".

Anyway, we had our first boot sale and were amazed at how much interest people had for our jewellery. Most our customers said that our stuff was so different and unusual compared to the kind of tat the shops sell. We took a bit of money (I think it was about 100 quid) and this really shocked me!! I felt like I was on cloud 9 and that I had won the lottery. I mean, for me 100 quid was a nice little earner not to be sniffed at.

Basically, it was the beginning of a roller coaster of emotions and this was when life changed forever and ever.- Because I have always been a bit of a pessimist and a complete worry wart, I now ask myself if I made the right decision to go to that blinking boot sale 4 years ago........