I hope everyone had a good Coronation weekend’s trading. I am only guessing, but I suspect that Saturday was mostly a bit of a washout, literally and metaphorically, until at least mid-afternoon, if not the whole day. It certainly hasn’t been a vintage start to the year from a weather perspective here in the UK – hopefully that changes soon, or I am going to be the palest man in Las Vegas next month (not to mention the only one without a single tattoo).

However, I went into my local town centre on Monday, as I was bored and had nothing better to do – and it seems an awful lot of other people had the same idea. So, hopefully, it all levelled out across the weekend to make it a respectable few days’ trading overall.

As I write this week’s Blog, one (rather optimistic) person who was hoping to see some cricket in Derby has given up at lunchtime, and rather than spend the entire day in the bar, he has asked me for the address of the Midco store in Derby so he can go and take a look. Admirable commitment to the toy cause, and good for Dave to have built such a reputation that he was the first place that sprung to mind when rain stopped play.

Next week will see us catching up with plenty of indies at the Toymaster show in Harrogate. The weather forecast currently suggests it may be cloudy but not rainy, which will be fine (not to mention making the marquees rather more palatable than they can be when it’s warm and sunny).

Over 2,500 people have read our May issue online over the past week, which features our largest-ever Toymaster preview section – currently still the only proper preview available for the show. If you are attending and want to get yourself in the mood by seeing who’ll be there and what great new lines they’ll be showcasing in Harrogate, there really is no better place to start planning your trip. And with Irish party night on the Tuesday, followed by Toymaster awards and Golden Teddies being presented on the Wednesday evening, the social side of the event promises to be as lively and unmissable as ever.

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