January and February 2007 saw us reorganising Book STEPs shop, little realising how long it would take and how exhausting it would be.  But with the help of some wordscannotbegintodescribehowsplendid splendid volunteers (Linda, Noah, Pete, Jason, Jenny, Freddie to name but a few, heartfelt thanks to all) 4 High Street, Bantry was transmogrified into a rather excellent space where it's a delight to browse.  Our beautiful new desk, made from beautiful, local wood and donated by Mike at Future Forests, gives a warm welcome to all comers and our new shelving means books and products are more accessible and easy to find. ENFO (Ireland's public information service on environmental matters) were a huge support, giving us two display cases to hold a whole host of their excellent (and free) information sheets, and with enough room to hold plenty flyers from local environmental organisations - allowing Book STEPs to fulfil it's role as local environmental information provider without too much headache.  And ENFO ordered a huge range of books from us for their already comprehensive environmental library based in Dublin. We think they're great!

So we came out the other side of the winter with our heads held high and supremely grateful to everyone who helped us get there - so many people were so supportive - you know who you are - thank you, the kettle's always on for you (on the stove that is, not plugged in!). 

We sat down and worked out there's 6 weeks work to be done every month (and perhaps this is the time to highlight that when I use the term 'we' I'm actually talking about me, the shop and the cats).  So somehow I need to find someone to do 2 weeks worth of work for me monthly.  But with no money to pay them.  So I determined to find time to look in FAS, Work Start and volunteers... Other plans included new php webpages - currently it takes me about 10 days to manually update the books and webpages every month (which is why I've not done it in so long) - a php site would reduce that to 3 or 4 days.  But I don't have the €2000 needed so that was shelved for the moment.  Mad really, the new pages would decrease workload and increase sales but I've neither the money nor the time to set up the new pages that would increase my income and time. Confused? I certainly was/am?!?

Then March and April were spent trying to sort out finances and generally trying to keep it all together - we managed to add a whole host of new books to the web pages but didn't quite get round to emailing everyone with the details.  Oh well.  And more support came in from friends and well wishers as we started taking in second hand and rare books to fill our newfound space.  Of necessity we're only putting rare books on the webpages so you'll have to drop in to us to see our whole selection.

I'm not sure what happened in May and June - I think the sun came out and our hearts lifted.  Certainly early in 2007 Lily De Sylva started volunteering on Fridays and helped with orders in and out and generally keeping the shop and window displays under control.  Once again a volunteer has helped enormously and, in the process, has turned into a good friend and kept me sane.

So we searched for and found a number of other splendid foster homes - thanks to the very wonderful Starrett family, Lorna & Frank and Sandy & family.  And now I'm down to seven foster kittens, two adults and the three permanent residents in my place while at the same time keeping a track of the 15 other kittens we have fostered out.

So September found me & Book STEPs slightly frazzled round the edges again. But hope was around the corner as Lily (who also works at the National Learning Network garden centre) networked Dick Page into two days a week here through Work Start.  Unfortunately Dick only made it in for 2 weeks of the 4 before having to leave due to his cat allergy (don't laugh!).  But in those 2 weeks he was an enormous help - and I've caught up enough to get on with these webpages and, hopefully, the next enewsletter over the coming days.  Next week we'll look further into other Work Start opportunities and then, who knows...

And now we're in October already.  And I just got an email from one of my ethical suppliers, Seven Generations, previously ecologic books, who're closing down because they can't compete with the less ethical businesses. As they say:

"...we're sad to be leaving you all but feel we have no choice as the big businesses have become too powerful for us to survive financially. I think that is something society is going to have to look carefully at over the next couple of years before we lose all our small independent bookstores and businesses."

And I'm sad too.  Because in my reorganisations in the beginning of the year I realised that if I wanted to survive I had to use one big supplier where possible instead of using the small, ethical suppliers I'd built up a rapport with over the years. Using one meant loads of time saved on ordering, paperwork and accounts and the smaller companies couldn't afford to give me large discounts or to pay postage like the larger company could. I wanted to buy ethically but I couldn't afford the time or money - Catch 22.  And so I've contributed to the demise of a wonderful company. And I could so very easily go the same way as them - it takes so much more time and energy (and often money!) to live and shop ethically, especially with little incentive apart from the ethics of the whole thing - who can blame people from buying from Amazon or their local Waterstones with the bargains and convenience they can offer.

At the end of the day small organisations like myself and Seven Generations are going to disappear if we don't take the time, energy and money to shop ethically.  See here for more information on ethical consumerism or check out The Good Shopping Guide - available at Book STEPs, Amazon and your local large book store - where are you going to buy it?

So here we are.  October already. Time to light the burner and coorie in for the winter. A wee bit wiser since the beginning of the year and full of plans for the coming months.  We've some new environmental products in the pipeline for next month so keep your eyes peeled.  And I guess it's time I faced my accounts...  

Thanks again to everyone who's supported us through our ups and downs. 

That's it for now.

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