Still haven't visited the sales this year but they continue to make their mark on others. Family members have shared their successes in the field and I have had a success of a different kind. The current issue of Best of British uses a piece I submitted this time last year (when sales shopping was fresh in the mind) comparing the sales of my childhood with those of today. A long time to wait for publication? Not really and especially not in the history of this piece.

The writing on sales began with a listing session around six years ago. I was making a list of things that had changed since my childhood. (You don't need to be that old to try this as things change so rapidly now. Indeed when I worked in primary schools our leavers  wrote of their time in the school and often mentioned changes that had occured in that time.) Anyway, after listing twenty items I picked three to develop into lists of their own giving the bare bones of an article on each and then chose one to write up as a completed article.

The article was submitted to a magazine whose editor retained it for possible use and then sat on it for three years before sending it back. When B of B asked for personal stories of sales shoping I dug it out and rewrote it more to their style and sent it off. The editor asked to keep it for possible publication and I know from experience that this publication also returns some material after some time  so apart from being recorded as work sent out I forgot about it until the latest magazine turned up on Saturday. A good end to the year or an inspiration for the coming one? A bit of both I suppose. Maybe I should dig out some more of those lists.