Selling t-shirts to the Scientologists.

Well if ever there is a dispiriting thing to do, one of them would be to attend a Scientology gig. Now before I go too negative on the selling side of things, let it be said that my children had a blast. They really enjoyed their day at Saint Hill. The Scientology people had a Santa in attendance, plus a Grinch floating about handing out chocolates in the forest outside. My children remained happy from 09:00 to almost 17:00. Indeed we'd taken two cars; one for my goods the other to bring the children back when they got bored. We could have taken one car in the end and been done with it. Of course the other reason my wife stopped was that she didn't know the way back....

So, what was the event? Essentially if was a kind of Christmas fair held at Hubbard's former home over at Saint Hill. They call the place the castle, and I must say it is an impressive place. Old Ron must have had a fair bit of cash to his name. We were in the hall, which would have done any school proud. We were a bit squeezed, but that just made it a bit more of a chatty event for the stallholders. Luckily there were no customers otherwise we'd have been a bit crammed in. On the wall were tapestries showing men in action - not a feminine religion then. One of them we all assumed was Tom Cruise. The people there claimed that it was a random likeness, but I'd guess if you'd handed over £50m then you'd want a few pictures around the gaff wouldn't you.

I sold one t-shirt. Hey makes you want to go out and start a business doesn't it? In 7 hours I sold one item and gave out two business cards. That's not exactly rushed off my feet is it? Stock control in such circumstances is easy. Tough old gig that one.

But as I said my kids had fun. They ran wild. It was like taking them to a wedding. Big hall, other children to play with, parent's distracted, means fun. Now my kid's are pretty adaptable. They don't sit there and whine that they don't know anybody. I guess this is because all the other children were in the same boat so there were no cliques forming. Just a big bunch of kids fuelled by chocolate and pop. Thanks Grinch for the chocolate! We got them home about 6pm, fed them and my 6 year old pretty much collapsed into bed. My 8 year old didn't last much longer. That was a result.

So a sales disaster but a social success. And what else would we have done with our kids on a cold, wet Sunday in December? Make them sit in front of the telly watching films? My wife was also full of cold, so sitting down in a warm hall was probably as much as she wanted to do.

And the brainwashing thing? Didn't happen. Didn't encounter any nut jobs either, which is always a worry. I've no problem with people having a religion. None at all. But I do have a problem with the over keen ones it must be said. To be fair to the Scientologists we only met one borderline loon, and she was possibly just being friendly. I've met far worse in life. I could go on about the guy that I worked with who could scare children at ten paces..... Really this guy made my children hide behind my legs, and he was only saying hello. Freak.

Personally I'd rather have had a spin out on my bike, but then my kid's would have missed a fun day out. A sales disaster but oddly a good day in the end. Funny how life works sometimes isn't it?


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