One of the first things I picked up when I arrived in France for my study-abroad year (a veeeery long time ago) was the concept of “La Rentrée” – the name given to this time of year, when summer is drawing to a close, people are coming back from their holidays, and the familiar routine of school, college or work is kicking back in again. And sure, this has its downfalls – who doesn’t want the summer holidays to last forever, or the sunny weather to hang on in there for another week or two?
But at the same time, the idea of “coming back”, and doing this just as the season starts to turn, makes you feel that new possibilities are just around the corner… or that, even at this late stage in the year, you can start afresh and still have time to wrap things up on a high note by December! It’s also a great time to catch a breath, enjoy the cooling weather and get everything in order before we’re hit by the event avalanche of Hallowe’en-Thanksgiving-Christmas! So, with that in mind, today’s post is a quick public service announcement about what’s happening in Beastie Towers these days.
First of all, I’ve reviewed the postage rates for my online store, and included a couple of new (lower!) price bands. Up until now, caution nudged me towards only offering registered postal services, even though the price of these almost made my eyes water as I typed them in! So, you now have the option of receiving orders by standard post instead, and anyone outside Ireland will notice a pleasant bit of extra change in their pockets when they choose standard shipping… As this handy little graphic shows!
You can also see where the difference arises… Although both services are offered by Ireland’s national carrier, An Post, there is no parcel tracking with standard post. This means that, if you choose this option and your Beastie parcel goes missing, there is no way for me to help you track it down.
With that in mind, I’ve chosen to only roll out this option to places where the receiving postal services are, apparently, less likely to lose your precious monster consignment… In a nutshell, that’s Europe (EU, Scandinavia, Switzerland and some others), the US, Canada, Japan, China (including Hong Kong), South Korea, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. If your home country isn’t on the Standard Post list and you feel it should be, drop me a line before ordering and I’ll see what I can do for you! For those of you who choose Standard Post, I’ll do my utmost to reassure you that your order has indeed started its journey, by sending a photo of your stamped, addressed parcel before I hand it over to the nice ladies in my local post office.
And what else is new? Well, it’s time for me to do something that might make me a little unpopular…
Yes folks, Paddy has indeed braved the heat of the September sunshine and dressed up as Santa Paws to deliver this very important message:
If you’d like to find your very own Beastie under the tree this Christmas (or surprise someone you love with one), get your thinking caps on, and order before October 31st!
Last December was pure distilled craziness, and I’m planning to attend far more markets this year. So please, please pleeeeeease book in early to avoid disappointment! Placing your order now will allow me to get your sketches done in good time, and make a start on your project before the days begin to get noticeably shorter. Even if you’re just thinking about it, drop me a line and we’ll throw some ideas around!
Well, that’s it from us… What about you? Has La Rentrée got you making plans for the fall (or spring), or are you just wondering where the summer went? Either way, let us know in the comments!
