Licensing Blog

Welcome to our Licensing Blog, which takes a light hearted look at our mysterious world.

A Special Delivery before Burns Night(Posted: 27-01-2009)

The 2009 Guide arrives, Auld Lang Syne, and the trade shows start.

Can you believe we are already into the last week of January? It’s incredible where the time goes. One minute we were singing “auld lang syne” on New Year’s Eve and before you know it the time has come to sing it again on Burns Night. Sad to say, no haggis for me, but I’m with the revellers in spirit.

We have taken delivery of the much-anticipated 2009 edition of the Guide to the Licensing World. Hooray! It’s always a worry, opening that first box and seeing that the front cover looks OK. Thanks to MGM for the great artwork this year. When the lorry pulled up, it coincided with the first rain we had seen after nearly 3 weeks of frost and sunshine. By the time we had wheeled all the boxes up our driveway into our hi-tech storage facility (shed!) we were all soaked to the skin. The sacrifices we make, eh?

So, bagged and bundled, the Guides flew out of the office. The postman moaned a bit at everything he had to take over the course of the week, and we nearly lost the dog a couple of times when the door was left open, but it all went fairly smoothly in the end.

Now it’s back down to work to make sure that that subscriptions keep coming. Advertisers please note – can you please pay as soon as possible? I need to pay for Christmas and my wife’s new car (which I have already been made to wash twice in 2 weeks, despite my protestations to her that it would be a complete waste of time with the weather as it is!).

The routine soon kicks in once we get into the New Year. Kids back to school, scouts, dance classes (my daughter, not me) and cricket nets. My New Year’s resolution was going to be “nothing to eat after 9pm” but there’s no chance of me keeping to it, so I shall continue to puff and blow whilst running round the sports hall or walking the dog up a steep hill. I justify being in this state by saying that I’m too old to worry about getting fit. Well, it works for me, and I sleep easy at nights.

Next stop then, the Toy Fair and the Spring Fair. Let’s see what they are going to bring. I hope I bump into you there, and if I’m puffing and blowing, please offer me a seat!