http://www.casajarapa.net en-gb casajarapa.net 2010-1-8T00:00:00Z casajarapa.net http://www.casajarapa.net/page27.htm#52764 This time a year ago I had a strange busexperience on Remembrance Sunday and this year was interesting again.This time I was stuck in traffic at Victoria on the way to the Notting Hill Design Fair. I had just crawled around an accident in front of the Apollo Theatre only to find myself at a grinding halt at the next corner. Five minutes went by the traffic lights were changing but nothing was moving. Then a policeman appeared and spoke to the drivers at the front of the queue. The man in the silver merc next to me got out to see what was happening. Then in response to my quizzical look he came over to my humble van.Fifteen minutes delay he said. It was 11am and the two minutes silence had just started.Where are you off to my new friend asked. I told him and asked the same of him. He was in finance and said he was selling Spanish gas. What a coincidence I said gesturing to the sign on my van. I sell Spanish rugs We talked for a bit longer and then got into our respective vehicles to wa... 2009-11-17T00:00:00Z http://www.casajarapa.net/page27.htm#51839 Phew Its been ages since the last post mainly because Ive taken on the shop my first ever in Kirkdale London SE26.I have to say its been great Im housed in the newlylisted High Street Buildings so named because Kirkdale used to be the home of Sydenham High Street which is now on Sydenham Road. Kirkdale is a peaceful little spot well clear of the hurly burly of the main drag and handily within comfortable walking distance of Forest Hill too. Thats going to be good when they finally get the swimming pool reopenedIm cosily positioned between Foxes pub and Avalon Victorian fireplace shop with a funky costume hire shop Antoinettes a bit further down and a new beautician JH Skincare also moved from East Dulwich almost opposite. Theres a Victorian door shop an art deco shop and a super Italian restaurant too. Its all on the up as they say.One of the best things so far has to be my customers. Ever since the doors opened in late August a steady stream of people has been coming in to say hello a... 2009-11-2T00:00:00Z http://www.casajarapa.net/page27.htm#38564 Its been a little while since my last post because Ive been laid low with a bit of a bug. I cranked myself back into gear this week though and by the weekend had enough energy to return to North Cross Road market and launch our Mothers Day offers. Its actually been really nice. North Cross Road was fun on Saturday and E.D. Warehouse was great today. A little caf233 launched there this weekend Constance Cakes. AnneMarie the proprietor sells all kinds of tea and homemade cakes as well as toasties and truffles. Its a very welcome addition. Weve also got Tablet Living opposite the cakes. Talk about fabulous garms The two ladies in charge Lydia and Rena are great and they look great too as are usually wearing their own lines. Fabulous knits fine woven silks sumptuous fabrics in daring colours all enhanced with the scents of precious perfumes and oils... they have some beautiful quilts and homewares too. Id also like to bigup my new helper Jo the actress noted previously in this blog for h... 2009-3-22T00:00:00Z http://www.casajarapa.net/page27.htm#36346 Well while the UK was shivering under a foot or more of snow I was out in Spain on the first rugbuying mission of 2009. It was warm and sunny and felt like the English spring that is yet to come we hope. Cold at night though so I was glad of my trusty woodburning stove.The rug buying went well and weather permitting a couple of tons will be landing in London next weekend. I feel as if I made several new friends this visit having been fed twice by the family of my new supplier. It is hungry work selecting the rugs and the Spanish believe in healthy nutritious meals. So civilised A shortage of flights meant I started the trip in Madrid where they have a whole network of apparently posh lunch joints where you get a three course foodie menu del dia with a caraffe of wine for just 10 Euros. Just what the doctor orderedI do hope some of you will come to Dulwich to see the new rugs soon. And if you dont live in London dont despair. The pix will be up on the website by the end of th... 2009-2-9T00:00:00Z http://www.casajarapa.net/page27.htm#34216 ... because somehow in the midst of the preChristmas rush our community garden group managed to pull off a carol concertAs you may know by now community gardening is what keeps me happy when Im not selling the rugs and this time it was great to see how everyone worked together to make the concert happen. Katie made flyers which she Sarah Ian and I delivered. A local vicar provided carol sheets. James donated wine and Roz mulled it. Ginny made mince pies. Saira and James brought lanterns and in a last minute flurry we all met at my place opposite the community garden to get the show on the road.The vicar who was going to lead the singing pulled out at the last moment with carolfatigue but Katies dad who used to be a vicar gamely stepped in. At 7pm precisely the chorus began.There was only a handful of us at first but throughout the hour the number grew to about 50 and mulled wine and mince pies were flying out of my kitchen like there was no tomorrow. Little by little the singing starte... 2008-12-28T00:00:00Z http://www.casajarapa.net/page27.htm#33621 Its been a tiring few days. Interesting though. On Friday I took the rugs to a school fair in Streatham then it was back to North Cross Road on Saturday and on Sunday I drove up to Hampstead Heath at the crack of dawn for the Cabbages and Frocks Christmas market.So what was interesting about itWell first of all theres your fellow traders at these events. At Streatham I met a lovely lady from Verde in Northcote Road. She hadnt had any lunch so sampled plenty of my organic extra virgin olive oil dipped in delicious Greek granary bread from the deli round the corner from my base at E.D. Warehouse. Duly impressed she bought a bottle and I bought some of her gorgeous patchouli soap a blast from the seventies thatI was a bit stressed about all the markets I was attending so when I woke up on Friday night with insomnia I decided to take a shower with the soap and then read the Verde brochure in bed. What a treat Gorgeous soaps lotions creams and potions for everything under the... 2008-12-10T00:00:00Z http://www.casajarapa.net/page27.htm#32789 Brrrr. I never realised how cold you can get sitting outdoors all day until I started this rugselling lark.I began selling jarapas last October at the Sunday market in Greenwich. I was a fulltime web editor during the week and from my chilly market debut until Christmas most weekday lunch breaks were spent shopping for warm clothes. First I got a fleece from a mountaineering shop. Utter rubbish as it turned out. So then I started on thermal vests. I got a nice black one from MampS then another and then another. Next I got a matching pair of thermal longjohns. Eventually I had it cracked. Three thermal vests longjohns two pairs of socks a longsleeve Tshirt and two fleeces seemed to be what was required to keep a body warm.Then it got even colder. A colleague at work loaned me a massive blue duvet coat. It must have been the biggest duvet coat on the planet but one freezing Sunday I put it on in desperation. My fellow traders fell about laughing. I must admit I did feel a b... 2008-11-24T00:00:00Z http://www.casajarapa.net/page27.htm#32375 As any regular readers of this blog will know the proprietor of Casa Jarapa is a keen community gardener in her spare time. And yesterday was a great day in community garden terms because Richard Farr from Lewisham Council came to tell us that our street is going to get eight new treesWe first asked for some new trees about 18 months ago when a neighbour and I presented a tree wishes list to the councils street trees department. Six months and no reply later we thought our list must have fallen into a beaurocratic black hole. But early this summer news reached us that some of our wishes were to be granted. Then it all went quiet again until Richards visit yesterday.Richard explained that the delay was due to the extensive cataloguing hes been doing since coming into post two years ago. Hes now catalogued every single tree in the borough. Each one about 8000 in total is now listed and plotted on a computerised map. Any diseased or dangerous trees have been identified and r... 2008-11-14T00:00:00Z http://www.casajarapa.net/page27.htm#32141 Today both a landlady and a couple of tenants came rugshopping.The landlady said she couldnt currently afford a rug because she hadnt as yet been able to let her flat. But this brought to mind one of my original customers another landlady. After getting a rug for herself she bought another to spruce up her rentedout flat. She wisely chose a hardwearing tightlywoven darkish red one. Clearly dark red would not show too much dirt. As a bonus the tighter weaves are particularly easy to wash. The rug was very cheerful as was my customer when she came in later to tell me her flat had been snapped up the same dayLater today a young couple came in search of a rug to cover up the ghastly pink carpet in their newlyrented flat. They took some photos and went off to ponder over colours. They were impressed with the prices and pleased to think that they could take the rug with them if they move jarapa rugs are impressively hardwearing and can last a lifetime. Of course an alternative... 2008-11-9T00:00:00Z http://www.casajarapa.net/page27.htm#32114 Coming into work on the 185 today the bus driver inexplicably shut off the engine at the Dulwich Plough. The packed top deck sat there quietly this is London after all and while we might have wondered what was happening no one was actually going to ask. After about two minutes everyone got up at once and piled down the stairs me with them. Was I going deaf Had there been a security alert that I hadnt heardNo... it turned out the reason for the upsurge was that another 185 had pulled in behind us. The passengers at the back had spotted it and decided to change buses. Rather than ask our driver what was going on everyone else had followed. And then someone said Two minutes silence So that was why wed stopped. And that was how a busload of buttonlipped Londoners observed the respectful custom to honour servicemen who died in the world wars. But at the time we didnt even realise 2008-11-9T00:00:00Z http://www.casajarapa.net/page27.htm#31991 The Obama feelgood factor seemed to merge into the world of jarapaselling today because it must have been one of our best midweek salesdays ever.Strangely sales seem to take on distinct themes. One week its all small rugs another its all hallrunners. Well today joy of joys it was all extralarge ones. First a charming man from Tipperary came in and got a couple soon followed by Justine from the fabulous Mrs Crows book concession next door to me at E.D. Warehouse who bought another. In the afternoon another nice man bought another. That wasnt all either. Perhaps the dark winter evenings bring on the urge for a nice rug to cosy up your home. Whatever everyone seemed very pleased with their purchases.The day got off to a good start in community gardening terms too when Oliver from Lewisham Council popped over with a free bird box. Our locality has been chosen to be Lewishams first eco street so the residents here qualify for a few little goodies to help us make the environment ... 2008-11-5T00:00:00Z http://www.casajarapa.net/page27.htm#31951 Well here we go with the tales of a firsttime onewoman rugbusiness with a sideline in community gardening. And how better to start than with a few thoughts on how community gardening can help to keep you sane when youre trapped in the jaws of a credit crunch. How Well with bit of Monday morning manual labour of course. Yesterday the week got off to an unexpectedly nice start. Looking out of my sitting room window after breakfast I noticed a young man waiting by the community garden. He was soon joined by a friend of mine it turned out it was their week on watering duty. I went out to help them and the three of us spent a happy halfhour chatting away and hosing down a path made muddy by a successful community planting session the day before. By the time we had finished we had swapped useful contacts people to sing at our forthcoming carol concert potential rug customers and arranged a little Christmas soiree to sell olive oil and other gifts. I might even have found a sw... 2008-11-4T00:00:00Z