The truth about the market

Well, my first time at market did not go as well as I would have wanted it to.

My husband and I were there just after 6:00.  At first the guy from the market said that there were many cancellations due to a lot of people being sick, and one guy's wife had passed away the day before (which I'm very sorry about).  So he could give me a nice spot.  At first he showed me a spot that was perfect.  One would be able to see my stall when one enters the market's gate and then one would also see my stall on the way back to the gate.  But then for some reason he changed his mind and showed me to another spot, right at the back, in a corner by the food stalls.  What I didn't know at the time is that they would set the tables further away from there than they did last time I was there.  So I didn't complain too much, lunchers would see my stall and come over.  My husband and I started setting up the gazebo.  Then the guy came and said no, we have to move more to the side, as another stall must fit in next to us.  That's behind the tree, I said.  No, he said, not really, people will still see you from the tables (which hadn't been set up yet.)

See the lady in pink standing there on the right?  That's my little helper for the day, Karen.  More about her later.  What this picture doesn't show is the low hanging branches of the tree more to the right and the path angles right toward it, so that when one comes up it, one actually only notice the tree, that's why I hung the bags that side so that the bright colours would show.

Well, my husband and I set the thing up.  I didn't have so much stock.  But we all know that my time's limited.

Karen and I moved the tables up a lot about an hour after this was taken, in the hope that it would be more noticeable.  We don't have a picture of that, since my husband had already left.
We clearly saw and heard people walk to a few meters away from "our" tree, stop, look around and say: "No, it's only food stalls from here", then turn around and walk the other way.

In hindsight I must confess that I didn't do all that badly for a first market, on a bad day (all the other stall holders complained about it being a bad day), in a bad corner.  I made enough to pay for the stall.  So I suppose one could say I broke even.  But let me just mention that my second eldest sister did most of the buying, before you get too excited!

Karen is my husband's sister's son's girlfriend. Did you get that?  Read it again. Husband. Sister. Son . Girlfriend.  OK, so they've been together for seven years now and she's just the sweetest little thing. At one point I could see that she was really irritated with the people just turning around and walking away before they came to our stall.  She even grabbed a bag and some books and started walking around the market with it. I suspect she stopped short of accosting people and dragging them to the stall.
My mother-in-law came to see me at the market. Which was very nice of her, as she moves with difficulty after a knee replacement about a month ago. Well, she came to see me specifically and spent half an hour LOOKING for me before she found us, and that's only because she recognised Karen.  I also had a good friend from work as well as my best friend (30 years now we've been best friends - another story) stopped by.  My third sister brought the girls over as they had spent the previous night with her so that they wouldn't have to get up so very early.

Well now.  My question is this:  Did I do badly because of the spot I was in, or did I do badly because my stuff is just...well, crap?