Almost Friday Again.

Emails, a new knitting machine and a village preparing for Christmas. Sometimes there is simply more to do than there are hours in the day.

By Babette, Germany

It was Thursday, and I had just finished dealing with an email from a customer who needed 19 pictures of our products, probably for a brochure or an online shop.

The pictures were not impossible to find. We have a product database, and I can also take them from our company website. But finding the correct pictures, matching them with the right descriptions and putting everything together takes more time than you might expect.

And while you are doing that, more emails arrive.

Normally, I try to answer emails within 24 or 48 hours. Last week, though, I was working alone because my colleague was on holiday, and there were plenty of other things needing attention. Orders, offers, customer complaints and technical questions all come across my desk.

My email signature says Customer Care Representative. In another system, my position is described as Inside Sales Representative. Sometimes it is difficult even to explain exactly what my job is.

There is a German expression, Mädchen für alles. In English, we found jack of all trades.

That describes it quite well.

Fortunately, the phones have not been ringing so much recently, which means I can concentrate on the work in front of me.

I am not complaining.

Christmas Is Already on the Calendar.

While work is waiting, I have been busy with something completely different. Christmas preparations have already started, even though it is only October.

Our village has a Christmas market on 28 and 29 November, and we are preparing a stand. We will not be directly inside the main market but outside a shop nearby.

There will be hot chocolate, both with and without alcohol, cookies and crêpes. We talked about the different names for these thin pancakes. In Germany, we call them Pfannkuchen. In France, they are crêpes, and in South Africa there is the similar word pannekoek.

Different countries, different names, but everybody seems to understand the idea of a pancake.

We are also thinking about having a wheel of fortune. There is a second-hand shop where people can find clothes, shoes, games, decorations and dishes. The items do not have fixed prices. Instead, people give a donation.

We had already thought about the wheel of fortune last year, but the idea came too late. This time, at least, we are thinking about it earlier.

I have also bought something new for the market: an electric knitting machine.

I bought it over the weekend, and I am still discovering what it can do. I think it has only one button. The idea is to use it to make things such as scarves and hats for the Christmas market.

It is another project to prepare, but this one is rather different from my previous projects.

Two Tables and a Car Full of Boxes.

Before Christmas arrives, there is another market to think about.

This Saturday, we have a flea market in our village, and I have booked two tables. I will be selling things from home that we no longer need.

There are quite a lot of them.

At the previous flea market, I managed to fit all my crates into our big car. This time, I am not sure everything will fit. I also have a large container for shoes, so there will be some careful packing before Saturday.

Of course, I hope people will come and buy things.

The flea market takes place alongside a small village event that is still called a funfair. There are signs at the entrances to the village announcing it, although the event has changed over the years.

Many, many years ago, there really was a funfair. Now it is more like a small market where people can buy sweets, food, spices and decorations.

The old name has stayed, even though the event itself is different.

I do not know how busy it will be this weekend. I can only prepare my tables, bring my things and hope for customers.

A Little Experiment with Tomatoes.

There has also been some experimenting in my kitchen.

A few weeks ago, we talked about tomato jam, and afterwards I decided to make some myself. I used 500 grams of tomatoes and added sugar, lemon, vanilla extract and orange paste.

I made it in my kitchen machine, which cooked everything for about 25 or 30 minutes before I put the jam into jars.

The first result was too liquid, so I tried adding citric acid. When the jam was cold in the refrigerator, the consistency was better, but when I left it outside, it became more liquid again.

Then came the important question: how did it taste?

I tried it on Sunday with a pretzel. For me, it was okay. A friend liked it, but my husband thought it was too sweet.

So the experiment was not a complete success, but it was not a failure either.

Next time, I want to try different tomatoes and see whether that changes the result.

I have also heard about a much simpler recipe that uses only tomatoes and sugar. Perhaps I will try that version as well.

There is still some experimenting to do before I find the tomato jam I like best.

And the Emails?

By the end of our conversation, we returned to the question of being late.

How late is too late to answer an email?

For me, the usual aim is 24 to 48 hours, although the working day does not always go according to plan. Last week, working alone meant having to make careful decisions about priorities.

There were meetings to attend and phone calls to make, and on one occasion I left work later than I normally do.

Some days, the difficult part is not knowing what needs to be done. It is deciding what needs your attention first. You can start the morning with a plan, but then the telephone rings, someone needs help, or something unexpected happens. Before you know it, the day is almost over.

And the next morning, you start again.

For now, there is a flea market to prepare for, a knitting machine to try, Christmas plans taking shape and plenty of ordinary things happening at home.

And somewhere among all of that, there are the everyday demands of work and a little maths homework to be done.