Our second swap!

Trade Two: 1 flipping ladybug for a 'special' t-shirt

Hot on the heels of my inaugeral swap with Kenley and her kids in Carlsbad, California, another tantalising email materialised in my inbox. This time from Richard a T-shirt maker in our very own Welsh Wales. The email subject line was this:

T-shirt swap?

I don't know about you but I love t-shirts. Every morning I hover momentarily over my t-shirt drawer unsure whether today will be a t-shirt day. Luckily I work for an employer who doesn't bat an eyelid if you pitch up for work wearing a t-shirt. In fact, my boss has been known to arrive on a Friday morning wearing a "I've got such a bad hangover" T-shirt. Respect.

And here's the nub. The best T-shirts tell you loads about the wearer and what's important to them (for instance my boss, and not shouting). They can tell you that the wearer loves a certain band, that they ran the London Marathon, that they 'heart NY' or that they're "with stoopid". Yep t-shirts are, in my humble opinion, one of the defining items of clothing of our age. But Neil in Wales better have a good one to part me from my American "flipping ladybug".

Neil wrote:

I run a t-shirt company, and would be happy to send you a t-shirt in exchange for that ladybug. I think it would look good on my desk next to the knitted monkey and Where's Wally mug.

:-)

Neil

I think I got the measure of the man from this 38-word email. He has a shared love of t-shirts, he displays a crocheted primate at his workstation, he loves kids' puzzle books and is a fan of novelty chinaware. I was now smiling cos this trade definately had the "ladybug" factor.

But what sort of shirt was he offering? He still hadn't said. My new friend Neil sent a follow-up email containing a video (yes a video) he'd taken a few seconds earlier of some of the T-shirts he sells on his website. They looked good but then he delivered the ladybug winner - "You can have any of these t-shirts or I can make you a 'special one'". A few emails later and behold the One Pink Hairclip T-shirt.

You'll notice Neil has even cunningly customised this one-off garment for the next, and third, swapper involved in my quest for a trade-bigger-than-a-house. What a star. I've never met you and may never do so but thanks Neil the T-shirt maker from Wales!

Do you have the third trade?

Could the next swapper be you?

Email me your trade now!

Thanks for your support,

Graham

ps Neil said I didn't have to plug his T-shirt firm but that would be churlish. Go to http://www.dizzyjam.com/