One Pink Hairclip: The story so far...

It's Sunday... A day of rest and general pottering. So it's a great time to look back at the first week of One Pink Hairclip and my quest for a swap bigger-than-a-house to donate to FSID. What better way to do this than with some things I've learnt:

Try to be professional even if it's "just you"
If you meet a minor celebrity's PR flunkey, try to look and act the part. I found myself in this unlikely situation onWednesday lunchtime while trying to pump Keith Chegwin for swapping tips, or at least a message of support for this humble blog. When asked for my 'card' I looked blank, stammered and replied: "Card? But it's just me!" My point was that OPH isn't a glossy corporate machine it's just one bloke with a hair accessory to trade. Luckily the PR had a card and I had a scruffy train ticket and a biro. Job done!

The Court of King Cowell is a surreal place
After signing up to Twitter this week I blithely suggested we should tweet Simon Cowell for an X Factor ticket upgrade for our next swapper. (Thanks again to NetMums for the swap!) It seemed a simple plan and it was all in aid of a great charity (FSID.org.uk).
But then I actually visited Simon's Twitter page and the scales fell from my eyes. It's mayhem. For the people who go there Simon owns the 'fickle finger of fame' and he can point it at whosoever he chooses. Amongst the hullabaloo of hundreds of people trying to reach out and touch the messiah's cape, any talk of pink hair accessories seems to be very quickly lost. I hate it when people say it won't work....and it doesn't!

One Pink Hairclip is about you, not me
The thing that's really shone through this week is that the swappers are the stars. Take for instance Kenley and her kids from Carlsbad, California, and her 'flipping ladybug'. What a great opening swap.
Then there was t-shirt designer Richard from Cardiff who needed the 'flipping ladybug' to keep his knitted monkey and Where's Wally mug company on his work desk. He had a branded OPH shirt to swap.
Next up, Bronya from Freed London who had a handmade and box-fresh pair of pink ballet shoes to trade for the OPH t-shirt. She'll be displaying the shirt in her shop's window. Thanks Bronya.
The final trade of the week came from NetMums who had two front-of-house X Factor Live tickets for our latest swap. And this is where we stand today.

Sometimes the unsuccessful swappers steal the show
Cockney Alan, from Argentina, who offered a piece of fine art to swap for our third trade, may have walked away empty handed, but he's since become a folk hero in Buenos Aires. My colourful account of his flight from Britain to Argentina (I'm not suggesting he evaded the UK authorities), via Brazil attracted lots of Latin American local attention. Alan, who wooed a South American beauty before siring a handsome son is, as we speak, hunting for another swap to help us on our way to that final bigger-than-a-house trade for FSID. Here's a copy of Alan's bus pass photo:

You can't say 'yes' to everyone but you can say 'thank you'
Loads of offers of swaps have landed in the OPH inbox this week, but I haven't been able to reply to them all. I'd like to say thank you to everyone who took the time to get involved, offer swaps and show their support. It's important that you do this if we're to get that final bigger-than-a-house final trade for FSID. Thanks also to the people how have become OPH "followers" on Blogger and Twitter.