Panic over

I have spent much of the last couple of days producing menus for our Lions Charter Night dinner, working myself into a tizzy as we will be away next week so I will only have a few days after our return to get everything tidied away. I have managed to print off most of the menus, although there are still a few names and menu selections to come in. Then at lunch time today it dawned on me. I will actually have two weeks after we get back, not just one. I needn't have panicked after all.

Charter Night is quite a formal occasion, with most of the men wearing dinner jackets. The ladies used to wear really posh frocks - evening gowns - but now tend to be dressed in just posh frocks - more like cocktail dresses. Most years the Mayor attends and she will be with us this year.

Being such a formal affair, we (that is, I) produce smart looking menus which double as place cards. The menu is an A4 card folded to A5, the front carrying details of the event and the attendee's name; inside are the Lions' grace, the individual menu that person has selected and a list of the speeches and speakers. The back page has a list of past presidents.

It used to be easy enough to buy A4 card with a glossy surface on one side and already scored to fold down to A5. There were several manufacturers, including most of the printer manufacturers like Epson and HP, but they all seem to have discontinued this product. I did manage to find another manufacturer - I think they are the own brand for one of the country's largest computer retail chains. I tried to order four boxes (the illustration of the web site showed them as boxes of 25 sheets, but I was pretty certain there were only 20 to a box) but the most I could order was two. I tried again for a few days but this item was 'out of stock'. Then it disappeared from the web site completely, so I assume I bought the last two boxes in the country.

I have now sourced similar card, but matt on both sides which is a little unfortunate.

The other card I can no longer find is A4 scored to fold to A6. I used to use this for the club directory, but it seems no longer to be produced. Maybe I'm the only person in the country who wants this as well! It's just so difficult being different.