How goes it, everyone? If you’ve come to read the next entry in The Balloon Market Blog… well done: you’re in the right place! If, instead, you’re totally lost and ended up here somehow…. why not take a few minutes off to read this week’s interview anyway!

We’re back in the office this time to meet up with Anna-Jayne: a core member of the Web Content Team with the title of Senior E-Commerce Administrator! Her role involves working with an array of different reports, figures, emails and general admin duties that keeps our behind-the-scenes workflow, and your website experience, the best it can be! Let’s ask some questions, shall we?

On the Meet the Team page, you’ve listed a fun fact about yourself. Tell us more about that!

I think it was that I go to a lot of gigs and concerts. I’ve gone to quite a few over the years, I don’t how many in total. I did try to count it up at one point; I think it may be over 100! That includes gigs, comedians, other performers like Derren Brown, along with a couple of festivals too. All in all: it’s quite a lot!

What do you enjoy most about working at Balloon Market?

My role is quite varied, I do a lot of bits and pieces – every day is different! The people as well, everyone is really friendly, we are like a big family!

Do you have a favourite product that we stock?

Probably the new baking range that we’ve got in recently such as cake tins and cookie cutters because I like baking and cooking! I don’t get much time to do it though, but when I do I make a really good lemon drizzle cake!

What trend do you wish would make a comeback?

In the 90s, a long time ago now, you’d get free toys in your cereal. That would be good to bring that back, maybe not a toy though. Now I’m an adult, getting something more practical in my cereal would be better. The joy of finding something in the box, delving around… that was great.

What’s the No.1 thing on your bucket list?

I’ve always wanted to travel around the East and West coasts of America. I’ve been to New York, but that was back in 2008, so I’d like to go back. Boston, San Francisco, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas… all the big ones. I’d also love to go to the Ben & Jerry’s factory in Vermont!

What’s your favourite kind of food? Is there a restaurant that you love to go to?

It’s a tricky question as I like all kinds of food! We’ll say Italian food: pasta is probably my go-to. There’s a restaurant in Southampton that do massive pizzas: L’Osteria, that’s really nice.

If you had to move to another country for an entire year, which country would you choose and why?

I’m going to say Italy, specifically Sicily. Mainly because I like all the food: pizzas, pasta, their gelato is something else! The people there are very friendly, it’s like a relaxed atmosphere. They have a different pace of life over there.

Is there something that most people like that you don’t?

Tea! I never really used to drink hot drinks until my twenties, then I started drinking coffee and got into cappuccinos and iced coffees. But I’ve never been a big fan of tea; I’ve tried it once and it’s just not for me. Even fruit teas I’ve tried weren’t that great, I had to add a lot of extra sugar which I feel defeats the purpose.

As someone who’s a huge fan of James Arthur, could you pick a song of his that’s your favourite?

If I HAD to pick one… there’s a song called ‘Recovery’, which most people might not have heard of, it was one of his first songs. It’s really good live, that’s why it’s my favourite. I’ve seen him live about 15 times now!

Do you have a question for the readers?

‘What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?’

Thanks to Anna-Jayne for taking the time to chat! It’s actually quite difficult for me to answer this week’s question as my gig count isn’t very high. Over the years, I’ve avoided going to those sorts of events as I’m not that into music, but I’ve recently decided to try it out more! I’ve been to a couple of festivals so far and will be going to a specific gig very soon… so I’m looking forward to that!

Let us know your answers to this week’s question below! See you all next time!

James
Blogologist