Your Trugmakers Dec/Jan 2010 News
Due to that heavy unexpected sale, working hours spent producing my trugs needed increasing - no problem! I started work at 6:30 a.m. I knew the number of trugs sold approaching last Christmas and was confident that I could 'catch up' in time for the xmas surge. But! What I did not realise, was that with the advent of the 'credit crunch', instead of decreasing sales it actually increased twofold! I believe this was due to the high promotion of 'Grow-yer-own' programmes - Gardeners World, Jamie Oliver, River Cottage etc. etc. Paniiiiiiiiiiiiic! I was working from 5.a.m. till 6:p.m. 7 days a week and could still not manage to produce enough trugs. I have never let a customer down yet, and did not intend to start this year. As I stated in the previous news, we make a big thing of any celebration. Yet this year there was simply no time whatsoever to decorate the house exterior - sad, so sad. On Dec 1st each year, I have to pre-warn the National grid when we turn on our outdoor decorations. Russian Cosmonauts send thankyou cards for their added illumination while spacewalking and have noted that even the great wall of China is invisible at night!
Anyway, Christmas was fast approaching and I was turning away customers, something I have never done before. I had a big problem!
I am a great believer in the expression 'sleep-on-it'. I had a dream that provided an answer - not ideal, but an answer.
During the 25 minutes remaining between working and sleeping, I designed a Christmas gift card on the computer that I could send to either the buyer or the recipient of a trug (as below).
This was a precautionary measure, if I managed to send the trug in time, the card would not be required, if not, then the card could be used (as it transpired, only 16 cards were used).
My problems were further exasperated due to the snow, Fed-Ex could/would not deliver to anywhere except to A-road addresses - no countryside addresses (quite wisely).
To guarantee delivery before Christmas at normal charge, the last collection by Fed-Ex Couriers was on Tuesday the 22nd Dec. Any collections on Wednesday 23rd would incur a £13 surcharge, yet I was still receiving orders on the 24th!
No matter what problems there are, the hands of time will always march on, so inevitably the 25th eventually arrived - a time to relax.
Following pressure from Jaqui PhD (Packaging and Handling), I agreed to take the following week off for the first time in many years. My hands were so chapped and split, I used a pot of Nivea cream and three commercial tubes of superglue to repair them. Even now my fingers sound like a woodpecker on a drainpipe as I type.
It is a common conception that if you remember the 1967 Isle of Wight festival, you weren't there. Well as far as I am concerned, there was no Dec. 31st! I do remember Jan 1st though!
After falling downstairs I considered calling our friends in blue as we were obviously victims of a raid by a bevy of revellers who had left the contents of several bottle banks in our living room, kitchen and garden.
Do you believe in ghosts? I do now. Because when I looked in the mirror, just like Jacob Marley my dad was staring back at me?
When I have the time in January, I intend to investigate how it is possible to drown in water, but not in the fruits of the vine? If there are any teetotallers reading this, I am slowly coming round to your way of thinking, after all, they enjoy a 365 day calendar.
Anyway, I am seriously looking forward to returning to work, back to some normality, and rest assured very soon it will be business as usual with 'Next-Day' delivery.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
