Well, 2020, what can I say? It's been tough. January was a great start to the year. We were busy and looking forward to our best year. Then we were hit by rain, and more rain which caused Shrewsbury to have the worst floods for decades. We had to close the shop because we couldn't get in. All roads in and out were flooded. It was pretty grim. Shrewsbury even made the national news.

Just as we thought things couldn't get any worse, Covid 19, Corona virus hit the UK with vengeance and we had to close. Schools closed early for Easter, but it will be over in a few weeks, perhaps a month or by the end of April we thought. How wrong could we be. We carried on working in the workshop as we had orders to fulfill until our supplies ran out and we couldn't get anymore until our suppliers opened. They re-opened and ran out of stock as the factories making upholstery sundries had been closed. They were now having to social distance so less people working and less stock being made and going out. The NHS (quite rightly) were given priority over anyone else, so we had to make do, and do what we could. 

June re-opening was a bit of a damp squib if I'm honest. I think many people were still too scared and worried about coming out. July picked up and we had a great month. 

August's drama was our son's A level results. Not what he was expecting but after a stressful few days, the results were over turned and he got what he deserved. University at Liverpool Hope was waiting to welcome him. When the virus started to spread again in September, our son's Computer Science course was online only. As parents we were worried that he wouldn't be able to come home for a weekend if he got homesick so we all waited a few weeks to see if things improved. It got worse in Liverpool with the city going into the highest lock down in the UK. Our son, initially not happy about staying at home, was then somewhat relieved that he was able to study from the comfort of his own home. When some of his friends caught the virus from other universities, he understood our concerns and was happy to continue working from home online.

November lock down arrived. It was cold and miserable in the workshop. I can honestly say that I was not enjoying being in there and I now have more sympathy with Mark when he is grumpy from working in a cold environment. Is there such thing as a warm workshop?

We are now in December. Christmas was peaceful and happy with our two boys. For that I am grateful. We have now gone into tier 3 but I'm not sure what this mean for business. Will we have visitors from other tiers which are closed, shopping as our shops are open? Will everyone just stay at home? Will I wake up and see this has all been a bad dream?

If anyone would have said 2020 was the year of the pandemic in 2019, they would think we'd gone mad!  As you can probably tell, I will be glad to see the end of 2020. We will be celebrating out 20th birthday in 2021 so I just want to thank all of you for your support this year. Thank you for your messages of support and encouragement when we just wanted to give up. Thank you for ordering and buying from us. This virus isn't going away anytime soon so take care, wash your hands, make space and we shall see you sometime in 2021.

Much love Heather

hpn