Greetings from inside the EU
Hope you are well and surviving all the trials and tribulations that seem to beset us all around.
Last week I was telling you about how I seem to be telling all the AW managers in various parts of the world to Keep Calm.. and carry on, you can read here.
It was snowing last week in Slovakia, UK and even Spain.. this week the storms continue. Much of the UK under flood alert, like we didn't have enough issues.
Katka is doing her best to navigate the shipping to EU issues which at point seemed insurmountable. With hundreds of customer orders stuck in limbo and hundreds of customers complaining, it's been stressful.
Dear EU customers, if you are reading this please give us a chance, we are really doing our best to resolve your shipments. Hopefully today a big chunk of orders will clear customs.. and be on the way to you.
You, dear reader wherever you are also must be feeling the stress, more lock-downs and more complications. Take heart.
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid,
the new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light,
if only we're brave enough to see it.
If only we're brave enough to be it.
Amanda Gorman. OMG.. what a talent, I was half watching the Joe Biden inauguration on Sky news whilst finishing some jobs..
Like the sun came out. I'm not a big poetry fan, but watching that young lady, bright eyes, hands forming shapes in the air as she performed the poem, and expressed exactly in inspired words the feelings of the world and then transformed those feelings to hope. If you didn't see it.. You Tube Here... words to the poem here The hill we climb, by Amanda Gorman.
October 2019, place Goa, India.
Disappointingly it was raining I remember, torrential downpour. Tomas and I had been in Delhi, exhausting Delhi for two weeks and had flown down to Goa for a bit of R&R. AW bought a beach apartment there ten years ago, and it's our bolt hole in India.
But Mehul had flown down as our guest from Khambhat in Gujarat, brandishing carton loads of samples. Khambhat is the gemstone crafting capital of India (you learn all the secrets here), and Mehul is one of four suppliers we have in that area.
He is a gentle creative guy. A strict vegan and a spiritual humble Hindu. He is also quite jolly and one of the main pioneers of the orgonite business. This is where gemstones, base metals and artifacts are suspended in resin to create beautiful esoteric art.
We commandeered one of my friend's hotel bedrooms and laid out all the samples on one bed while (as the rain bucketed down outside) we designed some meaningful product ranges. Many prototypes, design changes, a hundred emails and several WhatsApp meetings later two new ranges came into being and a major extension to another. Orgonite Chakra Pendulums, beautiful Oronite Keyrings, and some stunning additions to the popular Pyramid range.
Later that evening in the Pentagon restaurant along with Mr Chatterjee we tried to corrupt Mehul with fresh fish and Kingfisher beer, but he was having none of it. Eight months later (these things take time) our delivery finally arrived. It was July 2nd 2020. Regular readers and customers will know that the next day a midnight fire destroyed our main warehouse. It was our deepest blackest moment at AW, from which we fought tooth and nail to come back from. That shipment was destroyed, but within days we had raised the Purchase Order and asked Mehul to get to work on a replacement shipment. And my friends.. It just arrived!.. see details below..
And this proves that resilience can overcome almost anything.
And I'm looking forward to the day we can meet up again with Mehul and our other Indian friends to do business once more. And hopefully next time it won't rain :)
For there is always light.
Have a good weekend.