Fooled Again
Fri Apr 01 2022 18:21:00 GMT+0800 (Malaysia Time)
Greetings from Spain
Last week I was telling you about the gloomy weather in Spain and the calima or sandstorm that turned everything muddy brown.. well the big clean up has begun and the sun started to reappear. So hopefully we can get back to normal.. the transport strike is also winding down.. it was all doom and gloom (but getting better now) - if you missed it you can catch up here.
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The clean up begins.. our man Clive on the job. Returning our Spain warehouse to pristine whiter than white.
Well it's the first of April. And the cost of living shocks are no joke, it's no April fools joke this time.
And like I have been saying for a long time, this will turn into hyper inflation.. the massive worldwide printing of money to pay for the pandemic was bound to cause it.. but now the war in Ukraine and supply chain problems are making it much worse, like the perfect storm.. but calm down everybody. These times will pass and even in the darkest days (or especially) humans need the means to comfort each other. Since ancient times, we humans have brought gifts as offerings to our loved and respected ones.
In difficult times people turn to more spiritual things.. think candles (Magic Spell Candles), incense (Smudge Sticks & Nag Champa), aromatics (always stock essential oils), sing bowls and anything in gemstones and esoteric.
Now is the time to pivot to the spiritual and esoteric.. and you know the best supplier don't you?
I should have been in India right now, there is a trade show happening in Delhi, and many suppliers are ready with new products to pitch to us. But for some strange geo-political reason e-visa for UK nationals are unavailable. If I was Russian or Afgan or even Spanish I could make it, but for some reason the British are blocked for now. Fortunately we have Mr Chatterjee and his son Dishanta (our team in India) on the ground in Delhi and around, and by the power of Whatapp still doing business. I can see from the stream of pictures that the creativity in India is unbounded. Those guys have not spent the pandemic doing nothing.. they have been making magic..
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Our new AW-Aromatics production area in Sheffield was supposed to be ready to move into on the 1st of April. And obviously given the supply issues generally and shortage of Polish plumbers it has been massively delayed. Now we are hoping to get in by June or earlyJuly in order to ramp up production in time for Christmas. But this morning despite almost nothing else happening on time.. a sign writer seems to have been.. and put up the wrong sign.
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Ancient Wisdom moved to Affinity Park 18 months ago, this was our old warehouse (which you will recall burned down) now almost rebuilt ready for production to move back into. Nobody knows anything about this sign.. It should say "AW Aromatics" and a different colour logo. As of writing this newsletter - I still don't know if this is an elaborate April Fool, a monumental error or an honest mistake..Somebody tell me!!
Next week - I'm off to somewhere exotic.. travelling to visit a supplier in another country where Brits are actually allowed to go.
Can you guess where?
More updates next week.
Take care
David
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