Greetings from Affinity Park, Sheffield.
Oh boy, it's all go. Your (non-essential) shops are opening again, and everything changes.
Last week I was telling you about our plans for super cool offices in Affinity and also our plans for expanding the aromatics production.
If you missed it you can read about it here.
I had my vaccine the first day out of quarantine.. and no ill effects at all. Actually quite the opposite, something rather strange is happening to me..
Usually I spend most of my time travelling, India, Indonesia, Nepal, China..and I love it. Working with artisans and producers all over the world..I love it and I miss it so much. This pandemic has kind of put the blocks on that.
I was lucky enough to be locked down in Bali from February to July last year, regular readers will know how that went and how it came to an abrupt end.
So I had the AstraZeneca jab, the nice nurse who jabbed me ask if I wanted to go over the possible side effects. "Heavens no!" I said.. "please don't do that, once you tell me I'm bound to get everything on the list including the blood clots".
In China they have a saying; "80% of all illness is in the mind" - I think there is some truth in this, we are all 80% hypochondriacs. Fortunately the nice lady smiled and nodded and didn't force feed me side effects.
Everytime I switched on the radio, it was news about vaccine problems, so for three days I hardly heard the news and avoided reading anything related. And, yes I can report absolutely no ill effects..
But the vaccine has given me a kind of superpower, maybe it is just a coincidence but since the jab I have been having the most vivid lucid dreams..
Every night a different adventure, I even go to China and Bali in my dreams.. I googled it and vaccine dreams are actually a thing.
In Bali they know stuff about dreams.. driving around the island visiting or seeking out artisans chatting to Ringo - is one of my favourite things in life. He explains to me the unique Balanise Hindu belief system. For sure they know things that we just don't understand.
There are special days in the Bali calendar (a 210 day cycle) when the spirit world comes close to the human world. The ten days of Galungan are the most potent. During these ten days of festivals and ceremonies ancient spirits come to earth to play. The whole island sprouts tall bamboo poles, or penjors, which are decorated with fruit, coconut leaves, and flowers. They appear outside homes and business entrances everywhere. I have been in Bali at this special time quite on quite a few visits.
So naturally I wished Ringo a happy Galungan via Whatsapp.. I asked if we were erecting a penjor pole at AW warehouse. The penjor is very symbolic, every element of it contains spiritual symbolism. But the basic idea is that the pole sends our prayers and offerings to the heavens, the bowing end of the pole points to earth and it is the route the spirits take to visit us during the ten day romp on earth, to invite them to our business will create good karma and Ringo was delighted make it happen.
Ringo acquired a suitably large bamboo pole and a young pejor design guy came to decorate it on site and then erect it with a suitable ceremony asking the spirits to visit Ancient Wisdom. Ringo of course took pictures and made a short video.
Here is the penjor pole outside our warehouse. The cost of the pole, the decorating guy and the erection ceremony was about 400,000 IDR - sounds expensive but that's about £20.
Pretty good value to get on the good side of the spirits if you ask me.
As humans sometimes I think we confuse self sacrifice and unselfishness above everything. Obviously good things, but you need to care for yourself first in order to do the other.. in business it's the same (if and when you can afford it). So this is the dream office.. I don't know if it will work like this but we are sure going to try..
Since the day of the jab and the days since roughly coincide with the days of Galungan, maybe the dreams are a gift from the spirits rather than the vaccine..
Well all I need now is the second jab as soon as possible and for Indonesia to open it's airports.. I'm on my way as soon as possible, if only in my dreams.
Do let me know if you too are having lucid dreams after the jab..
Meanwhile here in Affinity park we are getting really organised, goods can be generally shipped super quickly.. and we have some spectacular deals for you this week.
If you'd like to make some good karma and you are happy with AW then do consider giving us a positive review.. right here. Thank you!
Take care, stay safe, dream lucidly.