Greetings from Slovakia

Yes, I'm here at the Eastern Europe HQ in Trnava a pretty town near Bratislava. 

Raul the IT wizard from Kuala Lumpa arrived the same day as me, and Tomas chief marketing Wizard was already here.

So it's a bit of a reunion, working here with Erica and the EU team. 

Last week in the UK HQ and telling you about getting over the Brexit Bump. You can read about it here.

Here in Slovakia, there was great excitement at the approaching Brexit Day, after all the Slovakia distribution centre was born out of Brexit.

It was our own backstop for keeping frictionless trade with our Euro customers. So as the 29th of March approached the team here braced themselves for an influx of migrating customers but the day that never was came and went.

It's as though you have been training for the Olympics, building those muscles, getting ready mentally and physically.. you got the kit all ready to go...  and then at the last moment they cancel it.

But Erica and the team have been developing their own markets for AW range of products. And sales to Slovakia, Czech Republic and Austria are booming.. plus we have an English language site AWGifts.eu that is bringing interesting customers from all sorts of diverse places right across Europe and the world. From Iceland to Spain, from Caribbean islands to Greek Islands. Matej our international manager has the most diverse range of customers.

So AWGifts is growing fast even without Brexit.. up 500% this week. So it's a very dynamic time growing fast is so much fun..

Back in the UK, lots of things are going on.. this week has been a Salt Lamp container, an Indonesian container, an emergency air shipment of the fast-moving Aroma Jewellery amongst other things. It's all happening.

Check out the deals below.. 

Thoughts..

Greta Thunberg.. OMG only 16 and changing the world, quietly determinedly.. Have you seen the Greta Thunberg Ted Talk..? wow I'm so impressed that young lady is beyond remarkable. Mrs May.. are you really so busy with brexit and botched meetings you can't meet and be inspired by this girl.. it's the future. Now more and more people are thinking about a sustainable future thanks to people like this.. Well done Greta.

Talking about saving the planet.. Check out our Cotton bags and Jute bag ranges.. we put them all together in two web pages for you..

They come from our Kolkata supplier.. who right now is being roughed up by the edge of Cyclone Fani, a million people displaced along the Bay of Bengal already.. we send them our best wishes. 

I just spoke to Mr Chatterjee (our man in India) to see if he was OK.. so far so good he says not the worst affected. We are praying.  

We are told using cotton and jute rather than plastic will help our planet.. and right now the very people who make it need saving..

Soooooo many bank holidays... I have already experienced one - it was May Day on 1st of May here, next week we have a bank holiday to commemorate the end of World war 2... on Wednesday. 

In the UK another bank holiday weekend! Hope you are not just mad busy but find time to be still and simply enjoy being with friends and family. 

All the best.. more new next week.