Greetings from a wet and windy Sheffield.
Hope you are well, let's hope the weather improves and we can enjoy sitting outside a pub or cafe in the sunshine.
Last week we were forced to sit outside under an umbrella wrapped up against the elements just to be able to commune with our fellow human over a drink or meal.
On Sunday I was with Tomas trying to find a table for lunch, even though it was wet and miserable every available pavement table in Sheffield town centre was occupied or pre booked.
This is crazy I thought, tomorrow the bars and restaurants will actually be allowed to let us go indoors, and yet the simple desire to socialise with friends overcomes drizzle, discomfort and inconveniences.
Finally we found a rain splattered table - It's our last chance to sit in the rain and drink beer - I joked as the waiter wiped down the seats and table.
There are some other basic human desires often overlooked.. one of which is the need to give gifts.
It's always nice to receive a gift, but it is often overlooked the pleasure that the giver feels. Hence the saying; "It's better to give than receive"
On behalf of Mr Chatterjee, I want to give a big THANK YOU to all the people who contributed this week to an appeal to supply oxygen to people of his town in India who can not afford it and otherwise could die.
Last week I was telling you about Mr Chatterjee (our man in India) and his plan.. you can read about it here.
And here is the link to the Go Fund Me page.. and more information here: India Appeal
Within a few hours you had raised enough to buy 5 tanks of refillable oxygen, I didn't wait for Go-fund-me to send me the funds - I bought Indian rupees in my Revolut account and sent them directly to Mr Chatterjee. It's five lives we can help.
There are no free beds in the hospitals in Serampore , the seriously ill are put on a waiting list, and many (especially those without oxygen) don't make it. To those who gave, in these terrible times. Thank you, you gave the ultimate gift.
Please help. Even if you cannot afford actual money, you can go to the link Go-Fund-Me click on the share button and send to all your friends on all your social networks.. You can also send them a link to our Info Page.. Think of the good karma points you will be accruing - and feeling you get from giving the ultimate gift..
Mr Chatterjee - ready for action.
Today an Indian container arrived from our wooden craft supplier in northern India. So lot's of stuff is back in stock. Including some starters that require wooden stands. - See below..
Importing wood is very difficult, governments around the world have quite rightly signed up to protecting deforestation. So all wood imports need to be provable from sustainable sources. You need a license to export and in Europe a license to import, you also now need a certificate for each shipment. At AW we are up for all this, of course this needs to be done.. Our man in Indonesia (Ringo) is particularly good at checking all documentation and working with the Indonesian authorities to make sure everything is legal. We always have our Fledge certificates in proper order.
Even so when a container of wooden products arrived in our Slovakian warehouse the submitted documents had still not been approved for release by the Slovakian authorities.. and then a separate office demanded to know if our papers were in order. One day after the delivery the papers were released and approved but we were technically in default.
Tomas, who is the MD of Slovakia company, gets a call saying we are importing and marketing illegal wood, and they are issuing a €200,000 fine. So unjust, so stressful, so totally not our fault.
Yesterday he had to appear in (a virtual zoom style) court to answer charges.. in the end they agreed it was a rather disproportionate punishment.
Tomas - here telling them.. but we are importing hand carved Hati Hati Angels and wooden elephants.. things that make people happy, (in these stressful times) and been treated as if we were importing evil contraband.
It all ends well, but in this day and age do we need such unnecessary stress?
So now you know the kind of hoops we jump through to bring you and your customers beautiful things.
Don't worry we love it really :)
Have a wonderful weekend. Take care, stay safe.. and spare a thought for Mr Chatterjee and the Ultimate gift.