In all my life I have never mentally had to deal with something of this magnitude and scale. It's like (for everyone at AW) our own personal 9/11 - those that can remember that event will recall the two jets crashing into the World Trade Centre in NY, played over and over on TV until the images seared into your brain. Tomas was the last person to leave AW at around 6pm on Friday night. There is CCTV in the carpark, and if you have ever been there you will know it is a very secure compound, once the gates are locked you cannot access with both a passcode and a call to the security company with a knowledge of the password. At 23.23 a euro bin in the carpark weirdly started smoking, it burst into flames a couple of times and then died back, I keep watching the video, over and over. Then that furious little fire seems to develop a demonic life of it's own as if it is fighting itself, almost like a supernatural event flames erupt suddenly spraying directly back - it seems at a particular window, behind that window is what we call the oils room where all the fragrance and essential oils are stored in bulk.  The fire flares and burns inside, at exactly midnight - to the second - I guess it was the alcohol IBC we bought for making hand sanitisers explodes, a vast fireball engulfs the carpark and I assume also blew through the internal parts of the warehouse.. within the hour our lovely warehouse is completely ablaze. 

The fire brigade were there super quick, but unable to stop the spread, within an hour everything was gone. Gone. And with it.. it seemed my life's work. 

In Bali, we had an earthquake, not a big one but the tremors continued all week. Quite literally the ground beneath my feet was shaking. Alone and scared, I had to get back somehow. As it happened this week one international flight is available. 

My friends all called me, encouraging me to be strong. My staff in Bali made prayer offerings for me and cried. Keith, our landlord whose property it is, has been super kind and supportive.  

Then the emails started coming.. thousands.. and many many used the word Phoenix.. AW will rise from the ashes.  Take heart, they said, be strong, some wrote poems and some found ancient wisdom quotes. Our customers are amazing.

Many of our competitors wrote directly to me offering moral support. I realise the gift industry is special, special people, we help people give love to each other.. but the simple gift of empathy is a powerful gift indeed. 

I'm 60 years old.. can I face this? Can I really do this?  Friends, those emails made the difference. Thank you.

Tomas & Katka and the team at AW were and are still going through trauma, the emails (I believe) helped them also. Let me tell you the people of AW are amazing - many have been with AW a long time - grown as people with the company over many years.. this event is a character forming. Maybe it is too much for some, we will see, but those that remain will be bound even more by shared experience to the AW family. 

Taking stock.. well all that stock gone, but we still have stock in Spain and Slovakia warehouses, we have 400 pallets of stock held in outside storage and we have some stock in three smaller warehouses on site. Quite litrally all is not lost.

The AW people this week have already set up a dispatch area - and despatched orders, we already ordered a lot of the equipment we need to rebuild production. Our materials suppliers have pulled all the stops out to get product to us.. we will have some production in place next week. 

Bryant our order guy is re-ordering from suppliers in India, Indonesia and China.. Coco, my wife is on it in China.. already shipping one container yesterday with two more in the pipeline. Everyone is on it.

The AW hero's are already fighting back. I will join the fight.. in a few hours I will be there - it's 1.30am here, my flight to Manchester boards at 6.25am, I expect to be in Sheffield about 3pm.

Yes we can do this.. yes we do this - yes - we can rise like the phoenix.  Your support is greatly appreciated. Check out our Phoenix page.  

Only two things survived in Block B,  one was the sign that says welcome to Ancient Wisdom, and one was our big Buddha. The one we pose in front of for group pictures at Christmas and halloween. He still stands looking calm and steadfast. 

I'm not a Buddist but the idea that possessions are not yours but only yours to be cared for, for the greater good. Thousands of people depend on AW. From artisans in Bali to market traders in Burnley to good people who used to work in Block B, AW.

Losing something, Ringo, our man in Bali, told me, focuses you on not being the owner of possessions, just the guardian - the caretaker.