Coronavirus

 What a difference a week makes.......
This time last week we were on holiday in Norway....walking in snow shoes up in the snow covered mountains, looking down at the fjords and admiring the world >>> fast forward a week and things are very different.

We made the decision, whilst still in Norway, that we would self isolate immediately on our return to the UK. As some of you may know, I suffer from the auto immune disease, lupus (SLE). This means that my immune system doesn't work properly - it over reacts - so I have to take medication to dampen it down -  and also reacts in a 'faulty' manner - which means that I pick up infections easily and suffer complications. I am very high risk. Therefore, for us, self-isolating was a no brainer.....but for me to self-isolate, it would mean James had to too.

As soon as we landed in Manchester, late last Thursday night, we headed straight to our studio in the city centre to bring as much home as we possibly could - our stock, tools, materials, machines - first working from the kitchen table to get all the orders placed whilst we were away out as quickly as possible.....then, we spent the weekend converting our spare room to a make shift studio.

One side of the room is for 'making' our orders....and the other side is the 'packing' station....with the stock and machines organised around the remaining space.....and our cats are frequent visitors. I think they are loving us being home all day every day to cater to their every demand.

We are fortunate in the sense that we can work from home. Others aren't in such a fortunate position. We are also blessed by the kindness of others. Our local post office (shout out here - Mellor Road in Cheadle Hulme) as usual,  are going above and beyond and the lovely owner is allowing James to drop off our orders first thing, before he opens, to help us to keep going and reduce the chance of James mixing with others and potentially getting infected - and infecting me - with COVID19.

This is a very worrying time for everybody. From concerns and fears about the health of ourselves and our loved ones......many of us are also worried sick about our jobs and income.....keeping a roof over our heads and food on the table. As with many small, independent businesses, this is our only income and we don't have huge (or even small) reserves of wealth/assets behind us. We are hoping to weather the storm and get through this.

As humans, we are all at our best when we come together and support each other.....stay safe everyone and we are sending our thoughts, positivity and good wishes to all our customers, followers and friends.

See you all soon xxx