Anne's blog

9 degrees.

Friday 3rd October 2008 14:34

Today I'm having a bit of a rant...because after 2 weeks of lovely sunny weather, Norwich has turned really cold. We won the 'coldest place in the UK' tag on the weather news for yesterday! As were only got up to 9degs ....brrrrrr.....

I do realise that this is October, but we've really gone from one extreme to the other, and frankly, I'm not yet ready to start wearing proper shoes, and woolly pullovers!
Trying to look at this from a more positive perspective, Walkers does have lots of lovely coats to sell....and of course, it is easier to sell them when it is chilly outside....so maybe I should shut up complaining.

Tomorrow, we are trundling off in our motorhome to see some friends in Berkshire, and then we are going up to Oxford to see our son on Sunday....so really looking forward to seeing everybody.
Have a nice weekend !

Are we tired?

Thursday 2nd October 2008 11:22

What an evening we had last night....our party was a great success, with lots of finely dressed ladies descending upon us! Although they mostly didnt know one another, there was a great amount of chat and fun as they compared notes over who had what!
Clive was busy all evening plying the bubbly and distributing the nibbles, as Pauline Imogen and I tried our best to get everyone fixed up!
Apart from making plenty of sales, it is truly a relief for me that the ladies like the stock...I always really worry that I might have bought the wrong stuff, so to see them animated and enthusiastic over the collections is priceless.
Imogen and I are 'knackered' today, as we workied like little trojans all week to get the shop looking ship shape, and thankfully, despite the credit crunch we have been very busy. So I think it would be fair to say 'happy but tired' would sum up the mood for today!

Coffee cups!

Wednesday 1st October 2008 14:45

Clive and I nipped out to Marks and Spencer this morning to buy Sushi and other delectable nibbles to eat at the party tonight....and also several bottles of fizz to wash it all down. This all went well, then we set off to buy some nice cups and saucers for the shop, as we serve lots of tea and coffee these days, and our previous china had definately seen better days!
We found some really groovy tea sets, and some really utility ones, and then stood in the store umming and aahing about which ones we should get. The groovy ones were about 6 times the price of the basic ones.....so guess what we got? The groovy ones, by Villeroy and Bosch...were £25 per cup and saucer!! Ouch, but they are sooo cool....and we felt that they added wow factor to the whole 'treating yourself at Walkers' experience!! So all we need is a customer who wishes for a coffee, and today I have asked everybody, so I can try out the new china, and guess what?...nobody is thirsty! Ah well.....
Tonight we'll be in our finery, and looking forward to seeing lots of our dear customers....so will report back tomorrow!

Party Lights!

Tuesday 30th September 2008 16:48

Today, in readiness for the forthcoming party tomorrow evening, Clive has been suspending our new party lights. They are in the style of leaves and fruit, and were purchased from Ikea a few months ago. They look really lovely draped all around the shop, but today a lady came in, all guns blazing because she thought we were hanging up our Christmas trimmings very early! Anyway, we reassured her, these were not the offending items and she went on her way.
However, as it it October tomorrow, I feel sure that some stores do have their Christmas trimmings out.....which must be awful for the staff. One local store plays carols for both the months of November and December!
We shall be buying our Sushi and Champagne tomorrow, and look forward to seeing a few of our regulars in the evening. Cheers!

Southwold again....

Monday 29th September 2008 19:13

As it was lovely weather on Saturday, we took our motorhome down to Southwold for a short trip. We parked by the river in amongst the fishermans huts and the dry docked boats, and strolled along to the Harbour Inn for our supper.
They do a really big plate of freshly cooked fish and chips, and we washed this down with a couple of glasses of Adnams ale. The night was peaceful with just the sounds of the resident seagulls!
By the river wall is a little wooden cafe, and by 9.30 am there was a queue of hungry people waiting for them to open up for English Breakfasts....which Clive ordered for himself and I had something lighter! (But was envious of his!)....and we washed this down with a couple of cups of strong coffee. Later in the day we were joined by my Mum, and we alll sat in the sun and watched the world go by and also read the papers!
I was very sad to be going home when the sun set....as we had enjoyed such a lovely 24 hours....but quickly got back into the swing of things just as soon as I got indoors. I answer all my e-mails at any time of the day or night, so all the customers got replies timed at 10pm on Sunday evening! I'm sure not many other small shops are as crazy as me, and they stick to 'proper working hours'...but I got several responses back at that late hour in the day, so it was all good!