So another year has almost come and gone....and what a year it has been...a good job we don't know what is waiting for us around the corner....from a personal side it has been an Annus Horribilis...as our late great Queen once said...my year started badly as I got covid a day before Christmas and carried on to the New Year...and then just getting over that I put my back out (not great for a furniture dealer.!) , and just when you thought it couldn't get any worse I was daignosed with prostate cancer....after many tests it was decided to remove my prostate in September, so I could get rid of the cancer in one hit....wrong...it was an aggressive cancer and it had broken out of the prostate...so as the year ends , I am having more scans in January to see if it has spread anywhere else....and as if that wasn't enough my little brother died of covid and my wife had to have her gall bladder removed...!....but I always have been a full glass sort of guy and at least the treatment I am having is really wondeful...thank you the dear old NHS ....hears to 2023...
From a dealers year , it has still been very good ...with lots of sales coming from the selling portals (Selling Antiques & Antiques Boutique) my online presence is growing rapidly...I also have quite a few sales from Instagram...can't understand it, but its free and it gets me to a "new" audience...the fairs have been very good, unless the elements have been against us...doing Ardingly on the hottest day in July was not great or when the rail strike hit the fair, people stayed off the roads and did not want to venture out...but you cannot blame the fairs....on the plus side the American and foreign trade are over making most of the weak pound....Shepton, Peterborough and Newark has been busy with them buying like the old days, when they were filling containers....
Thank you to my many customers, who never fail to surprise me with their eagerness for more stock and loyalty....and my friends in the trade who continue to support and make me laugh...may I wish you all a very wondeful Christmas and a terrific New Year....!
Best wishes Mark.