I love a witty business name, one that neatly captures its purpose, style and zeitgeist. On our travels anywhere we invariably have to drive towards Kings Lynn. On that road we regularly pass a dog grooming business called Scruffy 2 Fluffy, which I find simply a work of linguistic genius. We all know examples no doubt of Hairdressers with a clever pun ot innuendo in the title, but Scuffy 2 Fluffy proves it can crop up in other unlikely places too. Like Sheringham, where similar to so many coastal towns these days, it has developed bands of early morning sea swimmers. Come rain or shine they bravely toddle down to the sea front in their dry robes, maxi towels over their shoulders. for a chilling dip into the briny. It is a much more popular form of social grouping with women than men, perhaps for the most obvious wrinkly winkle reasons. So the women's sea swimming group in Sheringham, it appears, is quite substantial and has given itself a group moniker that I think is truly a thing of awe and resplendent wonder - The Blue Tits.
So we are at the turn of the year once again. What a perfect storm of crap events. A horrendous year for avoidable cock ups. 2022 has been without shame. With no signs of letting up its destructive unsettled progress, as we cross that artificially designated boundary in time and name, called The New Year. But one cannot help but try to brush off the dust of the previous year still clinging to our coat tails. To at least begin 2023 with an optimistic reset. Christmas has come and gone. It was enjoyable, provided a moment or two to reconnect with ourselves, now that the mad hurry towards the 25th has ceased.
At Cottonwood Home, we are already looking into what new things we'd like to make or introduce to our stock range. Fresh fabrics to consider trying out. Making plans, with no idea what the economic circumstances we will encounter will be really like. We are going to have to be cautious and considered in any decisions, I expect. Particularly in the first quarter of the year when income is traditionally squeezed anyway. Shoppers who pushed the boat out too far in December, may find themselves madly bailing out an unmanageable rising debt level by the end of January. Spring may have some unpleasant surprises for us all.
But before all that, we have the dreaded self assessment tax return. Joy of joys. This year we feel to be less on the case, with so much additional emotional plate spinning going on. But the process of harvesting and sorting invoices and expenditure receipts has begun. Until the great data entry looms. These are both largely my role in the proceedings. Before Jnanasalin does the final huge tidying up and balancing bit of the accounting. Ever year I say to myself, lets keep on top of this, lets get into the habit of doing the accounts monthly. It would be so much easier if we did. Your memory of what transpired 18 months later really does go a bit vague, so you look at payments and wonder what the hell happened here?
My first accountant,a friend of my parents, insisted you should start doing ones accounts in the way you mean to carry on. And he was right, because once there is a backlog, the mountain you have to climb just doesn't get any lower. Actively discouraging you in any effort to be on top of it. And so, this momentum of clarity and intent to get fully up to date, ebbs away. Like any New Year's Resolution, it lasts, not very long. And so even now, even whilst I say to myself that this year, of all years, it would be so much better to be fully on top of it. At the back of my mind is a flickering neon sign saying - ' Not a chance, mate'
Optimism, that's a rare quality these days. Harder to maintain or keep hold of, easily worn away by cynicism born of unrelenting bad news. Whether pessimistic, optimistic, fatalistic or apathetic there is frequently a lack of realism behind these. They're all coping strategies, giving the changeable impermanent and unpredictable nature of life an apparent philosophical unrufflable sheen. Coping strategies are fine just so long as they are seen as such, and not as a complete or correct view on life. Name the demons, beneath their outward appearance of willpower or resignation.
2023 may prove to be a mix of many things, not all of them catastrophic or doom ridden. I can paint the world in a uniform colour of bleak as well as the next person. It can be my default mood setting. I can miss so much that is good, of value and to be grateful for, whenever I do this. Allowing the 'eight worldly winds'* to lead me, knock me about the head. Never more so than when the external circumstances, economic and otherwise, appear so turbulent and unpredictable.
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| Me after I've had a Matey Bubble Bath |
As I mature in age, many things like one's libido become slower in ripening, I have, like folk over many millennia, had to become more relaxed and sanguine about what might be or have been. Its not that its all over, but one cannot do some activities without there being a more significant consequence than would have been previously, even a few minutes ago. I can go swimming, do my thirty lengths quite smartly still, then and hour or two later a wave of physical weariness will verily come upon me. Dragging down alertness of mind and hence productivity, if not to a halt, to an entirely slower speed of execution - from 78rpm to 45rpm. I've had generally to adopt a steadier, slower and more equanimous pace of working, I make more mistakes if I don't. Fortunately being a craft maker does benefit from this considered and less hurried pace of work. That more youthful frenetic pace of execution seems somewhat mad these days. What is all that hurrying about? Overly concerned about reaching destinations and giving insufficient attention to the travelling.
I viewed an interview with Karen Armstrong on You Tube recently. She said, what I thought was a really interesting idea. That the fundamentalism we see in many contemporary religions ( political and ecological too ) is a direct consequence of the emergence and dominance of scientific truth and rationalism. That faith, for some, has to become this incontrovertible truth, certain of its veracity to the point of immovable dogmatic belief. To match with scientific certainty, religious certainty. Her view being that faith has always been founded previously upon a 'cloud of unknowing', evolving out of doubts, uncertainty and the mystically suggestive experience of something transcendentally other.
We were in a Norwich cafe a while back. I ordered a flat white with an apricot Danish pastry. The flat white proved passable, the Danish pastry came warmed with a slight crisp flake to the pastry. We loved it. Prompting the question - why on earth don't we cook our pasties and pies properly? Its such a tragic loss to ones pie eating experience. Flabby sunk pastry half returned to water, is now a common place thing because of the convenience of microwave cooking. You can now buy from Tesco frozen Maple Danish, Cinnamon Swirls, Almond Croissants, Pain Au Chocolate pastries you can bake at home. Why wouldn't you want to do that, rather than tolerate its rather damp substitute. And so I became a convert, A devout follower of the True Pie.
Though it seems strange to say this - I love pies. Unfortunately, haste and supposed time saving has had a consequence. Impoverishing the pastie, pie,flan or frittata of its ultimate form and transcendent nature. Unwittingly I've robbed myself of this sheer delight - of a good crust, a well baked flan case, the flakiness of a danish pastry, the golden pastry top to a pie. Along with slow cooking, devoting time,say twenty minutes, to cooking pastry properly is really not much to ask. I wonder about ourselves these days, always on a mission to do things fast, to save time, without clarifying exactly for what, to do what? In my experience this contemporary compulsion to save time is a bit of a hamster on a wheel situation. It is never ending. Its a mind set with little to do with reality. We believe we must be able to do everything and therefore require as much time as possible. When, I would humbly suggest, we should prioritise quality of experience over quantity. So in 2023, choose to get off that wheel and cook yourself the real experience of The True Pie.
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| A current favourite |
* The Eight Worldly Winds, is a Buddhist teaching that describes basic ideas and impulses that can dominate and rule our life should we pursue them. Coming in four pairs - Praise & Blame, Success & Failure, Pleasure & Pain, Fame & Infamy
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