I'm not usually a man prone to colds or flu. I've not had Covid, as yet, fortunately. But this winter I have had a 'cold' for the first time in many a year. The last time, if the out of date cough medicine I had is anything to go by, was somewhere between 2017 when it was made and 2020 when it passed its use by date. As they are so infrequent an experience, I tend to forget what a full on 'cold' can be like. And, when I do succumb, I tend to have a heavy one.
They generally start with a severe migraine like headache, only easing as a progressive nasal rawness develops and a sense of something gooey and adhesive gradually accumulates in my throat and upper chest. The 2022 version never fully progressed to the runny nose final stage. Somewhere in the week before Christmas the chesty catarrh cough that had been so persistent and irritating, suddenly went away. However, first week in January 2023 the cough reimerged with a vengeance along with an intermittent headache. I generally don't give in to 'poor me man flu like behaviour' But I am feeling peeved for foolishly thinking I'd seen the bugger off. I blame it being so unseasonably mild.
Getting this bug to move on is not proving easy. I have bought myself a fresh bottle of cough medicine should you be concerned lest I'd risked self medicating with the out of date one. I think you might be reading my obituary if I had, or of a particularly explosive stomach inflammation brought on by extreme acid reflux. I've already had two nights of perpetual coughing with little sleep on the lounge sofa. It will pass, all things being impermanent, but the lethargic lingering of this cough might be the one singular exemption.
Judging by the complete dearth of Lem Sips in North Norfolk, I am not the only one plagued by an unrelenting cough. Sales of cough medicines seem be the only thing currently booming. In our shop we are now in an entirely altered retail realm. December came within a few hundred yards of last years monthly total. So well done to us. You would not have guessed it from November. But perhaps folk just pushed the boat out later, and that bit further knowing full well they'd have to push it right back in again, come January. Post New Year always feels as though someone switched the algorithm in our collective brains, from Yo Go Shoppy to No Go Shoppy Shoppy.
In past January's we've stayed open for a fortnight before fully closing for four weeks. Opening up again February Half Term. But it was made plain by the first two days post New Years Day, when we took zero pounds, that this year would be progressing along quite different lines. So we decided to only open on Fridays and Saturdays between now and mid February. Apart from the cafe, all the shops like us are following a two day week. So when the Christmas decorations came down on twelfth night, The Courtyard appeared to suddenly descend into seasonal hibernation. Strangely our main sales in the first week have been lampshades, not normally a Winter season staple. But this Winter looks likely to be an even odder beast than usual.
Taking a longer period of reduced opening, leaves more time available to complete our bookkeeping and tax return. And once completed, to set too on a list of things that need attention or are grievously neglected during the rest of the year. Four weeks plus, seems like an absolute age, yet it will fly by, if previous years are anything to go by. At the moment with my persistent coughing now producing pain in the chest muscles, I cannot even laugh wholeheartedly. All my virtuous plans to get back swimming and meditating regularly have been unavoidably delayed by bad lung health. The NHS website is vague about the length of time a cough can linger in the body after a chesty cough infection. Apparently it can go on for as long as eight weeks, after which it becomes chronic. Which, as you can imagine, I do not find at all reassuring.
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With more time off work, comes the mental space to ponder, reflect and reconsider how things are done. So Jnanasalin and I have talked about tidying up product ranges. Paring then back to eight core fabrics. There is also coming the now annual fabric hunt to Lincoln and Stamford, what might we discover new for this year? If we don't encounter a stunning mid century fabric range to get excited about, we are considering breaking out of this stylistic period and testing a capsule range of fabrics from the Arts & Crafts era. Steering clear of Strawberry Thief and other such Morris cliches you'd see in every garden centre and department store throughout the land.
We also want to adjust the style of our signage and labeling so that they work both in the shop or on a craft stall. Currently they are at variance and this means a lot of chopping and changing when preparing for a makers market. In a more normal year than this, I might be pushing for an aesthetic and paint refresh to the shops decor. But we cannot even be sure what the year ahead will bring, so that is off the agenda. As is the idea of moving to bigger high street premises. We are currently in a bardo of just wait and see what 2023 brings once the season begins at Easter, coming early at the end of March.
Hang onto your hats prepare for a bumpy ride.
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