Lewis Hamilton, Rats and Royal British Legion.

I know this is only week three back at work since my two weeks off but my goodness I am more ready now for a break than I was before I went. I'm absolutely shattered. It's been a crazy few weeks, and that is - as always - down to the amazing customers I have, so thank you to any of you who have ordered in the past, present and will in the future. It means so much to me that you are willing to trust me with your orders. 

Following on from that, this week I was tasked with a challenge that at one point I thought was going to be impossible; we all know I can (and often do) work miracles, but the impossible has always taken me a little bit longer. On very rare occasions it has even beaten me! Yes, really! 

I had a family come into the shop to order some funeral tributes. Their Dad was a big F1 fan, an even bigger Lewis Hamilton fan (he sounds very much like the male version of me) which meant they wanted to have the colours of the Mercedes car Lewis is currently driving - I'm still not sure about him moving to Ferrari but that's a blog entry for my personal account! 

The family chose to have a 'Dad' tribute asking if I could edge it in blue as they liked the flash of colour trim which adorns the side of the car. Chatting with them I was a little bit unprofessional when I noted the colour is more of an aqua green than a royal blue, before adding I would do my very best to source ribbon in the colouring for them. I learned during my research the colour is 'Petronas Green' to be precise! No matter how many wholesalers, haberdaseries or anywhere else which sells ribbon I contacted, I was unable to find anything in the correct colour. I had discussed a back-up plan with my customers at which point I was going to edge the tribute in silver (the team are known as the 'Silver Arrows' after all) and whilst I know it would have looked good I just couldn't stop myself from reaching out here, there, and everywhere to see if I could get a ribbon in the exact colour. 

I had met my impossible match; there was nothing, and nobody, then my little sliver of a brain cell decided to try a different option, an option which saw me procure the exact Petronas Green required; not a ribbon but in a self adhesive car trim - Thank you, Mercedes! It wasn't wide enough to use on it's own for so I sat there with twenty metres of silver ribbon, twenty metres of Petronas Green sticky-backed car trim, and I stuck that trim to the edge of the ribbon as neatly as I could. It took what felt like forever, but when I'd finished, I got out my stapler, created the pleats needed and attached them to the frame. It may have taken an age but it was absolutely worth it.

Those of you 'in-the-know' and who like to be pedantic will (no doubt) tell me that for a few years the Mercedes AMG team have tended to go with the black livery, the full silver making only a handful of appearances. Those of you would be correct, however, black would not have worked quite-so-well. It would have made the whole tribute a lot darker and not really conveyed the look the family were going for. I did add some black grass linking the sprays on each letter for continuity purposes though. 

The individual sprays on each letter consisted of white roses and lisanthus with silver eycalyptus. I also had some extra of the Petronas Green to add to thinner strips of silver to incorporate into the sprays, bringing the whole colour theme together. I only hope I was able to give them the vision they had in their minds when they entered the shop to place their order.

In other news my little furry friend will no longer be visiting. I'm not going to lie to you; I was very much on the verge of tears when I finally caught up with it, for it had expired from it's mortal coil. It's passing was actually of it's own doing - an accident - so I don't feel bad that I brought about it's demise, however, if I had known what it had done to itself there is a chance I may have been able to save it, move it on to pastures new. However, it has happened, it is dead, I can do nothing to change it. Clive is extremely grateful for he was having to take home the Chrysantemum I need daily for tributes - like the DAD in the photograph above - in the evening, before bringing it back up early enough the next day for me to make the tributes. From a business perspective I am grateful too, for I no longer need to panic that something is going to happen which might cause Clive to get caught up and be running late, not giving me enough time to get the tributes ready in time for delivery to the funeral home. All other chrysanthemum for everyday orders comes in on the day it is required, however, when using for floral tributes we have to ensure it has had a good drink for forty-eight hours before we can use it. That little rodent most definitely kept me on my toes for six months. 

Lastly, a lot of you have been in and told me off for not making more of an effort with the Remembrance Window this year. It transpires the poppy wreath and cross, four vases of poppies, a poppy table runner, two wooden soldier silhouettes, a window decal stating we were supporting the poppy appeal and a large poppy attached to the window wasn't enough for some of you! Don't even get me started on the agression I was faced with for not having any of the metal pins this year. Dear me some people were not happy!

In my defence, the gentleman who used to bring the offical Royal British Legion bits in for me to sell/display, has left. A new team has taken over, but they are still finding their feet and also finding they are facing some quite large obstacles when it comes to getting more stock for themselves, let alone being able to supply to me. Several of the larger poppies I always have, along with my own stock of pieces I have purchased over the years, I loaned out to others who were taking part in parades, or for displays which have be seen by a lot more people than my window was. Myself, and the cooridinator I am now in contact with are already working on procuring bits-and-pieces right now, ready for next year, so hopefully the window should have much more of a display on show in 2025.

Chris, being the good egg that he is, did take some of my previous drawings (ones I had turned into carded silhouttes which I would pop into the window) and turned them into wooden cutouts which will last longer my card - I will get him to do some more for next year as well in different styles. I'm sure if you asked him really nicely, making a donation of £20 (to be evenly split between the RBL and Fareham Men's Shed) he'd be happy to take some orders and cut some out for you too. Just make sure you give him a couple of months notice!