I have just two & a half days left until I can re-open the door to let customers in; part of me cannot wait, part of me (being totally honest with you) is going to struggle with it, so go easy on me to begin with. Aside from a few weeks in December, I've worked behind a locked door for almost 6 months so going back to being a fully operational shop is not going to be easy - the fact I can no longer come to work in my PJ's is going to be the hardest thing of all 😂😂 It will be lovely to finally see faces again though.
Not sure, if we do ever have another lockdown, which I believe we possibly could, that I will adhere to the rules quite so tightly next time. On Monday I came across 2 florists who have still be trading exactly as they were before, their only difference being they weren't letting customers into the shop - these weren't shops in Fareham; I have no idea how the other Fareham shops are operating but assume they are sticking to the rules. I don't mind admitting to you all this really grated on me and made me quite angry, because we were classed as non-essential which meant we were only able to offer deliveries, and a click & collect service; we were not allowed to take orders, or serve customers on our premises and this included outside the shop itself; as you can see below - taking from Gov.uk we were only permitted to take orders remotely.
"𝐁𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍 - garden centres and agricultural supplies shops. This 𝐃𝐎𝐄𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐒."
They may continue offering delivery and click-and-collect services (where items are 𝐏𝐑𝐄-𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 and 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐒)."
Door-to-door sales should not take place, and sales activities should be conducted remotely (such as by phone, online, or mail).
You can guarantee if we'd traded in this way the Fareham covid wardens would have jumped on us and we'd be facing a huge fine. Thankfully, my customers (all you amazing people) have been wonderful, and understood when I've had to turn you away from the door, calling me with your orders as soon as you get home (a few of you from your cars outside 😁) Yes, there have been the odd one-or-two who've got a little abusive (there are always one-or-two) however, they've not been people I've seen before, and I assume they came to us as they'd not been able to find anyone else open to serve them.
One thing I'm really looking forward to is seeing my neighbours again; I've had a running battle with the chip shop and turkish barber owners keep parking their cars across my forecourt, blocking my driver and customers from being able to get to the shop to collect their orders, since I've been the only one up here who isn't related to, or working for them; one day I had to physically climb over the bonnet of one of their cars because he'd parked so close he was blocking my doorway. I used to go out and moan but like most things after so long they wear you down and you wonder "why" you're wasting your breath; with Vanessa (
Kwik Kut) and Bridget (
Blossom Aesthetics) back next week, at least I'll not be battling on my own against them, and that is another thing which has really irked me this morning.. I was chatting to someone, who told me that another local barber has been going out to peoples houses to cut hair all through lock down; I know they did the same last year during the very first one when everything was closed and got away with it, so it stands to reason they'd do the same this time. Why have we bothered to stick to the rules, when so many are breaking them and getting away with it? For them to get away with being able to continue working and earning, when she has been unable to, infuriates me (pretty sure she's not happy about it either) but that's an argument I should be having with Fareham Council - and I really wouldn't waste my breath with any of them; chocolate fireguards are more useful!
Anyway; rant over. I look forward to seeing so many of you when the doors are open again - although it will be short lived as I am closed from the 17th - 26th April (taking some much needed time for myself as I do for one week every April). After the crazy 13 months we've all just got through I feel I need it more than ever this year.
For now though, I have a shop to re-arrange to make it as socially distanced friendly as I can, and apparently (as it's been pointed out to me) a floor that needs scrubbing!!
See you all next week 😁😁😁
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