On to better things…

This Sunday we went to an autumn food festival at RHS Wisley. It was incredibly popular with queues blocking the A3 and people everywhere. The food festival was fairly small, but the gardens were huge and there were plenty of apples to try. I came away with a bag of cobnuts (which I am contemplating stocking), a bag of apples, a small shrub (its hard to resist!), and plenty of enthusiasm to try harder with stocking more apples next year.

Robbery

On 10th October we had a robbery in the shop in broad daylight at lunch time. I’ve been meaning to write about it ever since but it just put me in a miserable mood.
I am sure the thieves don’t realise the impact their actions have. It isn’t just the loss of the money. It is the inconvenience of not being able to use the till drawer for a further day and a half until finger prints have been taken, of spending hours giving statements to the police. It is having to close the shop, not just long enough to get over the shock and have a brief sob, but long enough to go to the bank and withdraw enough money to put a float back in the till to reopen. And as with the guy who tried to pass off forged notes, because I know what the thief looks like, anyone of a similar appearance (and plenty of others) are now viewed with suspicion. And it has also sapped my motivation. There has been no financial reward for all the work I have put into getting the shop open, but someone else feels they can just walk in and help themselves to money I can’t really afford to lose. But a week has passed now and I’m feeling much better. The shop is almost back to normal, and business has been good over the past few days, so I shall finish this blog entry and draw a line under the theft.

The cost of wheat

The cost of wheat is rising quite dramatically and having a knock on effect everywhere. I've not put up any of my prices, but may have to soon as much of my stock is already costing me more. The first things to go up were the eggs as the increase in the cost of wheat put up the cost of chicken feed. Next it was bread, and then cheese (twice in one month). The smart people where I buy flour from stockpiled wheat a couple of years ago and say prices have gone from £60 to £220 per unit in that time. Their stockpile mean their prices have remained static. The only trouble is I sell very little flour, but a lot of cheese, bread and eggs!

In the news

The editorial in this month’s “Windsor This Month” is focussed on Eton and gives the town a very positive write up. Tastes even gets a mention (page 17) and some of our tasting days make it into the “What’s On” section (page 18). Fame at last!

http://www.windsorthismonth.co.uk/uploads/october%202007.pdf