My New Blog - Newsletter replacement...?

So  -  being a left handed dyslexic, middle-aged, white man who was diagnosed with ADHD at the grand age of 47 (combined type, inattentive and hyperactive - yes, my wife goes through hell on a regular basis) - doing the admin side of running a business is, shall we be polite and just say, my least favourite and probably most procrastinated part.

Historically I wrote a (nearly) monthly newsletter, which for whatever reason appeared to be not only quite popular with many of its subscribers, but actively missed by some (if the correspondence I recieved at its demise were to be believed).

I say it died - it did, rather than just fizzle out. It was a time issue mainly - it takes a lot longer to get one knocked out than I would have liked or often had available to me. Then we hit lockdown in March 2020.  One unforseen consequence was that the entire country ended up with a large number of repressed anglers, unable to get out fishing. Many of them, with more spare cash than ever before not being able to spend it in coffee shops or other of lifes friparies.  Lockdown was not created equal for all men.  Lets just say my 18 months of lockdown were anything but peaceful!

A typical days postal run - 2020 lockdown

So, you get the picture - there was not a lot of spare time and many things, like having any form of work life balance, went right out the window.  My mantra at the time and the only thing keeping me sane was to keep saying, ''Better to be busy than bored'' and I was certainly keeping busy.  I was asked several times 'Why work so hard?', but if you have ever run your own business, especially one based on handmade crafts, then you will know the road is anything but smooth and most of the pitfalls and hurdles placed in your way are totally out of your control (read Brexit....I'm sayin' nothing.......Talk of recessions/cost of living crisis.........Wars in foreign lands........the weather - yes wet miserable summers are a boost for my business but sunshine is guaranteed to make July my worst trading month for another year) - anyway, my point is if the sun is metaphorically shining, you had better bloody well make hay and as much as you can because things never stay the same. After death and taxes, the only other certainty in life.

Anyway (having gotten distracted and waffled - remember the bit about ADHD at the start - well now you are learning all about it indirectly) one of the casulties of the pandemic induced madness was the newsletter.  I was just too busy and quite frankly, it was one less thing to stress over each month.  As I said, in time, several folk commented and asked if I would fire it up again, but I kept putting it off and justifying my actions in my own head.  Then, today, I was sorting out a few things on the never ending list of 'Things to Do' on this here website of mine and I was wondering how I might, in a non-messy and hopefully, slightly organised fashion, add some extra content I was wanting to, when I spotted having a Blog was an option. 

I don't know if this will work as a suitable place to put my musings, ramblings and hopefully occasionally useful bits and bobs, but I am hoping it will. If you have persisted and read this far (well done and thank you) please do message me and let me know. Not only for the ego boost, but so I know to keep rabbiting on as I find the time. 

Many thanks for giving me your valuable time to read all this. I feel it appropriate now to sign off in the style of Sir W. Churchill 

K.B.O

P.S. - for anyone wondering how such a grammatically correct piece could be scribed by myself, it went through some extensive checks and fixes,  performed by my very supportive wife, Lara.  (Thx love)