Well, that was January. I hope 2019 got off to a great start for you. Here at Tower Gift Shop all has been quiet. It’s a nice relaxing month. No deliveries, only a few visitors, the perfect time to do all those small annoying jobs that need doing (stock-taking, giving the shop a lick of paint, re-organising the stock room, getting all paper work filed etc). Needless to say I’ve done none of those things but I have managed to climb to level 1,454 of Candy Crush, so the month hasn’t been a complete waste.

This month we headed up to Dublin for the annual trade show. It’s always a fun time, and it’s great to see so many Irish designers in one place. The thing that my annual trip to the Dublin show has taught me about myself is that I’m a sucker for a display stand. No matter what the product, no matter what the minimum order, as soon as the sales rep says those magic words ‘…and it comes on this beautiful display stand‘ I go from polite interest in their product to “shut up and take my money”

In this respect I had to be disciplined this year, because I’ve come to realise I have a finite amount of space, so I’ve ordered one new stand for the coming season……possibly two.

Three, MAX!

February is the month of preparation for the coming season, and our wonderful city has been gearing up for what we hope will be another great year. The Tower Hotel has been closed for January as they add 14 new rooms AND a penthouse suite to their already impressive hotel. This is great news as getting a hotel room in Waterford during the summer can be almost impossible. In addition to the extra rooms they are upgrading the existing rooms to bring the hotel to a four star standard, so we’re getting very posh here in the Viking Triangle.

All this impressive work makes me realise I should get my paintbrush out and give the shop a nice new coat, I don’t want to lower the tone of the area. Summer 2019 is approaching, so it’s time get back into work mode………right after I finish this level on Candy Crush.