Snowbound yard

Above: Cox's Architectural yard during the big freeze.

Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire UK
Everyone has inevitably been effected by the recent weather and the phrase 'Adverse Weather Conditions' already seems to be the catch phrase for 2010!

Peter Watson of Cox's Architectural Salvage Yard questions, "How is the trade coping with this blanket which seems to have closed much of the country down. 12 - 15" deep here in the Cotswolds and likely to frrreeeeeze in situ for another 7 days. Road gritting is sparse and on one of the A roads into Moreton non existent. The town is dead, tumbleweed is blowing down the high street, no one shopping and no one stopping on the way through as usual, in fact hardly anyone passing through at all. We have had no visitors since Monday. The seriousness of this is not to be taken lightly. After the traditionally 2 quiet weeks of Xmas and the New Year, the loss of another 2 weeks of sales and cash flow immediately after could make life difficult.

On the bright side, those folks remaining at home have been hard at it on the Internet and our hits and sales by this medium are up, the telephone has been busy and so all is not lost.

Predictions for 2010? Personally I just don't know. Before the break I was optimistic, as the last quarter of 09 was pretty good. After the break, having heard about Walcot's demise (quite a shock being one of the originators & stalwarts of the trade over so many years) and after listening to the BBC start the election campaign all on its own (there is as much as 5 months of this self inflicted depression to go
for heavens sake!)I just can't make my mind up.

I'm opting for optimism and meanwhile enjoying the relative calm of being snowbound."

Ironically not long after Peter Watson sent this entry for the blog they hired a snow plough to remove some of the snow and make the yard accessible. "Within half an hour we had a couple in from the Isle of Man who bought some Belfast sinks. It's just so unpredictable. That's part of the fun of course," said Mr Watson.





Cox's Architectural Salvage Yard