A cure for Man Flu

Our HMS Victory Winestopper and Pewter Desk Clock were featured in the Daily Telegraph a couple of weeks ago. We were thrilled that it generated a whole new legion of new and valued Unique British Gifts customers. Indeed, one of them even seems to have invented a cure for Man Flu.

I was suffering with said "Man Flu" last week and was still here late one evening when a customer phoned up to place an order. As men do, I'd gamely "soldiered on" through the lurgy all day and was really ready to go home. Nonetheless, I picked up the phone and a lovely lady wanted to buy an HMS Victory Oak corkscrew. With whatever breath I could muster, I began to take her order. Now, I've got a pretty thick Northern accent at the best of times, but with the Man Flu, this is accentuated to the point of incoherence.

Part way through taking the order, in a particularly headmistressy way, the lady said "you sound like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders!"

"Far from it, madam, I'm just suffering with a dose of the man flu," I replied, desperately attempting to sollicit some maternal sympathy (pathetic, I know).

That seemed to get me through to the end of the order. As I feebly thanked her for her order I believed that I now had her full sympathy and understanding.

However, she ended by telling me in no uncertain terms (and I'm paraphrasing here) that I should cheer up and stop being such a weak-willed specimen of a man. Which, of course, I did - instantly!

The way she put it was, to be honest, no different to the way I had been afforded "sympathy" from my wife and 6 year-old daughter at home for the past week (I know, with real justification) and, for some reason, it absolutely made my day. So I cheekily told her so on her order confirmation. I thanked her for her advice and for having made my day. To which, she followed up with an e-mail I will cherish forever. It said:

Take care, look forward to receiving the parcel.... rub yourself all over with goose fat and other disgusting stuff and take care AND a very Happy Christmas and New Year to you!"

If your reading this Miss T (I wouldn't dare name you), the goose fat worked a treat and I am now fully cured and cheered up!

When you've got customers like that, I genuinely feel like we've hit the jackpot!

Well done Channel 4!

We got a phone call last week from Channel 4.

Now, we get a whole load of calls each day from people looking to relieve us of some of our hard-earned to advertise here or there, so I assumed, with my usual scepticism, that it was about advertising.

I nearly fell off my chair when they informed me that they had seen our Historical Map Jigsaws on our Unique British Gifts website and they were looking to run a piece in Kirstie and Phil's Perfect Christmas about toys, and in particular, jigsaws, that are made in Britain.

So we put them in touch with the jigsaw manufacturer, Just Jigsaws, a family run Jigsaw manufacturer in Derbyshire, who have been proudly hand-making jigsaws for generations.

I have to say, when you get this kind of enquiry, experience tells you not to hold your breath. Bot lo and behold, last night Channel 4 flew the British flag and showed Phil having a go at making a jigsaw at said manufacturer.

Having visited Just Jigsaws he was totally enthused at the skill and craftsmanship of this small British company. His passion to Buy British was instantly re-ignited.

Now I don't want to blow our own trumpet (yeah, right!), but we've been banging on about this for years. It's why we do what we do. We get the same feeling as Phil every time we go to visit a new potential supplier for Unique British Gifts or when we visit our existing suppliers. When we send out our gifts, it is safe in the knowledge that the quality of the product will exceed our customers' expectation. It blows you away!

There are plenty of quality artisan, family-run manufacturers in this country who, to be honest, need your support to keep going.

So give yourself a sense of pride and do something good for the country. Support small-scale British business!

And well done Channel 4 for showing how great these companies are!

Bye, bye Teddy - you'll be missed

So one of Britain's best loved teddy bear makers, Merrythought Toys, founded in 1930, has been forced to close with the loss of 48 jobs. That's right - a toymaker forced to close in the run-up to Christmas. Ironic to say the least. Tremendously sad for sure.

Another small-scale British manufacturing company bites the dust. Why?

"High taxes, red tape, competition from the Far East, a toy market dominated by a few big retailers," says Oliver Holmes, whose Grandfather founded the company.

A familiar story across the UK. We know, we've met and listened to small-scale artisan manufacturers up and down this nation.

Does anyone out there care any more? Does "Made in Britain" count for nothing, even to us Brits? Can we not differentiate between quality and tat? Are we really going to stand by and let every last piece of our manufacturing heritage be squeezed out of existence like butchers and greengrocers already have?

Or shall we be brave? Shall we do something about it? Why not say "no" to cheap imports? Why not say "no" to cloned mass retailers?

Go on - buy just one thing from an independant retailer or artisan. You might be surprised at the high quality of the product. You might be taken back by the service you get. You might even feel good about yourself for having done it.

If enough of us do it, we might actually make a real difference to this country.

We're just sorry it's too late for teddy to be saved!

The cost of convenience & affordability

Figures suggest that approximately £1 in every £3 spent in the United Kingdom is spent in supermarkets. It seems we cannot resist these giant centres of convenience and affordability.

Across an entire nation's identically cloned supermarkets, we can now buy all we need at prices we used to dream about; prices driven down by giant retailers whose economies of scale allow for feeble margins and thus the plundering of the world’s poorest countries for mass-produced soul-less products that we seem to lap up without thought.

Their incessant growth across our tiny island has crushed the local butcher, family greengrocer, florist, newsagent, independent store and skilled artisan producers in our towns and villages.One store now takes care of it all! No need to shop around. No need to make an extra journey. No need to think!

The butcher, the greengrocer and the florist and their families have lost their businesses; the local farmers have lost their supply chain; artisan craftsmen no longer have stores to which to sell their unique products. All in the name of consumer convenience and affordability.

Are we happy to allow this to happen? Are we a nation of people who can't cope unless we have the convenience and affordability supermarkets so “thoughtfully and painstakingly” provide?

What about choice? Variety? Sense of community? Quality? Tradition? Trust? Regional individuality? The sharing of wealth? Patriotism? Heritage? Do we no longer care about this?

By ignoring the unchecked wave of “modern retailing,” we are acquiescing to the slow and painful destruction of the local identity of Britain's towns and villages and the dissolution of the social glue that holds these communities together.

If we are to stand back and allow the retail giants to sweep all before them, in ten years all we will have left is supermarkets. All we will have left is "convenience" and "affordability." It will be too late to look back on the good old days and bemoan the loss of the local farmer, butcher, grocer and artisan. TOO LATE!

Today, let us not put ourselves in a position of inevitable regret.

Think about what you are buying. Buy British. Buy local.

It's the thought that counts!

OK, so we're a giftware company and we talk gifts all day.

But there's a saying related to our industry that made us think: "It's the thought that counts."

A phrase used to express pretend satisfaction about a less than perfect gift you've received. It's a way of being polite. It's a typically English way of saying "why on earth did you buy me that?" It's usually the precursor to putting the said "thoughtful" gift in the bin the moment the gift-giver has gone home.

But it started us thinking - in the 21st century, with our overwhelming desire to shop only in cloned supermarkets and out-of-town shopping centres - just how much thought really does go into giving gifts any more?

More importantly, what are the gifts you give saying about how you view the recipient?

What exactly are you saying to your Mum when you buy her flowers for Mother's Day simply because it was convenient for you to pick them up in the supermarket at the same time you were buying dog food?

What does it say when you give a wedding gift straight off a big store bridal registry?

Can you really commemorate your relative's Birthday with a gift everybody else buys for their relative's Birthday?

What if you had gone to your local florist for your Mum and had a bouquet made up especially for her? Wouldn't that tell her more?

What if you'd shopped around for a unique, personal wedding gift that the bride & groom could treasure? A gift that none of their married friends already had?

What if your relative's birthday had been properly commemorated with a gift as unique as them?

The next time you're tempted to pick up a soul-less, production-line created one-of-3-million gift for someone in the supermarket or mall, remember what a gift symbolises. It's expressing your own unique regard of/love for/thanks to someone.

Buy something unique. Express yourself properly! Be different!

So, if you want to avoid being thanked with "it's the thought that counts," just make sure the thought actually does count when you buy a gift!

www.uniquebritishgifts.com
Unique giftware made the traditional way by selected British artisans and delivered worldwide