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!