I really must get my head round this new-fangled blogging business. When I last reported, we were en route to India. I am deeply ashamed to say that was more than a year ago. Then I simply forgot the whole thing. A good friend of ours reckons that Spring is a far better time of year for resolutions than New Year. I hereby resolve to do better and keep in touch. Then again, I remember the long lost tradition of letter writing (an arcane art that existed before the advent of email) and I was rubbish at that too . . . . .

Fairtrade fortnight has finished for another year now. At Present Company we source on a fair trade basis whenever we can. We can’t yet offer only fair trade goods, but we would love to. This year we rounded off the fortnight with a visit from Burgess Hill Fairtrade who came to our shop and gave away Fairtrade chocolate to raise awareness of the plight of cocoa growers.

Nothing happens in a hurry in India and our visit last year has not brought results yet. We have an order for painted furniture underway in Jodhpur, but it is taking a very long time. In fact we are still sending emails backwards and forwards with designs and details.

We have received a big delivery of cards from our friends at Ge Feng. If you have not seen them before, they are astounding. I will leave you with a picture of their Easter card.