Surfladle

I don’t think Happy is something you would hear Mr Trump being accused of at the moment.. what a wrangle the States have to go through for an Election result! With all of the modern day ‘secure’ technology that is available (even Russia helped out with the last Election..) it seems to be a rather antiquated ‘count’ even by our standards but then I guess not all of the States are as well ‘connected’ as we are in Great Britain. Yes, thanks to our political parties generously throwing our hard earned money at Blitish Telecom our country is doing really well at being connected! Well, saying that there are many parts of the great State of Sussex which are struggling to get any sort of decent broadband at all, due to being out in the ‘sticks’ as we call it, which when you consider most of these local ‘sticks’ are only 30 miles from the great City of London, it makes the American situation look really quite good, as their ’sticks’ are generally more like 300 miles from the local Take Away! So why do I mention this as part of my Friday night Watersports blog.. well because I am in the sticks and my broadband is no better than say a Mr Liam Harper in Montana (the worse State for broadband..) who if they are a real person may well also run a water sports shop and may also might as well wait for an ‘On Demand’ program or an email with an attachment to arrive by post! Watching the buffering ‘wheel’ gets a little tedious, so why am I suffering this in a second Lockdown?? Come on Boris.. We expect America to have problems but surely ‘Great Britain’ is better than this! Think I had better move on..

 

Staying on a Happy note Changes within the trade ‘they are a happening ‘and I am not sure all of them are good.. This week we have lost a long standing UK Importer (Importers hold stock of kit )

 as the  company that supplied them has moved over to employing a UK Rep as a point of contact for the trade and as an ambassador to the buying public but the supply of kit will now come direct from the Continent, as per many of the main brands in all genres of water sports. This system has been generally OK in the past as we were very much a part of that common market place but as we move forward into a Brexit marketplace I think having stock here is going to benefit those companies that do. We shall have to wait and see but…  Would YOU order in advance anything that you had not even seen a picture of or had a definite idea of the price?? Well I would hope not as we wouldn’t normally either but it seems that the rush to ‘grab the kit’ for Summer 2021 has started in Europe and certain countries have placed massive orders ‘blind’ to try and gain as much as they can. We were called this week (as were the other UK shops) by the UK Rep and for the first time he asked us to place orders blind otherwise it looked as though we would not be getting any supply for next summer. We had a couple of hours to do so which really is not a good scenario but I could see why we had to do it as in the current climate we are at a disadvantage and I can see it happening in the future as this summer saw stock levels plummet and supply was the shops biggest problem. We will all be wondering how this Summer 2021 Bun Fight will play out but it’s certainly not one we, as in the UK,  can win without having control over our own supply. Anybody want to start making things?? Now for something even Happier... 

 

Covid has put us back into Click and Collect mode for the next four weeks (sure you know how it works by now) with mail order carrying on almost as normal, apart from increased courier costs but we expected that. Just call us with your wish list, pay with Card over the phone or by Transfer or PayPal and then collect from the shop door when you are ready.. simples! Wetsuits etc. are not so simples but we will do our best to work out how you can try on before you buy. You can still turn up at the shop if something ‘happens’ whilst at the beach exercising   but sadly you will have to stay outside whilst we sort out whatever it is you need, whatever the weather.. That’s the Law. We are still operating with either James or moi at the shop so please be as patient as you can..  we would love to go back to the good old days when we were both in but cannot risk both picking up any nasty diseases otherwise the Megastore doors will be closed for a while (saying that we were both in today as had a few things to catch up on!), 

 

 

Had enough yet?.. I have!! 

Time for this weekend’s weather and Tides.

It’s nowt like the last as this Saturday we have Sou’Easters at 8-12kts,  which will bring a balmy 14° air temp (gor blimey, it goes up and down like a yo yo!) with High Tide hitting at 14.43hrs on a 5.3m.  Any ideas what to do?

Sunday those 14° winds become light and slightly cyclonic from the South (can’t make their minds up where exactly they are coming from but from the Southern sector..)  at 5-8kts with the Tide at its highest point at 15.45hrs,  which is not that high as a 4.8m Neap.

So it’s going to be a much more relaxed and some may even say boring weekend ahead but it’s warm and dry so lap it up and just enjoy another weekend in El Paradisio! Have a good’un.