Blog continued

March 2011.
...and another apology for another long break in communication ! Apart from being thrown by Molly's untimely
departure, my attempt to renew this p.c.s anti virus software resulted in the router throwing a wobbly and only being
able to access t'internet via the laptop....which for some reason unknown to me isn't prepared to host the website!

Finally got back on line a month or so ago with the help of A.B. Computing in Brackley who held my hand very
patiently and talked me through it.

Molly will never be replaced, but the terrier sized hole in our lives has been more than filled by Berry - a
Bedlington/Jack Russel Terrier cross. She's had an eventful life already, having badly broken her leg in a mid-field
collision with Ash the deerhound at the tender age of only 5 months. After a couple of difficult months held together
with stainless steel pins and encumbered by a plastic lampshade round her neck I'm pleased to say she's as fit as a fiddle
and enjoying winding up the rest of the household whenever possible.

Business has been brisk with variety continuing to be the spice of life....gates and railings as usual, but also a walk on
balcony, on site repairs to a synagogue money box (!) and the completion of the restoration and modification of an
antique french bed shipped to me from the U.S. and now in a smart Central London Flat. Just finished some tricky
reproduction lever handles. and the large stainless planters are in place and looking good.
Right now things are frustratingly quiet. There's several decent chunks of work waiting to be done, and unofficially
approved..but I can't quite seem to get the deposits in and signatures on the dotted lines! It actually feels like the
recession is only really beginning to bite right now. Work isn't coming in as it did, and every quote I do seems to be
subject to a degree of scrutiny and negotiation never experienced in the past. This is particularly worrying, as I know
I'm barely making a living as it is, and can't afford to have my margins squeezed. The reality is that everyone's
getting squeezed and more hesitant to commission expensive work. Meanwhile the work I do is becoming more
expensive day by day: the vat increase, fuel costs and ever escalating steel and non ferrous metal prices are all
combining to send the cost of commissioned metalwork soaring. Troubling times.

I am hoping to make a start on a new tree sculpture inthe next week or two for a West Midlands school. This one
will be in steel though, not copper. Unfortunately (as I like working with the stuff) clients are doubly shy of copper
art work...they're as worried about theft of the finished piece for scrap as they are shocked by the initial material
cost. There's a pair of gates for a prestigious local property, reproduction light fittings, and some handrails for the
garden in M.K. Hospital also in the wings. I suspect that I'll be twiddling my thumbs for another week or so, and
then everyone will want everything done instantly at the same time.