A Thank You as Big as a Wrestling Elephant
At the end of the year, I like to:
Look back on the year that’s been
Look forward to the year ahead
Doing so fills me with a great sense of gratitude. This year in particular.
Looking back, I think 2020 is best described as resembling my little daughter’s bedroom. I swear, you’d think she organises elephant wrestling up there or something. State of the place. I’d call it a disaster zone, but from what I can tell from the news, most disaster zones are spick and span by comparison.
When Covid hit Ireland, I was very worried—like you were, I’m sure. I was anxious about the future of the business. I had a long waiting list of kitchens to paint, but I wasn’t sure how many bookings would survive the economic impact of the virus.
The first lockdown also meant I couldn’t work at all. I mean, you can’t paint a kitchen via Zoom. As a result, my lead-in time increased dramatically, as everything got pushed back. I worried people would lose patience. Especially as some of them had been waiting for a while already.
So I expected quite a few to cancel their place on the list. I wouldn’t have blamed them.
I needn’t have worried. When the first wave eased and it was clear we would be coming out of lockdown at some point, I rang everyone. They all confirmed they still wanted me to paint their kitchens. I cannot describe how immensely relieved and grateful I was. It never ceases to amaze me how patiently people will wait for my services.
2020—A good bad year for a kitchen painter
That support got me through 2020. Looking back, it was a bad year. A stressful year. There’s no denying that. But it was also a year in which I experienced tremendous loyalty from my clients. So I owe a big ‘Thank You’ to everyone who waited for me during the height of the virus. In that respect, 2020 was, oddly, a very good year.
Even better. Not only did my existing clients stay on the booking list, others joined them. Nobody was put off by the extra long lead times.
Looking ahead then to 2021, I can see a very healthy order book. In fact, I have to pinch myself. I’ve never been in such demand. You can imagine how comforting that is. I’m thankful to everyone who has booked me during this crisis to paint their kitchen next year.
Of course, we aren’t out of the woods yet with Covid. But at least the trees are thinning and we know we’re nearing the edge of the forest. Also, I’m very fortunate that the nature of my work means I socially distance anyway, regardless of whether I’m painting a kitchen on location or in my workshop.
All in all, I’m hopeful for 2021. And I’m very grateful indeed to be in that position. In a way, next year resembles my little boy’s bedroom. It looks tidy. In fact, his room is so ordered and tranquil, my wife and I have to check he’s actually in the house and we haven’t left him at the supermarket or at school or something. Of course, once he morphs into a teenager, it’ll be a different story and his room will look like my daughter is keeping her spare herd of wrestling elephants in there.
Anyway, here we all are, at the end of a year none of us will forget. I really hope you managed to get through to this point in good health. And I hope the stresses and strains of it all were bearable.
I wish you a Christmas full of joy and a 2021 full of happiness.
One of the tremendous kitchens I had the privilege of painting during 2020