When Supply Exceeds Demand, Prices Drop...

Firstly, I want to thank you if you are one of the 100 plus people who have donated money, instead of flowers, for Babette's funeral, towards our two nominated charities: B@titude and Marie Curie. We started with a target of £500, which I thought was a bit optimistic, yet only 48 hours later we decided to raise it to £1500 due to the response. Now we have raised it again to £5000 as the money keeps pouring in. So my heartfelt thanks to you if you have donated or are considering doing so. These two charities affecting very different areas of our lives do some really wonderful work with "families in need" and for people like Babette, who need higher levels of care at the end of their lives than their family can give them. Thank you again for your generosity if you have already donated, but if you haven't and still want to, you can donate here.

I am not really a fully functioning member of the management team at present, you probably aren't surprised to hear. I think that you may well have an idea of what we as a family have all been going through for a while now and for me the post funeral blues have hit a new low, which I understand is a pretty normal pattern for many, experiencing this kind of loss. It's a bit like the sledgehammer effect I felt when she died, but it stays for far longer and in my case lasts for several hours, and sometimes most of the day. But then something, or more likely someone, interrupts the melancholy and it breaks the pattern. I've certainly found sharing what I'm feeling very helpful, the funeral eulogy I did being just one example of this healing process, although I think it maybe a little too early to feel any degree of healing...all a bit too raw.

Anyway back to business. When demand outstrips supply, prices go up, which is pretty much the case this year with two factors working against us. Brexit is putting prices up a bit and the lack of ships and containers in the right places around the world (courtesy of Covid) is, I'd say, making using shipping containers around eight times more expensive than a year ago. Being an almost monopolistic situation, if I've understood it correctly, it is difficult to see at present when it will change.

However, when "supply exceeds demand", prices go down. And happily for you this seems to be the case with some Le Creuset Rectangular Dishes that I bought a load of two or three months ago. They were, I thought, with an RRP of £70, a good offer at £49 for a pair (one 18cm and one 25cm), however you and most of our other customers obviously didn't agree with me, and we've sold very few of them!

They are good for lasagne, moussaka, shepherd's pie, toad in the hole and any number of great puds like crumble, frangipane pear tarte (a Jeanne speciality) and rich chocolate mousse. And Em told me that the little one is really useful for reheating leftovers. Neither of these dishes are big but I think that they are pretty varied in the uses you can put them to. I suppose that if you are one of those organised people thinking about Christmas presents in September, then this might be a good one to consider.

So this morning I'm reducing them to £39 for the pair. We have them in two colours, one pair in Teal, and the other pair the mixed colours of Volcanic and Deep Teal. To get the offer price use the code DEMAND on the website or if coming into Cobham or Reigate then just tell us who you are and well do the rest.

I hope you have a pleasant and peaceful weekend.

Kind regards

Andrew