Contentious April

“This will be a turning point month, dear Libra, for with two eclipses set to happen this month, a lot of information will suddenly come to the surface to help you decide your future path.

You also have an important new moon in your opposite sign of Aries, putting enormous emphasis on your partner. To balance that, the first eclipse, in Libra, will allow you to put your hope and dreams front and center, and help you appreciate all that you are and all you have to give others.”

To say that this month has been a challenge has been an understatement and there is still a week left.

Recently I have spent a lot of time focusing on Miss Bush looking at every aspect from the  retail space to our customer relationships. Improving  & innovating for the benefit of our brides is core to my activities. Enhancing my brides experience, not in any prescriptive sense (like multiple retailers have a cheery lurker near their door) but making their time with us more fun, more meaningful – just all round the mut’s nuts .

In the world of commerce Miss Bush  is a minnow. I readily accept that. I may not spend a fortune with Lloyds, for example. I have been a customer for 22 years, I do pay bank charges & we put all our turnover through their bank. Not an inconsiderable amount. (Note to wannabe retailers & ‘everything goes up when you mention the word ‘wedding’ worriers – turnover is not profit.) It is not surprising, just disappointingly familiar, that I should receive a mail merge letter today purporting to be from ‘Chris’ my Bank Manager telling me how a ‘dedicated UK-based team’ of experienced ‘Business Banking managers’ will be able to support my ‘future growth plans’. On an 0845 number. That sounds like fun then.

Shall I try & explain my vision of an experiential groundbreaking retail space  to a call centre operative?  My Miss Bush plan is the  very opposite of Lloyds policy & philosophy. My branch of Lloyds is  housed in, arguably, one of the most beautiful buildings in Guildford High Street – one of the most prestigious retail addresses in the UK. Anthropologie opened their first out of London store next to the branch. A meeting there is reassuring & frightening in equal measures. Ornate plaster work & wood panelling subdue the hum of the computer screens. If Lloyds can’t understand the value of face-to-face relationships, can’t make them work financially, can’t see how their retail space is impressive, aspirational and grounded in tradition how can they understand me? Do they not see that the reassuring patrician atmosphere sweeps away the image of nasty,greedy city bankers that forced us to prop up their bank? Anthropologie can see the benefit of balancing beautiful stuff on rusty reclaimed finds. The Libran balance. The rough with the smooth.

I think I am beginning to sound like a new-age weirdo. Quoting from an Astrologer, philosophising about human contact & experiential retailing.  This is from the girl who wanders around the virtual reality of social media like a slightly squiffy bull in a china shop.

My professional service providers this month from my bank, my insurance brokers, my insurance company, my solicitors, my landlord have, at best, sent out generic letters telling me how bad they are. At worst they have Teflon coated themselves when faced with the very real facts that they are incompetent, immoral & negligent. Or, colloquially, they just don’t give a fu*k.

The very handy piece that I came across from Susan Miller talks about April exposing information that helps you pick your future path & the significance of partners.

My business partners are under review. Out goes  Lloyds Cardnet with their Wonga morality in comes Streamline. Out goes the landlord that has left us with an Akrow prop holding up structural timbers for over a month. Out goes RSA & the laughable idea of how much it costs to contract a builder in Surrey. In comes Hine with a policy designed for bridal shops.

My partner of significance, The Lovely Marshy,  has been, as always a star. My trade partners Suzanne Neville, Maggie Sottero, JLM Couture, Jenny Packham & Jesus Peiro are unimpeachable & superb. My colleagues across the industry, in particular, Nicola Garton, Ellie Sanderson, Laura Daly & Abi Neill & have given me the right advice, empathy & public support. My brides have rallied to give me support when Miss Bush was pilloried online. My homegirls Leyla Seydo, Gayle Evans, Sharon Roberts, Carolanne Berry, Laura Caudery & Emma Woodhouse have taken the heat out of my Malcolm Tucker rants. Jayne & Brian Dunleavy have painted in The Chapel on a Bank Holiday, (that’s 18 months from buying a couture dress to a spot of DIY Jayne ;-).)

As the astrological advice goes,  April will allow me to ‘appreciate all that (I have) to give to others.’ I would like to add my endless gratitude all that the ‘others’ give to me. My partners, the unpaid, non-professional ones, have helped me to get to a point of epiphany. Thank you & lets plan the party.

Emma xxx