As I write it’s January. A bit cold. A bit grey. Maybe today is the recognised post-Christmas low day when credit card bills arrive and everyone is glum. But I’m not blue because I went into the shop today and was confronted with another of the Clare Kimber displays that was ‘January Blues’ themed and said, if you have them then “there’s always a warm welcome and a friendly smile here” and there was. Some breakfast banter around the freshly baked croissants with Jim (stalwart of the shop and husband to Clare and father to last month’s Parish Mag cover model, George) and Roz (another stalwart and raffle supremo) our master baker – definitely gets a handshake from me for her patisserie prowess. I was there for my regular croissant order in time so I didn’t get my friendly telephone call from Jim “do you want these croissants or not!” (He has been known to pop them into our porch too, what service!)
My second visit to the shop on this Saturday morning elicited a conversation about baking and margarine with another shop regular (Cherry – you guessed it – a stalwart volunteer) all part of the service, a chat and a smile. As you read, it will be February. A bit cold. A bit grey. And I’m sure Clare will have made a fabulous red themed stock altar to love for Valentine’s Day when couples massacre chocolate in vast quantities and the Cadbury’s Cream Eggs show their foily faces on the shop counter. But February is short and spring is around the corner when Clare will gather up all her spring lambs and make a new display to raise our collective spirits and put community into life.
