>Still cold. Still white. Not much has changed today. Managed to de-ice my car after about 15-20 minutes and drive it about. We live on a rather big hill so the journey down it was very gingerly! I managed to put some desperately needed fuel in the car, get some lunch, and get back up the hill to where we live, which was the hardest part of the journey. But I’m here typing this so I got home safe!
The main concern for businesses now is how long this cold snap is going to continue. While the weather is too cold to get consumers out of their front doors, the bigger the impact is going to become. The double glazing industry needed to have a running start going into this New Year. What has happened is the complete opposite. Phones are quiet, fitters are unable to work, and customers aren’t coming through the door despite the best efforts to clear the snow and ice. We have got specially reduced prices on certain doors which we were hoping to push and advertise. But it looks like it will come to no use as there is no one out to advertise to!
I also fear that the month of January will be a severely depressed one. January in our industry is a quiet month anyway. But due to the terrible weather, which looks set to continue well into the middle of the month, all the gains the industry made at the back end of 2009 could be cancelled out. It may take a while for the industry to get back on its feet after this. For the economy as a whole, this is possible the worst start anyone could have asked for. The weather has brought some parts of the country to a halt, 1 in 7 of the workforce haven’t been in to work, and in some areas 44% of the workforce didn’t arrive at work yesterday at all. Various reports suggest that the disruption could cause the economy to lose £2 Billion pounds.
You never know, we might be in luck by the morning and the snow and ice might have disappeared, but I think we have more chance of Safestyle going bust!
