2nd February 2009

OK - I had a meeting planned in London but snow has stopped play, so I've got a bit of time to update the blog.

Where are we? Oh yes. Planning approved - an offer has been made, rejected and amended for the premises plus an additional unit next door. It is a cheeky offer, but there is a credit crunch on and I am hoping the current economic gloom may help my powers of persuasion.

Another meeting with the bank - better result this time, some money will be forthcoming. Not as much as I need, but definitely some. Haven't got it yet though, so having to curb shopaholic tendencies.

I have sent out my first bulk email - to all of 30 people, who I believe may be willing to talk to me about hosting a class or two. 5 have already responded so pretty encouraging, just hope they're good enough.

On that note, of capable hosts, there is a lady called Jenny Linford, who wrote The London Cookbook. I recently discovered that she lives locally to me, so thought she might be willing to provide her expertise. Except I didn't know how to get in touch. Anyway, I was at a networking event for the day job and I noticed that someone I knew was carrying her book around. I asked him why & he told me he knew her and wanted to get it signed. He then introduced me to Jenny's husband, who happened to be there. He & I had a chat, he gave me Jenny's contact details, I called, she answered, we meet on Wednesday. Synchronicity.

What else, what else? Oh yeah. The website for the shop has gone live with about 50 products on it - it's at http://www.just-cook.co.uk/ if you're interested in taking a look. It's not the main site for the business, that will be at just-cook.com, but for boring financial reasons (it is cheaper to use a template for the shop than to have a bespoke one designed) we have to exist with 2 domains for a while. Hope it doesn't seem too clunky.

Anyway, that is more or less what I have been up to in the last week or so - I'm off now to build a snowman!