Corona Virus: What Covid 19 means for us


“It’s a small world.”

We all feel that more acutely now than ever before don’t we?

Within the last week everything that we have all taken for granted for so long has been ceremoniously swept from under our feet.

Our health, livelihoods, family and friends - everything that is important to us, all placed on a knife’s edge.

This pandemic is both fascinating and terrifying in equal measure.

Isn’t it strange how things have changed so drastically for us all in such a short space of time?

And what now brings us all together is the fact that we must do our best to all stay apart.

Our elderly facing the prospect of isolation to remain safe.

Whilst “social distancing” has become the new phrase on everyone’s lips, we are still expected to send our children off to school.

Our “Netflix and chill” of an evening has now become “livestream news and panic”.

And shutters are coming down on shops, bars and restaurants up and down the country on a daily basis.

Our generation has never seen anything like this before. The fallout of this pandemic has called for war-time economic thinking. And listening to Leo Varadkar’s speech last night did make me think it was something from a war-time era.

Like every other business we have been agonising over the question of whether to open each day or not.

All of us at Osborne & Co. have family members whom we want to protect from this horrible virus. But equally so, we want to protect the business we have all worked so hard to bring to life.

I have seen businesses come under attack on social media over the last few days for continuing to pull up their shutters to customers.

It feels so unjust to criticise anyone during this turbulent time of such uncertainty. There is no manual for how to proceed with any of this. It’s a steep learning curve for us all!

As a team we have agreed that we will continue to trade in the shop for as long as we possibly can.

Mothering Sunday is almost upon us and Easter is just around the corner too.

None of us are asking you to come through our door.

But what we can say is that we appreciate your continued support to us as a family business, still in its infancy.

We have spent this week adding as much as we can to our online store.

So should you choose to remain at home, we will be at the end of the phone to help you out in any way we can or to process your online orders.

If I could make one request to you right now, it’s that whatever purchases you need to make over the coming weeks, you buy them for a small local business. They need you now more than ever. And they will appreciate your support during this time more than you will ever know.

Last night I came across something someone had written that, in spite of what our world is facing right now, was so full of hope.

I’m going to share it below here hoping that it gives you something to look forward to when this storm clears. Oh and here’s the thing about storms too: After every storm, there is a rainbow. If you have eyes, you will find it. If you have wisdom, you will create it. If you have love for yourself and others, you won't need it.