I think I'm going stir crazy - not through working from home, which I've done for almost 20 years, but through having to work with all the neighbours about, many of whom seem to have been furloughed and appear to be noisily enjoying every last bit of it; forgetting that some of us have a living to make and many in our area are keyworkers who need sleep.

I called my daughter into my office to look at the picture of the freestanding wine rack Caple's just launched, thinking I might allude in the headline to how we've (not me; the nation!) turned to alcohol during lockdown. My daughter quipped: "It looks like a portal to another land. It probably is, if people drink that much!" I can see exactly where she's coming from and am pondering whether, if I had the chance, I'd take that step through it...

Yes, lockdown & everything it's entailed, the aftermath, the hard division between mask-wearers and the anti-mask/anti-vaccine protesters, the very strangeness of everything, has made its mark. And that's coming from someone who - I'm thankful to say - doesn't know a soul who's been seriously ill with Covid-19. The whole ongoing episode has caused us all to take stock, hasn't it?

The industry is starting to come out of enforced hibernation. What sort of general public is it likely to entertain? Many of us have adjusted our way of thinking; becoming more concerned for our environment and the sustainability of what we buy and what we enjoy. I can see in the future, more of us wanting to take responsibility for the amount of water we use and making a conscious effort to reduce waste. Likewise our kitchens. I've seen a lot of posts on local Facebook group pages, from people wishing to give things away. I've acquired a new fibreglass pond as well as a stationery cabinet in which we're planning to store all our craft things, acquired for our new hobbies (although oddly, no-one in my household has been furloughed - we've all been working but have managed to try new things). We've even made some garden furniture out of discarded pallets. A new kitchen next, I wonder...

A poll by the Bathroom Manufacturers Association has revealed a strong appetite for bathroom refurbishment. The Used Kitchen Company is pushing an initiative that encourages not just a first recycling, but a second and possibly third recycling thereafter.

Things are starting to look good...

Yours,

Jan Hobbs