Caught a cold - running stall in the rain!

It was bound to happen - last Monday I set up the plant stall in the market as usual, as soon as I started the heavens opened and the rain pouring down became torrential. It pretty much lasted all day on and off, so business was so slow - I'm starting to think that the gardeners in and around Brixton have forsaken me - so I soldiered on. I started packing up around 4pm through the rain and by the time I got home I was drenched. Now I've got the worst cold and cough - feel bunged up and sorry for myself.

If anyone tells you it's easy running a stall don't believe them!
I am so proud of my daughter who owns and runs Flower Love London in Brixton Market, she has been doing this since November 2014 - through the cold, rain, sun, hailstones, wind - going to market at 5am in the morning, getting home at 7-7.30 at night. You've got to have a dream to keep that up.

Anyway, I am such a herbalist so when the cold came on it started with a sore throat - I picked some Thyme from the garden, boiled it up and drank the tea. Then I went out and picked some ripe elderberries and made a cough syrup with it - which tastes delicious and will stave off a bad cough. I am also drinking a lung tea mix, courtesy of Brixton Wholefoods recipe without the peppermint - so it contains hyssop, mallow, mullein, coltsfoot, yarrow - plus other herbs I can't remember now but it works to support the lungs and generally for respiratory problems.

Monday raining all day in Brixton Market

Drenched when I got home1

Making Elderberry cough syrup

Black Elder in the garden

Life after redundancy

I was made redundant in October last year, I decided to take the money and take my time to decide what my next move was. At the age of 62 getting a new job in a familiar industry is hard enough but I am done with office work, any work I do from now on will bring me joy - and an income. It's not too much to ask is it?

Initially I signed on to Jobseekers - not a great experience -you are required to spend over 30 hours week looking for a job applying and evidencing your efforts. I did what I was told to do applied for anything that looked feasible and got not one reply.

Soul destroying if you let it be, I decided that I would look at my skills/talents and try to come up with solutions outside the box.

So a few more months down the line I am starting a massage business - bodywork and natural facelift massage. I am working my daughter's stall two days a week selling plants (my passion) and I started writing. My first book will be about my experience of a son who became a Muslim.

It's early days but I am happy with my choices, thinking positively every minute of every day - I know this new chapter will work for me.