We celebrated a couple of landmarks over the past week or so. Firstly, Verity reached six months old and it seems a lifetime away that I spent all those hours waiting for her to be delivered in September. Having a child changes everything, it makes somethings easier, and some other things more difficult. For me and my own childhood, the arrival of Lock Jnr has made me take my responsibility as a father very seriously. I also have less of an understanding of how any father could abandon his child or how a single parent can cope raising a baby on their own. It changes your perspective. Of course, I wouldn’t want it any other way and I am blessed. I’ve always said I am the luckiest man on the planet and this self-imposed title seems even more justified now. Even though it has only been six months, it feels like Verity has been with us forever.
Today, we have had the shop for six months too. While I don’t regret buying the shop and moving on from the old life, there are things here that I don’t like and issues that need to be addressed. But this is all down to experience and buying a business for the first time. I am glad I bought this particular business because I have learnt so much in such a short amount of time. I feel that the next time I move on, I’ll know exactly what to look for and to avoid certain pitfalls and shortcomings of future purchases.
For example, although we have a sizable four-bedroom property above the shop, two of the rooms down the far end of the house are totally unsuitable for us as Verity’s room (which was the plan). The noise from the shop below would be too much for a small baby to bear. So I’ll have to give up my office room for her (not a problem), but I won’t be moving to the far end of the house, because I won’t be able to hear anyone calling up for me whenever there’s a bill query to rectify or sales rep to deal with. That’s one of the main shortcomings, the layout of the home is a bit wrong and not working for us.
I could write a book about the do’s and dont’s of shop-keeping. I’d love to write more on this blog, but when you live in a small village, people talk. Mind you, I’m the second Darren Lock in this village – so god help us all! 🙂

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