I don't know about you, but a bit of quantitative easing wouldn't go amiss in my own household at the end of every month - and especially after Christmas! Wouldn't it be great if we could all take a leaf out of Gordon's book and just print off a bit of spare cash whenever we felt like it?

With the banks in financial meltdown, borrowing money to bolster a cash-strapped business is just not an option these days.

There's no denying that 2009 has been a tough year with some of the most testing trading conditions for many a decade.

The printwear and promotions industry has not emerged unscathed, so it is extremely gratifying to hear of companies that are not just treading water, but are thriving.

My uniform was one of the best things about going to school. I was proud of my blazer with its distinctive badge (although I wasn't so keen on the felt bowler, which sometimes got knocked off my head by kids from another school).

Of course, it was expensive. And it could only be purchased from one dedicated supplier (still a bone of contention for today's cash-strapped parents).

Glimmers of hope in the housing market and car industry are encouraging, but with the CBI predicting that it will be a long road to recovery, no one would blame anyone currently in business for adopting a cautious approach to investment.

It's been a busy few weeks in the Printwear & Promotion office. This month I have been off on my travels and I am grateful to everyone who took the time and trouble to meet me.

The roll call this month includes Blue Max at Trowbridge. Their new warehousing operation has resulted in an impressive 99.8 per cent accuracy on picking. The £1million investment has seen the warehouse double in size, and with the introduction of a new computerised and bar-coded picking system, the investment is certainly paying off. Having ex-Army logistics expert Kevin Bullen as warehouse manager is also a bonus!

I have always viewed my job as a fantastic privilege. Being a journalist opens doors and I have been fortunate, over the years, to meet some truly inspirational people. Working on Printwear & Promotion is no exception. This month, I headed off to Neasden to spend a morning with Continental Clothing Company's Mariusz Stochaj. What a great ambassador for Continental Clothing he is, and what an excellent advertisement for ethical clothing. As part of this month's Organic & Fairtrade feature, I spoke to Mariusz about EarthPositive, the ethical clothing range launched by Continental a couple of years ago.

Now when I was at school, maths was never my strong point. Trigonometry was truly trying. Algebra was anathema. Logarithms were loathed. But give me some basic adding and subtraction, and I was fine. The basics of maths, however, seem to have evaded our troubled Chancellor Alistair Darling, as evidenced by his latest attempt at balancing the country's books. And don't even get me started on MPs' expenses.

We've all said it. But it got me wondering about the origins of the humble tee - especially after puttiing together this month's Focus womenswear feature and discovering exactly how far the T shirt has come - especially for women - in such a short space of time. According to The T-Shirt Book by screenprinting expert Scott Fresener, we can thank the US Navy for the humble tee.

It goes without saying that this year's exhibition was anything but a dull affair. For starters, I'd just like to extend my personal thanks to everyone whom I met who gave me their time in talking through their respective ranges of clothing and machinery.

By the time this has reached most of you, I will have met up with a good number of yourselves at our exhibition at the NEC. As ever, there's a significant amount of behind the scenes work which has gone into this year's event which remains one of the highlights of the printwear calendar.

Having spent the last month visiting companies and events in the business, it's clear there are some impressive developments heading our way this year. Many of these new product and equipment advancements and far more besides will be revealed at the P&P exhibition which is fast approaching.