I do apologise for the delay in posting this blog. I have been a little bit poorly. Ahhhh. Is that the smallest violin in the world that I can hear playing your sad song for me?
Sunday was our normal quiet day. I had a quick doze after church and then returned to the church flower festival to dispense tea and coffee along with (I hope) bright conversation. I was delighted to be collected after my stint by Tom, who had – unbeknown to me – returned to Penaeldroch after completing his contract at the summer activity centre in Devon.
Monday was something of a red letter day, as we took delivery of our new, all fizzing, all steaming coffee machine.
Camille from Brodies trained three of us in the secret arts of barista-ship which we look forward to practising once we are open. Whilst we focused on learning these new skills, Mike plastered half of the kitchen, and Phil and Mel cleaned out a couple of the chillers.
Tuesday saw Mike plastering again, whilst I painted a couple of mist coats in the store. In the afternoon, I drove Tom to Porthmadog for some shopping and to show him the breathtaking views that this journey reveals, given that we had glorious weather so could for once enjoy the vistas.
Yesterday, my poorly day, saw me supervising Tom moving the office furniture from the base of the stairwell into the sitting room (as this meant I could sit down if/when necessaary). When we arrived last December, we ‘dropped’ the office in the hall on about day 3 so that the desk would be opposite a wood burner which we hoped would result in a reasonable temperature in which to work – but how wrong we were! So we have moved the desk, computer and other items into the tower window in the sitting room (with my back to the view, naturally, to aid concentration) so that during the winter it will benefit from the warmth in the only room we are likely to heat well. Of course, we will need to take evasive action due to leaks when rain is blown through gaps in the pointing over the winter, but we can plan for this eventuality nearer the time.
So whilst Mike was plastering the lobby ceiling, I was filing, organising, and disposing of large quantities of documentation. And Tim dropped by for a surprise visit. He said it was because he was travelling to Chester and had a sudden urge for a cup-a-soup, but I harbour suspicions that he just wanted to check we hadn’t dropped the quality ball since he left a couple of weeks ago… Oh, and my very grateful thanks to Paul who returned my laptop having undone the mess I had made some weeks ago – truly a man of great talent when it comes to IT problems.
Today, I tried to take things easy in my phased return to work.
Mike spent the day plastering the walls in the lobby,
We also had three horse riders today from Germany, quizzing me about the Brexit vote. Happy days.