|
Wednesday, 07 April 2010 16:11 |
|
Oh goody, we now know there is going to be an election on May 6th, yippee! At least there is now a time frame for the uncertainty to be over but there seems to be a chance that the outcome will be more uncertainty. Let’s hope that it will be a decisive win for someone and we can then get on with the business of paying back some debt and moving on. When I say the business, I mean the business because it is only businesses that employ people and puts money into peoples pockets to go and spend as they wish, oh and of course pay taxes. It annoys me all these politicians who forget that is OUR money that they are taking from us not THEIR money to spend as they see fit, and the more of OUR money they take, the less I like it.
Here at The Inn things continue as ever, training new staff, planning new dishes, events, finding different wines for you to enjoy and making sure the garden is in good shape for the hot Summer that is on the way. Planning staffing is a bit of a nightmare as one minute we are rushed off our feet and the next we are very quiet. The problem is we don’t know which day will be which! What we do know is that Kate and Lee will be parents VERY soon which will be exciting for them and all of us. Lee is looking forward to the joys, and expense, of parenthood and already anticipating the day their child can buy his first round! We do know it will be a boy but not the name as yet. Some things are sacred.
The 2009 wines are about to be released from France and erybody is saying what a fantastic vintage it is and how wonderful the wines will be, best since 1982. Trouble is that they say that almost every year, so one becomes just a wee bit cynical about it all. I will however be looking out for some of my favourites with a view to putting a few cases in the cellar just in case they are right.
I have just finished the year end tax return, one of the joys of running your own business and employing staff. It is a time that frightens me silly as it is absolutely clear how much our little pub puts into the local economy, feeds the hungry mouths of government and needs to take every day to keep going! The software company Sage have to be congratulated though, as their software and links in to HMG website work exceedingly well and makes our job a lot easier than it used to be. It almost makes paying the thousands of pounds to them seem painless!
Hopefully I will get away from the office tomorrow and have time to serve some customers and have a bit of fun. Its what I enjoy doing but seem to have less and less time for these days. Ho hum! See you in the bar on Thursday or for a bite to eat sometime soon
Gerry
|
|
|
Monday, 08 March 2010 10:40 |
|
Well, what a week it has been! It started with a sad and happy event - taking of pigs to Farnborough, their final journey. Due to the incredible amount of rain over the Winter their pen has been pretty mucky but you know what they say, Happy as a pig in…Well they have been pretty happy and grown quite large courtesy of Avocados, Melons, Pineapples and Bananas from Cheesemans, our fruit and vegetable supplier. The softer and smellier the better as far as the pigs are concerned. Anyway, they were of such a size that there was no question of coercion on the part of Rob and I, it had to be by patience and cunning which, it would seem, he and I possess in equal measure. After twenty minutes of the aforementioned, all the not so little porcine chaps were in the trailer and ready to head off, brilliant!
They came back to Lightwater courtesy of George Aurthur and co and showed to be very good quality. The Saddlebacks had a bit too much backfat at 25mm but the crosses were good at under 20mm, so the pork on the menus will be tasty, Chobham chaps. See if you can detect the fruit flavour in them.
You may have noticed that Threshers shops all over the place have closed down and some are struggling to re-open. Chris at Lightwater has renamed his shop Lightwater Wines and we are helping him with a supply of some of our better wines. I took about twenty different wines up to him during the week and he has reported strong sales, which is really good news. Lightwater needs a good independent wine shop, not that there is anything wrong with Budgens but their wines aren’t really gustatorarily challenging if you know what I mean. Why don’t you pop in and see him and give him your support as he gets started on his own?
Aren’t computers and computer systems amazing? Well, they are when they work! Our PDQ machine failed spectacularly on Thursday afternoon and Barclays told us that they couldn’t get us another one until Monday. MONDAY! Back to the old fashioned paper slips and all that palava for a weekend. Vicky was so incensed that she called them and managed to get another one on Saturday which was really fantastic but... it only lasted about two hours before that one failed too. Bliss! Now it will be tomorrow, Tuesday, before they get another one to us and we’ll see how long that lasts. Hey ho! Apologies if any of you have been affected while we sort all this out.
Finally, I have to tell you that my wife, the boss, is possibly losing it. She said to me on Saturday morning that she was going to the dry cleaners to take her trousers down. I asked her if she thought the dry cleaner would appreciate such a move and she just didn’t get it. Finally, when the penny dropped she laughed her socks off. Must be signs of the Winter coming to an end has affected her! Wonderful things, women.
See you at The Inn soon for a glass of wine, pint or something, Cheers!
Gerry Price
|
|
Thursday, 12 November 2009 10:04 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
