For those that know me well or for those who read my blog regularly (Thank you for doing so), you will be aware that I juggle a number of hats and that my week is generally fairly hectic, or even, I think it’s safe to say frantic, manic and chaotic most of the time.
This past week or even ten days has been no exception- One of the days, I tried to get as many visits into one day as was possible and thus started out at 7am with a trip to Romsey for the school run, then I went to Reading for a meeting, then onto Woodstook for another meeting, then across to Birmingham and then onto Ludlow, eventually arriving at 9pm ready for a quick dinner and bedtime. Coming home from Ludlow the next day, (I was sensible enough not to drive back again all in the same day), the weather was so bad that the roads in and around the lovely market town were almost impassable and in fact at one point my fellow passenger, Alan Murchison, our Group Executive chef, had to jump out and rescue a poor lady stuck in her mini- she jumped into my car and he jumped into her mini and we braved the torrents and got her safely to the motorway and on her way home- the journey took over 5 hours in horrible conditions.
Home safe, the next day I was minding my own business in a local car park, just about to park when crash, bang and another car had reversed straight into me- no one was hurt and whilst my car was scratched and dented it’s only a car, so no point making a fuss- however the poor young girl who hit me was distraught and so I spent half an hour trying to subside her sobs and the nicer I was to her the more she cried- it wouldn’t have mattered that I had to stay with her for so long calming her down, except that it was pouring with rain and I was soaked to the skin. Eventually she stopped sobbing and I was able to dry out over a cup of tea!
Back at TerraVina that evening for a busy dinner service and the cellar had flooded- we have a pump to ensure it doesn’t flood, but with the excessive rain and high water table in the forest the pump couldn’t cope- thankfully Gerard designed the cellar well so the water hasn’t damaged any bottles, but there was a near tantrum from the Wine Man, but we soon mopped up and calmed him down.
All in the same week, whilst in a meeting, I had an urgent text from Suzi our super duper GM- it was her day off, so not a good sign that she was at the hotel- I knew there must be a problem, especially when she texted back a reply stating no one died BUT……the BUT was that due to the awful weather- high winds and driving rain, two trees had toppled over and crushed two cars in the staff car park- luckily no one was hurt, but the cars were very mangled. Now we have a battle with insurance companies as even though I mistakenly thought that was why you had insurance, to cover you in the event of an accident, natural occurrence, act of God, but seemingly not as they have been less than helpful to deal with and it makes you wonder why you pay a hefty premium each year.
Apart from all that excitement there has of course been the usual day to day dramas that are part and parcel of hotel life- staff present you with a challenge or three and the juggling just never seems to stop, but that is of course what makes being a hotelier so exciting (mostly!)
Till next week
Nx
Ps: Can I put in a plea- if you like what you read, (or don’t like what you read) can you sometimes make a comment and “Like it” for Face Book and Tweet it to Twitter- the reason being is that I have enrolled on a marketing project in conjunction with Bournemouth University, (I know, where on earth will I get the time to do that too!) and whilst my marketing lecturer and the student I have shadowing me, were impressed I write a weekly blog , they were less impressed that so few people comment on it, tweet it and like it on Facebook… sorry to ask but if you can help push me up their rankings, I might be a more model student and get a gold star!
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