Ready for the off!

So writing this blog again served its purpose as a repository for my darkest fears but last Thursday I got an email saying that my references had been received and were satisfactory so my new employers would be sending me a start date. The next day, they asked me if I'd start the following Monday, I refused. I reminded them that I was unwilling to show up as "The Manager" when all I know about the business is that it is losing money. I asked for an organisation plan of departments with job titles, what the MONTHLY takings have been and costs for each department, how many business units remain empty, what the rents are etc... Can you imagine turning up to a job where a restructure is likely to shed jobs but you don't actually know how it operates? 

My Line Manager relented, sent me some docs and we agreed I would start next Tuesday after the May Day bank holiday.

I began brain-storming and one of my lodgers joined in. We had some exciting ideas but looking at the site and area on google earth didn't cut it so we drove over there the next day to check things out. 

It is in a designated "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty" and the final leg of the (30 mile) drive is truly breath-taking. By the time we got to the town, my lodger, who recently lost his job, decided he wanted to work as a farmer! He has since followed this up with research and contacting an agricultural college etc.

We got to the venue and sat down for a cup of tea and a bit of cake in (naffly-named) "Tea Room". It was not busy, but I was disappointed to notice one of the things that customers had complained about in "Trip Adviser" and elsewhere: tables piled with plates and not cleaned. At least two members of staff ignored the messy tables as they made their way behind the counter. My lodger noted it was 17 minutes before anyone cleared the tables. I'd hoped that the Trip Adviser thing had either been exaggerated or addressed, but clearly not. I really hadn't intended to be a "Secret Shopper" but I suppose that was always going to be part of it.

We explored the practicality of the ideas we'd discussed and they're pretty doable- given the right resources and support. We went to look at the town- I'd been broke when I went to the interview and didn't feel like it. It is very lovely nestling in and on steep hills with the dales stretching off in the distance. I could definitely end up living in a place like that, but there is a HUGE job to be done to ensure that venue survives longer than the two years for which it has been funded. I know that the owners have considered selling the whole thing, that they're open to some radical ideas should make it fun.

On the way back we decided to stop at Leadgate on the off chance my friend was there- he's been convalescing with his lady-friend after nearly severing his hand with a rotary saw, and he was! My lodger also looks after the bees there (though he let us down badly I have to say). It was quite the full-house with a couple of friends visiting from Sheppy, the Poultry Guy finishing off some pens for some new acquisitions, a pipe-liner friend fixing his car in the yard and the Arrans holding down the fort. My friend's hand is healing, though apparently one of his tendons has adhered to scar tissue which may mean more minor surgery- when he moves his thumb the adhered skin restricts it. Having said that, the scar, though obvious, is incredibly neat. Bravo National Health Service!