I visited my old pub yesterday for a couple of pints and was very pleased to meet up with a couple of my very supportive customers. After exchanging the usual pleasantries we got to “what are you doing now” and I explained that I was still working through the fall out of the accident before finding a pub. I think this is the only business where that line is met with a look made up of incredulity and sympathy. Luckily I had Andrew with me who just gave a sage nod to indicate that he understood the ‘bug that bites you’.
The old pub is blooming, doing well despite some significant inflation at the pumps! But what is really nice to hear, some three years after I left, is that “the atmosphere has gone” and that “it’s just not fun now”. That I can generate an atmosphere that people enjoy from no more than a cold draughty building and hard work is testament to my choice of trade and to coin a phrase “you’re too kind”. The old girl is different now, prices reflect the investment that has been made and the place is operating to a long term plan. It is not that it is not fun or that it has no atmosphere it is simply that it is different.
Whenever I have these conversations they are followed by an evening of reflection, I revisit my view of the world and challenge it. Once again I have come out the other side without a shadow of a doubt, I know where I belong and it’s in my pub. It’s been a long road and there are a few more twists in it yet but the destination remains fixed. I look forward to cold nights trying to mentally guide people through the door as much as I look forward to busy nights that fly by. Most importantly I look forward to creating more memories, being an influence and a feature in more people’s lives and writing that story.
As you know I don’t generally promote things on the blog and today is no exception. I would like to make special mention of a friend though because, well because she deserves a special mention. I proof read a small piece that she has written at the request of a hospital, it will be used to help parents come to terms with using the words ‘cancer’ and ‘child’ in the same sentence.
It is but a few paragraphs written in the self-effacing prose of an author who seeks invisibility but it is written from the heart. Short, abrupt sentences bring to life the staccato thoughts that come to us all when something is too dark, too terrifying to process. Despite the eloquence of this emotional script it was sent to me couched in self criticism, challenge and debate as to its value. I just wanted to take this opportunity to say “Barbie you nailed it”
