An update from the front

The purpose of the blog was to follow the story of my pub and I am concious that I haven’t written much lately. I guess that’s a good place to start, to explain what is taking my time at the moment. It’s a very busy time at work and I find myself working across multiple projects this isn’t unusual but it does mean that there are a lot of ‘compartments’ active in my mind.

Work is still ‘day job’ obviously but behind that there is the pub. The pub isn’t just a business it doesn’t have its own way or direction. I am learning the building and its needs, balancing the renovations against budget and working through huge lists of trades and suppliers. Amongst all of this there is the list of jobs for me, no matter what I do I add more than I close out.
Then of course there is relocation, I have things to sort in the flat and other preparation to make for the physical move. Of course, it goes without saying, that I want to spend time with my friends and sort other projects before I go. If this doesn’t sound like enough then factor in the movements, planning journeys, hotels, meetings and aligning invoices and commitments.

Anyway that’s enough excuses the point of this is to document where the pub is. I have one flat roof sorted, many more to go but hey its done, invoiced and paid. The stonemason has started ripping out the old mortar which hopefully looks scarier than it really is! We are keeping the stone now and repairing rather than lime rendering, I am pleased because I like the stone but it’s one of those areas that is frustrating as I am entirely reliant on the trades knowledge.

The alarms are now reinstated and as a result I have left the power and water on. This may not sound much but separating those two utilities and keeping them in their respective conduits has taken some time and significant work. I now have an access path from the office to the bar ceiling for cctv cabling, one cable is run and there is a draw wire alongside it. Again this sounds easy until you remember that it is a pub and nothing is easy. Access to a false ceiling is limited to a 30 cm square hole on one side, with the office access point being nearly 2 m in front. On the other side access is a few of metres from the lowest point of the pitch so it involves laying between the joists and slidinrious objects through the void.

This task would be complicated if you didn’t add gems like bare conductors that are still live in the roof void (that woke me up), timbers that are not attached or miles of cables and random pipes. After hours of graft and many trips up and down the ladder, pulling cables is not the best of solo tasks, I coughed and spluttered rockwall and cobwebs and once again thought “it doesn’t look much”. I started pressurising the hot water system before realising that the 15 mm fill pipe was simply pressurising the 4 mm hole left when somebody removed a radiator bleed screw!

Gas is the next utility to get under control, heating to flush and re-commission and get the beer supplies arranged aka the fourth utility! In other news the first drafts from the sign writer look good and I should see prices from Heineken this week although I suspect this will be the first of many revisions. How does she look? Well she is coming along. How do I feel? Well I can sum that up by saying that I received the new premises licence, with my name on it, and it made me so proud. I love my little pub. I am immensely proud of her and determined to hit my opening deadlines after all I’ve got all of the bills I should at least have the doors open!

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The wrong brand awareness?

I dropped off, very carefully, my urine sample at the doctors this morning. I made the brim of the bottle after ten hours which means I will have to call them later to see if they want another go at a 24 hour test. The beta blockers are still sedating me to an uncomfortable level and I feel they do not have a long future. They seem to have done nothing for the symptoms and I have no intention of becoming drug dependent.

I flushed on Saturday after a couple of pints and again yesterday but still don’t believe it is alcohol. Yesterday I noticed that only my right hand had red blotches, the left one was fine. Interestingly the skin graft also had a bright red patch so it may be that my arms also flush but I can’t see it under the ink. On reflection this morning I realised that I was leaning on my left arm so may have constricted the blood enough to stop the redness, so that may be irrelevant.

I battled a third pint but the heat was getting uncomfortable so I left. Leaving the warm pub for the bracing east coast air would fix it right? Oddly not, it was like pouring petrol on a smouldering fire. My skin started crawling as the burn spread over my chest and shoulders. My chest tightened up and breathing, whilst still happening, took considerably more effort. By the time I got home the stairs were a real battle and I had to stop and take a break midway.

Once home I checked the extent of the problem, my face was now purple and shoulders and chest were smothered in scarlet patches. Interestingly the cold air had triggered raynauds so my hands had darkened to a more ‘normal’ shade of blue. I confirmed raynauds and then checked my legs and feet, something the doctor asked, and all was well.

Ten minutes on the couch with a cold wet flannel on my face was enough to recover my breathing. The temperature reduced a little and the flannel was hot when I removed it. As I set about cooking dinner the colour of my face returned to a more natural shade as the ‘episode’ subsided. At this point I needed some wine for cooking and, in the interest of research, I poured a glass as well. Two large glasses of chardonnay did not start the process again, no change in temperature or colour.

My conclusions from this experiment are vague to say the least. I wondered if I was allergic to the pub, hardly a good situation for a publican, but that made no sense. Could it be beer that I was allergic to? But I drank on Thursday this week with no trouble. I have also burned up on a number of occasions at work with no alcohol associated. I remember a similar issue a few years back that I narrowed down to a change in Becks beer. One bottle of Becks, it only happened with bottles, would bring about the burning and chest tightness so I stopped drinking it. Could this be the same reaction to a different brand? Or more accurately something in that brand since I must come into contact with the ingredient at other times.

There are now two tests that I need to complete the first is to avoid lager and the second to drink becks. I considered yeast, gluten and various more common allergies but that doesn’t match with a brand specific reaction. I am very interested in the Becks results but this test needs to be performed at home because historically the reaction was severe. Since I don’t drink in the week both of these tests will have to be scheduled for next weekend so there is time to work on the detail.

I also have bloods on friday and doubtless a repeat of 24 hour urine but something tells me that Dr Gav will turn up a more accurate diagnosis.