I grew up a long way from here

both physically and culturally. Durban, South Africa, is a very different place to Jedburgh, Scotland.
Warning: grumpy posting follows!
That has been brought home to me rather forcibly over the past few weeks, as the number and nature of racist rants in the pub has increased. I won’t stand for it – neither [...]

Trouble generally comes in threes

So I’m waiting….
John has cut his finger while attempting to redesign his Cunning Cellar Cooler (TM).
One of the painters has sliced his knuckle open, I suspect while attempting to remove ancient papier mache using a razor scaper.
Who’s next?
Staffing woesAnyone who runs a business and tells you that they have no problems with finding and/or retaining [...]

You’ve got to laugh

So we’ve got plasterers in the building at the moment. Finally. Only about 2 months after we were expecting to be finished.
Now, the more observant of you may have noticed that this is a hotel. A working hotel, which means that we have guests. Breakfast is from 08.30 until 09.30, so [...]

This and that.

That dratted blouse is winning the battle at the moment. I have (so far) neither screamed nor sworn, but blood sweat and tears have definitely been involved.
Here it is in all its glory:
As you can see, the shoulders are still too wide, the bust darts too shallow, and the armholes (I think) too tight. [...]

Bah!

Humbug!
Today was supposed to be the grand unveiling of the perfectly fitting blouse that I’ve been working on for some time. Instead, it is going to be the day of the grand unpicking.
I have measured, and modified, and pinned, and modified some more, and the blasted thing still isn’t right. Despite increasing the [...]

Snap, Crackle, Pop

No, not these cheery chaps, but what appears to have been a wheelie-bin on fire. I was woken by what sounded very like distant fireworks, some time around 2am on Sunday. Not good, as we’d only made it to bed about an hour earlier…. Then I noticed the clouds of black smoke, [...]

Payday tomorrow

No, not for me – for the staff. My last payday was in January 2005!
That means that today has been taken up with the inevitable laundry along with doing the payroll and sorting out the staff rota for the next four weeks.
In between times, I had a moment or two for these:

The book is [...]