Sadly my mum died early this year and so I hadnt intended to carry on with the site which started so that she and my dad could see where I was living and what I was up to, however so many people have asked whats happening now I have decided to bring it up to date.
I spent the winter months cooking in The Bell, a local pub in the village which had just changed hands and I had intended to continue there through the summer season while Chris manned the shop, however my mums illness and subsequent death made it impossible, I was very sad to leave as Lena and George the landlord and landlady were brilliant employers. Christmas Day saw us providing dinner for 60 customers and apart from a few muttered oaths and several silent nervous breakdowns it went very well!!!! I also did a stint at my friends caravan park in Caister doing winter cleans on caravans and both Chris and I worked for a while at the Seashore Holiday Camp just up the road. New year saw us holidaying on the Belle Aire site in Hemsby with a group of our internet friends...........maybe a full week is to long to party continuosly at my age!
The start of the season was overshadowed by the news that Jack was finally going ahead with plans for a crazy golf attraction behind the shop and that therefore this would be out last season here, but what a brilliant one it has been. The weather was with us every step of the way and the compressor was going full blast most of the time....still we need lots of days like this to make up for the days when we sit for 8 hours and take 50p! I must get a bigger car, it has become a great source of amusement at one of the wholesalers, if I need stuff in a hurry and cant wait for a delivery I go along pay for lots of things and then go out to my car to find one of the employees standing scratching his head in front of a large loaded pallet, the rest of the staff look out the window and if he suceeds in fitting it all in the give him a round of applause!!!! Towards the end of the season there was a great shortage of dinghys, bodyboards and large inflatable rings after ringing virtually eary wholesaler and importer in the country I was ready to give up.......then I remembered another of my internet friends who works in a similar shop just up the coast had told me he was closing early for the season.........thank you Jim and Steve, what lifesavers!
I,ve made a lot of improvements to the house, a proper bathroom, double glazing and plastic cladding, I also had some new units and appliances put it the kitchen..how did I ever manage without that dishwasher!! Yet another internet friend came and put calor gas central heating in for me and it has been wonderful this winter to feel the warmth hit you when you open the front door.
Towards the end of the season I heard that a shop further up the road was changing hands and lost no time in rushing up to see about it, I was lucky enough to obtain the lease for next season and moved there in October. It is a big gamble for me as the rent is much higher and I have decided not to share, also it is some way off the beach so the demand for dighys and the like will be much less, however it is in the midst of the holiday camps and hopefully on cool or wet days I will still have some customers.....unlike the shack where it was unusal to see a holidaymaker in bad weather! Still I shall miss Pete and Diane at the Beach Cafe and Jack and the boys....we had some good laughs when it was quiet.
Suzanne and her boyfriend David and Sammy and Chris now live on the Belle Aire site and so moved in with us for the duration of the 6 weeks it was closed, luckily enough this coincided with David finding a flat of his own in Yarmouth and what I though was going to be a nightmare few weeks was actually quite pleasant.......I fail to understand why tho, when my bedroom door is shut and so is my daughters, my grandchildren knock on MY door and ask for a cup of tea in the mornings! Chris and I decided sometime ago that our friendship was not going to lead to a relationship and he has been temporarily staying in my caravan, he still works in the shop although he is trying to find alternative work and proper accommodation. Mark, Daniel and I are back on our own now that Suzanne and her family have returned home and it seems very quiet...still Michelle and Andy will be here with Rebecca in a couple of weeks and Chris also has a lady friend coming to visit that week so I suppose I should make the most of it!
I had a couple of "blonde" moments during the year, both involving the car.......on the first occasion, in a hurry doing the school run with Chris contantly on the phone begging me to hurry because the shop was busy, I jumped out of the car in the school playground leaving the window open and a burning cigarette in the ashtray - result 500 school children cheering wilst the fire brigade checked my smoke filled car!!!! Then when the fireman asked me what cc the car was and my wits finally deserted me....he was not too impressed! A couple of months later, again on the school run, with 6" of snow on the ground and a blizzard blowing I rushed into the garage and filled my deisel engine with petrol!!! I am reliable informed by the mechannic that more men do this than women!!!!!
As I type this the sun is rising over the sea, what a beautiful sight and how lucky I am to be he
The shop seems to be ticking over nicely out of season so hopefully thats a good sign. I shut shortly after new year (which was another bout of partying on belle aire) and reopened in February for half term. Things were sticking along nicely but suddenly mid June we hit a dead patch, still only four weeks til the summer holidays!
Sadly Chris had to return to York as his mother is poorly, mind you as he had been unable to find work or suitable accommodation around here perhaps its for the best. However I must admit to missing the moral support having a good friend just outside the front door brings! Suzanne David and I are manning the shop between us....we think we are doing fine, but a rep came in last week and said "what do you want?" and I ummed and erred and he said "Well Chris always had a list ready"! Still we'll get there, I've just got lazy leaving Chris to it.
I've had a whole host of weekends away due to a range of birthday parties and get togethers with my mates and its a great way to socialise, however I must get to know more locals........when I have a bad day its infuriating to have to wait for my friends to turn on their pc's before I can shout about it!
Well I'm sitting here updating this page at the end of the first weekend of the summer holidays and it hasn't stopped pouring, its more like November..........still things can only get better!
This web site is more or less out of space, so I think this must be it....thanks to all you who have kept visiting the site and asking for updates..........and if any of you are this way dont forget to say hi! And still keep the messages coming in the guest book because I love finding new ones.
