Well it has been some time now since I’ve prattled on about what I get up to but before I offer apologies or justifications for my absence let me first get to a more important point.
A huge thank you from all of us involved at the Café to all our customers & supporters who voted for us in the TGO Magazine annual awards helping us get top spot in the ‘Café or Restaurant’ category winning their Gold Award. After some very near misses in recent years it really was appreciated by all of us & helps maintain enthusiasm to keep up the hard work. Of course winning the award does not mean we are the best but it does show that we are recognised & appreciated by many & that, believe me, means an awful lot!
Now back to my absence, there have been tales to tell & thoughts of telling them but three factors have combined to stop me & before you know it time has passes & the time for telling tales felt like it too had passed. So a few words instead about those three factors (for those who repeatedly verbally hear about 2 of these only read the third one).
Factor 1 – Wood – With tree falls in land adjacent to our garden affecting both the A. 470 & one of our garden walls, wood stores have dominated much of my Autumn. The Trunk Road Agency responded correctly & recently cut down in excess of 200 trees below our driveway to remove further risk but we now feel naked for all the world to see. Whilst not receiving much of this wood bonanza over the last 3 months collectively we received enough to keep my chain saws whirring on a regular basis meaning some ill winds have at least replenished our stores & kept me busy.
Factor 2 – A Victorian House needs Maintenance – After some years of neglect the summer of 2015 saw me commence an external painting programme of the house. Further progress was made in 2016 but 2017 saw the distraction of Pik Lenin get in the way meaning that by late summer 2018 there was still plenty to do. ‘Dorina, how about a working holiday at home this September?’, the Angel duly agreed, painting was back in business (although in truth the first tree fall did divert us for a few days). Over the next few months I slowly made progress (this helped by the wonderful discovery of a ‘Sash’ brush somewhat belatedly, I won’t bore you with this decorating delight further as I tend to appear as becoming a tad ‘sad’) culminating in last Friday seeing me contorting my body to complete the final Double Hung Sash Window painting it’s outside from inside, not an easy trick! My god that felt good, a little thing to feel very proud of. To boot during those months I’ve also turned my brushes on some inside rooms but will now enforce a sabbatical & move my focus towards Spring 2019, more of which later.
Factor 3 – Events at the Café – It has been our busiest season of events at the Café ever this Autumn. To all of you who came along to them a big thank you for supporting the speakers/organiser’s. Eight events in ten weeks with at one stage 4 sell outs within a month took some organising & promoting. To those I failed to thank, here at least, they were a great success & we were delighted to help bring them to fruition, my appreciation & thanks to all involved.
So you see these three factors affected not only ‘Paul’s blog’ but also Paul’s running but thankfully a final end of year spurt has seen the running return. Christmas & the New Year are times to turn a corner (although yesterday’s announcement of Nick Livesey presentation on 5th January means events continue to flow), January 1st is set, train, train, plan, plan, blog about it, Spring & Cho Oyu you have my attention from here-on.
The time to blog about failed headtorch in the Petzl night run, that Beddgelert to Waunfawr headwind in the Snowdon Marathon, those fantastic events at the Café etc. etc. is long gone, good stories all, please forgive my silence.
PS. There was one more factor in truth, mentally at times not where I’ve wanted to be for a variety of reasons but I know how to fix that, run Paul run…….
