Peter, our winter painter, has finally finished his winter work.  We have worked with Peter over the last four or five winters to get on top of our redecorating work and he has just put the last drop of wallpaper up on the stairs today.  This means that we have done all the bedrooms and the hall, landings and stairs but as with all these old buildings it will be time to start again next November!

The look on around the hotel is getting much more contemporary without forgetting our classic roots, we are trying to make the hotel feel much lighter and fresher with much simpler designs and a cleaner look.  The task for Peter next winter will be to work on the Met Lounge, some of the premier rooms that we did first and I’m sure some of the new rooms will benefit from a touch up too.

We will leave the restaurant, lounge and bar for the moment as we have bigger plans for this area and may well need a larger firm to do this job.

One last job that Peter did, which provoked a tongue in cheek complaint from one guest, was to paint the window frames in the restaurant.  These have been crying out for some TLC for a while now and we decided we couldn’t wait until we do the big job next winter so we set Peter onto them and they now look great.  The complaint was that these windows had become so much a part of the hotel’s features over the last 15 years!

I felt I must follow up yesterday’s post - the front tyre was fine, I kept an eye on it all day and no trouble, just when I went to go home the back tyre was as flat as a pancake!  I managed to fix that one and set off home but the road way, not along the trail as I didn’t want to pick up any more flats.  The front lasted halfway home and I had to stop a couple more times to blow it up and then had to give up and walk the last mile home - I just have to think of it as extra exercise.

Today is my first day back on my bike since before Christmas.  I had a flat tyre and managed to find all sorts of excuses for not fixing it such as it’s almost Christmas and I’ll need to go in the car anyway or taking things to and from work for meetings but on Monday I fixed the puncture and got back on today (yes, I know it’s Wednesday today, I had an excuse for yesterday too and not the weather).  Despite the approach of spring and lighter mornings it was still dark all of the way in so I was a bit apprehensive about running into the regular dog walkers out on the trail.  I did manage to spot them all - thankfully some of the dogs are quite light in colour, it makes it easier, and so got here in one piece and only with wet feet from all the puddles.

I put my bike away when I got here and noticed a piece of grass stuck on the front tyre - it didn’t come off easily: it’s a thorn thouroughly embedded in my front tyre so I guess I’ll have to fix that before I can go home tonight!  I was talking to Ash when I got in this morning, he cycles in from Wadebridge too and he has had another puncture recently as well.  He did tell me that the trail managers had been out trimming the hedges on Monday  which is why all the extra debris is on the trail.  We’ll just have to hope all the rain washes all the rubbish off the trail, not back on to it!

This is prompted by a conversation I have just had with one of our regular Christmas guests: he has come on his own because his wife has just started a new job and has to work on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.  I asked who she is working for, thinking it would be something essential like a hospital or something but it turns out it is a clothes shop!

I would have thought she would have had Christmas Day off at least but it is because of the sale starting on Boxing Day that they all have to be in on the 25th to get ready for it!  Grumpy Old Man time - why has our society got so obsessed with shopping that we can’t wait until after properly Christmas to go and grab a bargain.  Boxing Day always used to be the day for going to see family, watching or playing local sports teams or just getting out for a walk, why can’t we reclaim these family days?

I had been thinking for a little while that it would be great for the managers from the 4 Cornish hotels to get together for dinner one evening in the run up to Christmas, we have a fair few meetings and so do see each other quite often but I wanted us to get together socially with our partners, some of us have met before but not all and it is great to know who we are all talking about.

I suggested this to Andrea who thought about this for all of a second or two, we ran the idea past Fraser, one of our Directors and invited him too, and then I issued the invitations.  I chose the Custard Diner in Padstow as the venue and Carrina was very helpful arranging the table - it turned out they don’t open on a Sunday in December but as it was the only day we could all make she opened up for us specially.

Unfortunately Chris and Margaret couldn’t make it at the last minute, St Mawes had been without power all afternoon due to the high winds and quite a few trees were down so he had to stay and look after his guests.  Andrea and Keith arrived mid afternoon and Greg and Neil early evening ready for a drink in the bar before we headed into town. 

We had a lovely evening, the food and service were really good and I would strongly recommend you go there.  I had wood pigeon breast to start and skate for main course, Val had monkfish, Andrea had the rump steak and all were cooked really well.  The have a great wine list too and I think they come from David at Bin Two (www.bintwo.com).

I had booked our taxi home for 11.00pm from the hotel, thinking that would give us enough time to have coffee and walk back up the hill.  We got to just after 11 and I said we needed to make a move and as we were all getting our coats Mike the taxi driver came in to meet us!

Do have a look at www.custarddiner.com and see for yourselves - we’ll certainly be going back.

A momentous day!  My wife picked up the fireguard and coal bucket yesterday so we were able to light our new coal fire in the foyer today and I must say it really makes a huge difference.  When we have some more of our Christmas decorations up it will look really festive. 

Jill put up the reception tree on Wednesday and Mel and I have been putting some decorations and lights up in the restaurant this morning.  We’ve left 2 of the girls finishing off in the lounge and we just need to put a few more garlands up around reception, put something on the mantelpiece, do all of the Met Lounge and then encourage Tony to get the lights up in the CafeBar and around the front door.  We may need to get a few more items but we are aiming for less clutter but a better quality look.  Those of you who will be in before and over Christmas let me know what you think but not till Monday!

Yesterday I took the opportunity to go over to a free marketing seminar in Plymouth at Tamar Science Park, this was a short seminar to outline the 8 rules of marketing according to Ann Holman of Clarity Projects, an innovative management and marketing consultancy based in Exeter.

Ann did mention the time management course she also runs - I ought to do that one next because my journey over was a little rushed to say the least and yes in good Cornish tradition I was late!  I had planned to leave in good time, an hour and three quarters should be more than enough, after all it is only 50 miles but I always forget how long it taks me to get from my desk to the car, somebody always needs to ask something before I go. 

I know the winter is best for the road repairs programme but please, not when I need to go somewhere!  There were temporary lights on the big bridge at Wadebridge, 3 way lights in Bodmin and then all the slow traffic on the A38 while the Glynn Valley section is shored up a bit more, not forgetting the Dobwalls bypass.  I don’t drive around Plymouth at all so had to keep the directions handy, still got lost finding the science park and managed to get the last space in the car park.  Needless to say I was in need of a cup of coffee, doughnut, flapjack and chocolate cake when I got there.  My one saving grace was that I wasn’t last!  The trip back was easier but wetter, no need to rush and of course I knew where I was going then.

The seminar was really good, I brought back a few spare copies of Ann’s pamphlet to share with my colleagues who weren’t able to go.  I’ve already started looking at some things we do a little differently and have set up a little meeting here on Wednesday next week to have a 1st planning stage for next year’s marketing strategies.  One thing that Ann kept reinforcing was the need for simplicity, if something is straightforward we are much more likely to manage to do it.  One of the points in the seminar was about not fearing rejection but fearing indifference - “nothing short of wow will do” so watch out for what appears through your letterbox, in your inbox or somewhere else and please let me know what you think!

You can learn more about Ann’s team and work at www.clarityprojects.co.uk

We’re into the final countdown for Christmas now, our Christmas party bookings are all in and we are starting to dot the “i”s and cross the “t”s: yesterday Joyce bought the sweets for the guest stockings, on Monday a few of us are taking a trip out to buy some new Christmas decorations for the hotel.  We’ve used the same ones for a while, just adding a few new bits each year but now we do need to do something radical with our themes.

The biggest job to get done happened this morning.  So that Santa can get in without getting his red suit dirty we had our chimney swept, all 57′ of it!  It certainly was the biggest chimney that the sweep did today.

Having had the chimney swept we will now start to light the fire, once the new screen and tools arrive.  This will make a lovely first impression as guests come in.  It is only a small grate so it won’t give out a great amount of heat but the look will be good.  The receptionists are already looking forward to sitting next to it on the quieter evenings. I’ll be keeping an eye on them for sure!

Bill Isaacs, one of our local artists, produces some great fun paintings which we sell for him in the CafeBar.  One range that he does is variations on Vetriano’s “The Gentleman’s Gentleman” so we have pictures of the lady holding her umbrella while the two gentlemen dance  and another with the right couple dancing but with a big wave bearing down on them and quite a few others have passed through our hands.  Great fun and worth a look over a cup of coffee.

I had a call from Nigel, our wine merchant, yesterday lunchtime - would I be interested in doing a blind tasting of 9 vintage champagnes.  I was about to say yes please can I come down now when i really had to stop and think about the business.  we had over 50 guests in for dinner so should I stay and help look after them or was it right to further my education?  I told Nigel that I would have to say no but would have a chat with Kristin when she came in to see how she felt about the evening.

Luckily for me she was quite happy about her team for the night so quickly back on the phone to Nigel to book my place.  I just about managed to get there for 6.30 start time when Nigel explained the background to the evening.

Nigel had been talking to one of the champagne houses about the different vintage champagnes they offered and was questionning the quality / price differentials between them, Louis Roederer Cristal 2000 retails for £125 yet the Gosset 1996 retails for £40.99.  Nigel wanted to see if we could tell what differences there were so we all had to try them in turn and make notes on them and then rank our top 5. 

It is very rare for me to get the chance to try 1 vintage champagne, let alone 9 at the same time so we set about our task with great enthusiasm.  The 20 of us for the evening were a mixture of the shop staff and guests from local hotels and restaurants, we discussed quietly amongst ourselves and there were some startlingly different opinions - which is how it should be, the wines are all different even though they are all grown in a small area and from the same blend of grapes.

The overall winner was Bollinger RD 1996, which I found quite rich and very distinctive - this was my 4th ranked champagne, I must admit my favourite was Dom Perignon which didn’t come out very well in everyone elses ranking.

The Gosset 1996 did quite well but wasn’t in the top 3 so perhaps there is something in the price after all but was the Cristal 3 times better than the Gosset?  I guess it is about choosing the right drink for the right occasion.  Have a look at Nigel’s shop site to choose your favourite www.wwrw.co.uk