DONE IT

I remember well the moment we arrived as owners. There had been a hitch in the smooth transfer of the purchase funds and we had to drive pointlessly round local geography waiting for a mobile call from our solicitor confirming that the deal was done and we could now take possession. It must have been 4.30 afternoon when we entered the bar, empty but for the seller, who virtually walked out as we walked in. It was all very lonely, completely without ceremony. I recall saying, “We’ve done it now. We’ll have to make the best of it.” I felt empty and very, very shaky.

It was at this point I realised we’d never seen the owner’s accommodation which turned out to be one room next to reception with a cheap, disgusting shower cubicle in a corner. The separate toilet was along the passage. The room had a window giving a view of the back yard. Not to worry. Facer as it was we had too much to do and think about to allow ourselves to notice the poverty, even to closely inspect the fringes of the squalor we were now in.

Having other priorities, we put up with this situation for a long time, maybe a couple of years, but eventually we made improvements. I’ll just mention before looking at the other priorities that our one-room accommodation sorted into having a bathroom with full facilities; bath with shower over, toilet, bidet, basin and gold-plated fittings. We had a screen to give privacy blocking exposure from the doorway; hanging rails, shelves and we replaced the window with a double-glazed UPVC door direct to the outside.

The matters given 2 years priority over our comfort were naturally business issues, things we hoped would encourage turnover. The business before pleasure school meant, having sunk all our savings into the venture, the undercurrent, the gulf stream, the head full of buzzing 24/7 only concerned our survival. We started so quiet. No fanfares. No press announcements, no ‘Under-new- management’ signs. It was as if we didn’t want anyone to know we were there and many a day went by with just Blossom and I and an inherited cleaner for company in the mornings. We didn’t really realise, didn’t recognise the challenge of the murmurings of small town gossip and the native tom toms rumbling on all sides, their secrets less comprehensible than the whisperings of the sea. We didn’t even think we were in a small town. It was an important sea port with ferry services to Europe and Scandinavia. It had a Woolworths. It was a cruise ship terminal. Proper grown-up cosmopolitan stuff with history. Big history. Nelson, Mayflower, Pilgrim Fathers, 1620, Samuel Pepys MP, the surrender of the German submarine fleet, Kinder transport. This is where we were and privileged to get in on the act. Incredible. Couldn’t go wrong in such a honey pot, a paradise of opportunity.