Cafe for sale

Great location opposite major supermarket.

Set in a pretty building that used to be the Catholic Church.

Neat little takeaway area too, handy when the tourists all want food at the same time.

Yes, they are always that cheerful.

Ooh well known chemist nearby.

Great position. Lovely Jewellers over there, and newsagents.

Oooh well known butchers too. Also opposite a well known bakers, how handy is that. All your shopping and coffee, and cake, and lunch, and afternoon tea, in the same shopping centre.
Sunny Busselton a beautiful place to live and work, need a 4 bed 2 bath house to go with it? we have one of those too, beach side of the highway, 2 minute stroll to the lovely soft sand...tempted? go on.....

5 Fruit and 2 Veg

Thursday 3rd April 2008
Ian decided it would be a good idea to get up at 5.15am today to watch the Champions League between Arsenal and Liverpool, it wasn’t live but it was only about an hour after the game finished and early enough not to know the result. They did show the game live but that started at 2.45am which was a bit too early and obviously the TV Company think so too which is why they show it again so soon after the final whistle, and a 5.45am showing means that people can watch it before going to work.
It was Kristian’s class assembly at school today so we had to be in school by 8.30am, the theme was healthy eating and the whole class had made Paper T shirts with pictures of Fruit and Veg on them and had learned a song about eating 5 Fruit and 2 Veg which was sung to the tune of Mambo number 5. because we were early we asked if there was anything we could do to help, Ian was in charge of making sure every child had a photo taken of them wearing their T shirt that would go in with their work record while Carolyn was in charge of the register.
The show was quite good considering that this is a new class of mixed ages and that they have only been together for a few weeks. Next week on Friday 11th they are having an assembly outside under the flag to commemorate Anzac Day, it is not the right date for it but because Anzac Day is while the children are on holiday this was the closest they could get. We will be trying to get to that one but we think our removal is arriving on that day in which case we won’t be able to.
After assembly we went to the Café to check our emails and were informed by the owners that the bank that we are going to use when we take over the Café, the bank who assured us that everything would be sent to the branch until we took over, the bank who after the last letter to us from them that arrived at the Café, assured us that nothing like this could happen again, the bank who double checked and were assured by their Merchant Department (zip zap Machine) while we were standing in the branch that they would be sending our card machine to the branch and not the Café, had sent the card machine to the Café and the courier, how could have been anybody, wanted to install it. The owners sent it back unfortunately; it would have been handy to get a couple of weeks takings in the bank before we took over, although they probably do not feel the same.
We checked out a website called Wageline while we were there and the awards and benefits that staff are entitled to are a minefield just waiting to blow up in an employers face, the pay rates are high, the levels of benefits are high, if a member of staff works on a Saturday or Sunday even if they are normal working days they get enhanced rates of pay, if they take a holiday you have to pay them their basic pay plus an extra 17½ per cent for a bit of extra spending money. If a waitress helps in the kitchen for 10 minutes and the kitchen duty she is doing is normally on a higher pay award, you have to pay her 10 minutes on the higher pay award, it’s no wonder companies only employ casual staff, to employ permanent staff could cripple you.
So after checking emails and meeting a couple of staff and suppliers that we had not met before, we went to the bank. When we spoke to the girl who had set up our business account for us she was not happy and said that she had rung them 3 times to make sure they knew what to do with the machine, we just laughed it off and gave her the couriers card so that she could get it delivered to the bank which she did. On the bright side at least we know we have a card machine ready to start trading on the day we move in.
We then went to another bank and transferred the money for the house into the settlement agents account and then went shopping for some crockery and glasses, because we had use of everything in the pub back in the UK we didn’t bother buying any day to day crockery. While we were shopping we got a call from the settlement agent asking us to pop in and see him, which we did. The settlement agents for the sellers of the house are saying that they do not want to pay for the gas and electric etc to be repaired in the house and that because it is a deceased estate, as a matter of course they do not warrant that anything is in good or working order. Unfortunately for them somebody forgot to tell the Trustees for the estate because when we put these things down as special conditions they signed to agree them. It would appear that the settlement agent is willing to pay for parts but not for labour, suggesting that we could do it ourselves. On TV we are constantly bombarded by adverts put out by the Government showing people getting electrocuted, burned or gassed so if it comes to it we don’t think their argument will stand up in court and have told our settlement agent that we are insisting on them paying. The fact that they have brought this up at the last minute suggests that they are trying to call our bluff and means that we won’t get in tomorrow, but that is not going to happen now anyway because they have been slow in sending some paperwork back so we are not going to be bullied by them and will sit it out until they come to the party with a sensible solution.
In the afternoon when we picked the kids up from school we took them to the beach where they had a good swim for an hour or so, there was a red powdery sort of stuff floating in the water, somebody told us it was something to do with a certain type of seaweed and nobody apart from us was making a fuss about it so we are assuming that it is not going to do us any harm.

Hi Tech Telecoms

Wednesday 2nd April 2008
After dropping the kids off at school today we had an appointment with the Realty Agent at the house, the telephone company were unable to check if the line was dead or not and needed us to check it by going into the house, plugging a phone in and checking if there was a dialling tone or not. The text that we had received asking us to do this gave us a number to ring, saying that if there was no ring tone we should ring another number, we think telecommunication is still in its infancy over here. We rang the second number using our mobile and were put on hold for about 10 minutes, so we got fed up with that and rang the sales number instead. Obviously the idea of making a sale is more of an incentive to answer the phone than listening to somebody telling them that a phone line is dead, because on about the third ring they answered and although they wanted to put us on hold to this other department until we told them that we had already been waiting for 10 minutes and were running out of credit, at which point they offered to sort it out for us and get the department to ring back within 30 minutes. Needless to say they didn’t ring back, when we rang them and told them our name they immediately informed us that a request has been made for the line to be reconnected. They obviously had our information in front of them, they were just too idle to let us know, sometimes you just have to wonder who is paying who, we’ve done the first bit for them now they want us to give them $299 Dollars so that they can instruct a sub contractor to go out and do the rest for them. It all sounds a bit BT to me.
We then went and arranged with the computer people that as soon as the line is set up they will set up a wireless modem for our laptop so that we can use the internet as soon as we get into the house, otherwise we would have to wait until we’ve finished decorating before we could unload our belongings and set up our PCs that we brought over and then call them in to set it up and ensure that they are all compatible.
After that we went to the Café and checked our emails, we spoke to the settlement agent who was after some money so we went round to see and got the final figure and his account details, he said he needs to draw on it tomorrow so we will wait till then to transfer it so that we get an extra days interest.
We then went to the trading estate and spoke to a Uniform embroidery company about sourcing uniforms for when we get into the Café, then we went on to Bunnings (B&Q) and bought some decorating equipment for the house so that we can make a prompt start as soon as we get the keys.
After picking up the kids from school we went home and had an early meal, Ian who wasn’t feeling too good skipped dinner and went to sleep for a couple of hours.

Winter is here

Monday 31st March 2008
Winter is here, and the weather forecasters have got it wrong, the temperature went down to about 18 degrees instead of the 25 degrees that were predicted, it rained all day with Perth getting a Months rain in one day, they didn’t state which months rain it was or whether it expected that month to be dry so that it could balance out over the year but it was still quite a bit of water.
We dropped the kids off at school and were told that we weren’t needed for listening duties today because the children don’t take books home over the weekend; they are allowed to play games instead.
Excuse me if I have got this wrong but it seems odd that during the week when time is tight, the children need time to play with friends away from an educational environment, they need time to have a family life, they need to sit down to a well balanced meal, they are expected to have an early night so that they are in top form the following day, they have then been given a book to read in the hope that they will either read it of their own free will or find another busy, time constrained person in the house that has got the time to encourage them.
The alternative would appear to be that you send the child home with a book at the weekend when it is more likely that there will be family around to help them with their reading, when time is less likely to be an issue, when it is not so important that they go to bed early, when the time available will generally be more relaxed and stress free.
If they did that the kids might enjoy it and turn up for school on a Monday with an enquiring mind, but there again that would be a pain in the backside for a teacher.
We had our interview with the management company that runs Busselton Boulevard Shopping Centre today in Bunbury, it seemed to go quite well and we think that they liked us and our ideas, if we are accepted the only thing that may hold it up is that we have asked for either an option on the current lease or a new 10 year lease which if agreed will have to be drawn up and may take time. The management agent didn’t think that we stood much chance but said that she would put it to the owners to see what they said.
When we came out of the interview we drove back to Busselton to check if we had received the mortgage documents, but when we got back we hadn’t received anything so we went to the Café to check our emails. After that we bought a couple of bits for dinner tonight and went home to find that the mortgage documents had arrived.
It was a mad dash then to get the house insured and the mortgage offer signed by 4pm when the bank closed, plus we had to make time to pick up the kids from school. When we got to the insurance office it was about ½ hour before we received our certificate of insurance which meant that it was almost 3pm by the time we came out, so Ian went to the bank to start signing the forms and to make sure that one of us was in there at closing time so that we could not be locked out before signing the documents and ensuring that they reached the lending department with enough time left for the sale to go through on Friday. Carolyn went to school to pick up the kids and came straight back to the bank to sign her bit and we left with about 15 minutes to spare.
The Realty agent has been on the phone suggesting that we withhold money and use it to pay for the outstanding works to be done so we had to pop in to see our settlement agent to see what he thought. He was quite happy with the idea and said that it was quite common in Australia; basically it means that we get the work done to the standard we want and then bill them for it. We are quite happy with the idea because it means that we can have the cooker that we want and only have to pay a portion of the cost, plus the installation will be paid by the vendor and we can get the decorating done before it is fitted.
In the evening the kids went to bed early and we panicked because we thought we had lost lumps of this blog and at one point thought that we had lost the whole lot because of a glitch in the computer that decided to change the name document. We eventually found most of it and saved it to a different memory stick which will hopefully be more reliable, after that of course we had to run a system scan so we ended up having a much later night than intended.

Stingray, no sign of Troy Tempest

Sunday 30th March 2008
After all the wine last night we decided to have a lie in this morning, fortunately daylight saving finished today so we gained an extra hour in bed, the kids didn’t, they just got up an hour earlier and watched a film that Marisa has bought.
We are now into autumn and it’s time to get out the woollies, the weather today was only about 31 degrees centigrade today and we still had to wear sunscreen, according to the weather forecasters the temperatures are due to take a big dip this week with the possibility of it going down to as low as 23 degrees and the chance of some rain and thunder.
The locals are already starting to go about in trousers instead of shorts and are wearing fleeces, they are however still wearing their Thongs (flip flops) so we are assuming that when they start wearing shoes winter will be upon us and we can turn off the air conditioning.
We dropped the kids off at the park while we did a bit of shopping and checked out the opposition just in case we ever decide to do Sunday Breakfasts. After about an hour we picked up the kids and went home for lunch, watched a bit of Aussie Football and chilled out until it was time to go to the beach again.
This time we went to Bunker Bay, it is about 30 minutes from us and it was absolutely gorgeous, it is very sheltered with a soft sandy beach and lovely warm water. Unfortunately our swim was curtailed by the arrival on the scene of a rather large Stingray, Carolyn had seen something dark moving in the water about 4-5 feet away but thought that it was a large clump of seaweed being carried along in the current. The people about 30 feet further along the beach from us who obviously know what to look out for in the water had seen it swimming past us but didn’t say anything because the didn’t want to startle us and possibly make things worse.
They did however get out of the water themselves because it was swimming their way and they told some other people further along who were in its line as it swam in the shallows feeding, when we noticed that there was nobody in the water apart from us and everyone was looking at the water and pointing we thought it might be prudent to get out and find out what was happening.
We asked the people closest to us what was happening and they told us that they had seen the Stingray swimming along the shallows and pointed it out to us, we followed it up the beach and it was coming in really close to the waters edge, it was a big one with a wing span of about 5 feet. Apparently you don’t normally see them that large so close to the shore.
We walked back down the beach to our bags and decided not to go back in the water today although the kids weren’t worried and carried on playing in the water, we decided that we would just keep an eye out for the Stingray just in case it or another one decided to come along, after about 10 minutes of watching the Stingray came back again going back along the shore in the opposite direction. Apparently they will avoid contact and if you splash around a bit they will swim off, but this one was a bit to big to be testing out theories on.
We had Lamb Chops for tea and put the kids to bed early ready for school again tomorrow. We did a bit of swotting in the evening because we have got a meeting with the letting agent of the Café tomorrow and we want to make sure we know what we are talking about and make a good impression.
Almost forgot, while we were out this morning we popped into the local Video store and that is what it was. This store is big for a video rental outlet and you wouldn’t believe how many videos they have in there to rent, while the rest of the world embraced DVD’s and are getting ready to do the same with Blue Ray, Busseltons video rental store is jam packed with video. They do have DVD’s, just not as many of them and the latest releases are the same films that we watched on DVD when we were still in the UK 5 months ago. We’ve been here for just over 2 months now so in theory, for us any films released here in 3 months time will be new releases and we won’t be able to criticise anymore, although we will have to go out and buy a Video Player, although at least we only have to buy a VHS one because they’ve stopped using Betamax now.

White v stainless

Wednesday 26th March 2008
Ian got the kids up early today and made breakfast in bed for Carolyn again, she is going to struggle when he has to go out to work early and she has got to get the kids ready for school every day.
The kids all looked a bit tired this morning so after school we fed them early, made sure they read a bit and did whatever homework was required for tomorrow before putting them to bed for an early night tonight.
After we dropped the kids off at school this morning we went to the Café for a change to check up on our emails, we were also expecting to see an electrician there checking the equipment for us because he had told us that he had made an appointment to do it today. When we asked the owner if she had seen him she said that she knew nothing about it and had not had a call from anybody to arrange an inspection. Marvellous.
After coffee we went to the Settlement agents office to sign some documents for the house before rushing to the house to meet carpet salesman No 3 who had already measured up by the time we got there. We explained to him what we wanted where and he showed us some swatches of carpet and vinyl so that we could make sure that we were all talking about the same thing and he said he would ring us with the price. He was smiling so it doesn’t look good.
After that we went to a household appliance store and spent about ¾ hour trying to work out which home phone, mobile phone, satellite TV and internet networks would be best for our needs, when we had worked it out it turned out that the store could only help us with the mobile phones as that was the only bit they are licensed for. We need to go to another telecom store 200 yards down the road to get the rest sorted out which we will try and do tomorrow.
While we were there we got a call from the Café letting agent asking us to go to Bunbury on Monday morning for an interview and to talk about our business plan, also we had a call from carpet salesman No 3 and it wasn’t good news, Carolyn must have really liked that carpet for it to reach that price.
We then went to another department within the same store and spent the best part of 2 hours looking at White Goods although we were going to go for Stainless Steel Goods at one point, but after careful consideration (stainless steel is dearer) we decided to go with white. The salesman must have thought that he had got a result dealing with us; a couple of Brits, new to the country and not bringing much over with them as far as electrical goods was concerned. So it was that nearly 2 hours later having discussed the benefits of every Fridge/Freezer/Dishwasher/Washing Machine/Dryer/Iron/Kettle/Toaster and Vacuum Cleaner in the store we had produced the list of goods that we wanted and agreed a price which the nice man duly printed off for us.
Tomorrow we are going to a similar store, prices in hand, to see what they come up with and then expect to go back to the first store to renegotiate the price that we had just agreed. Lets face it as a salesman he was able to give us some quite large discounts without seeking permission so there has got to be room for a bit more negotiation yet, also we have got nothing better to do while we are waiting for the house and business to go through so we might as well make somebody work for a living.
After we left there we popped into the Café to let them know that we have got an appointment with the letting agents next Monday in Bunbury, while we were there they told us that the electrician had turned up unannounced about ½ hour after we had left in the morning and had done the inspection in less than an hour which is a little bit less time than the “all day” that he had told us it would take. It will be interesting to see how much he charges for labour.
We then had a coffee in one of our competitors’ establishment before picking the kids up from school, they were absolutely shattered so we fed them as soon as we got home and sent them to bed, Kristian was in bed by about 5.30pm and the other two by 6.30pm and they all went to sleep quickly. We also had an early night to make sure that we are fit and ready to do battle with the white goods salesmen tomorrow.
Carpet Salesman No 1 still hasn’t come back to us with a price, he’s probably too busy making more TV adverts for us to watch while he is away on holiday in Thailand next week so that he can justify the price he is about to quote. Alternatively he may have spent so much money on adverts that he has had his phone cut off and can’t let us know how much it costs. If we tried we could probably think up all sorts of stupid reasons why he hasn’t called but we would get bored typing it and you would get bored reading it so we’re not going to bother, perhaps we aren’t posh enough for him, oops there we go again. We shall say no more on the subject, that is unless he comes up with a reasonable or unreasonable excuse for taking so long in which case we will let you know as soon as we do.

Back to School

Wednesday 19th March 2008
We were all up early this morning in preparation for the kids first day at school, Marisa and Kristian woke up first at about 6am and by 6.30am were chomping at the bit and making a hell of a row. Fraser had to be woken up at 7am because he spent most of the night awake, playing in his room and was not at his best.
All three were ready to go, dressed and breakfasted well before we needed to leave at 8.10am so we were able to get there well before the uniform shop opened at 8.30am. Because we were early we were able to get all of the paperwork done first which was good because it meant that as soon as the uniforms were sorted they were able to go into there classes at the same time as all the other kids. The first lesson of the day for the whole school is a walk along the beach, we don’t imagine that it stretches the kids too much but it does give the Principle a chance to go through the kids bags and confiscate the drugs, booze and ciggies that have been brought into school without fear of being disturbed (only joking).
The kids look really great in their uniforms but we didn’t get time to take a photo to prove it so hopefully we will remember tomorrow. After watching the kids head off on their route march to the beach we headed for the Café for a cup of coffee and a chance to catch up on the emails after which we headed to the bank. That’s right, the same one as yesterday.
What a difference a day makes, today everything is waiting for us all we have to do is fill out the forms, decide which accounts we wanted, which tends to work on the principle of how much are we willing to pay the bank for doing nothing before you start paying fees for the things that they will do. Once that was decided they then arranged for a card machine for us and even helped us negotiate the fees so that we didn’t pay top whack. We did need to sign a form and fax it back to the card machine department but the guy who was dealing with it went for lunch before sending it, so after about 10 minutes of waiting for this form that was obviously not going to turn up till after lunch we decided to go for lunch and went back and signed it afterwards.
We had arranged another viewing of the house, to measure up for carpets and curtains but had ½ hour to kill so we went to the local Telstra (phone) dealer and discussed a few Phone/Mobile Phone/Internet packages with them and it would appear that to set us up with 2 lots of broadband, 2 Phone lines and 2 Mobiles to cover work and home it is going to cost about $300 a month (approx £150), and that’s without starting to use them. The call charges are obviously set by somebody who has worked out that people do not like talking to an ansaphone because they charge a connection fee of 37 cents (18p) which if you put the phone down you still have to pay, and when you try again you will pay again. If you manage to get through to somebody though it is a different story because they then start charging you in blocks of 30 seconds as well as the connection charge and the 30 second blocks cost up to about 50 cents (25p), at least Dick Turpin wore a mask. Fortunately if you disregard all this charge through the nose for everything attitude, Busselton has still got a great feel about it and while we may kick up a stink in our own little way we have no intention of leaving just yet as we think the alternative, coming back in the UK would be worse still
After that we went and measured up the house for carpets and curtains, it appears that the bank sent round the Valuer yesterday so we should hear back from them quite soon. While we had a look round the garden Ian mentioned to the Realty Agent that we would get a gardener in to cut back the trees and bushes a bit if only to keep it safer for the kids, because of spiders (Redbacks) and their habit of living in trees, to which the agent replied that it’s not the Redbacks you worry about down here, it’s the White Tips that do the biting in Busselton. This has made Ian feel really good, having preached to the kids about the dangers of spiders but concentrating on Redbacks because they are the ones that people talk about from day one, he has now got to warn them about white tips and he hasn’t even seen a picture of one yet. Did you know that receiving a bite from a White Tip will do you less harm than receiving a phone bill from Telstra?
At 3pm we went to pick up the kids and fortunately they had loved every minute of it, they didn’t appear to have been worked too hard on their first day but nevertheless they seem to have enjoyed it, made some friends and are looking forward to going back tomorrow.
Early evening Carolyn took the kids to the park while Ian went food shopping again before making dinner and then they all had an early night.

No Green Guinness Today Day

Monday 17th March 2008
It’s Paddy’s Day and we don’t care, we don’t have to cook Irish Stew or Boiled Bacon and Cabbage or serve Green Guinness or Strongbow at discount prices and it feels good, so we had another lie in this morning just because we could and also because we were still knackered from watching tv so late last night.
Mid morning we went to the kids new school and picked up the forms so that we can enrol them ASAP, they are desperate to go to school after being out of it since the end of November 2007 and although we have had some great times since then they do need there bit of routine and discipline.
Having got the forms we drove round what will be the kids cycle route to the house, it is along the coast all the way and shouldn’t take more than about 5 minutes even if they have to wait for Carolyn. Then it was off to the shops to buy all the things they are going to need at the new school, most of it is to bought from a Newsagents and most of it to specifications laid down by the school, even the pencil case has to be a certain size, Kristian has to have a wooden ruler and crayons while the other 2 need a see through ruler and pens, but the Uniforms will be bought on the day they start (Wednesday), from the school.
We stopped in the Café on the way back for a quick coffee and to check up on our emails and while we were there the owner showed us details of her suppliers so that we can start contacting them and setting up accounts. From there we went to the Library and managed to get them to give us a Library card so that we can fill the house with books because, did I ever tell you, the TV is rubbish over here.

Hard worked postie

Tuesday 11th March 2008
Waited around all morning waiting for the post to arrive so that we could tick a couple more boxes on the Business purchase contract, as you go through the different parts of the purchase process they have to be signed and sent to the opposition, by the time this deal is done the contract would have travelled the equivalent of going round the world 3 times and will be so faded that it will probably be unreadable, but it will have kept the postman busy for 6 weeks.
We signed the relevant parts and got it ready to send back, we were just getting ready to go out when we got a call from the house agent who informed us that our offer on the house had been accepted and we should receive written confirmation tomorrow when we will be able to fill out a form for the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) asking them for permission to purchase the house. The reason behind Foreigners having to get permission is that firstly, the money is legal and secondly, they can control the number of immigrants living in one area, a bit like the UK really. Hopefully we will have no problem getting permission as there aren’t many migrants in Busselton.
This afternoon we went into Joondalup and got some more photocopies courtesy of our mortgage advisor’s office so that we are ready to send off for the FIRB approval as soon as we get the written acceptance. When we got back we called another agent who had told us that he had a property that we could rent short term while we were waiting for the purchase to go through, unfortunately we are buying the house through another agent so all of a sudden the house is not available anymore. So its back on the internet tomorrow to find somewhere to stay for a couple of weeks.
This evening Sharon did the cooking, Chilli and Tacos and very nice it was too washed down with a couple of tinnies.

Accountant and crazy golf

Thursday 6th March 2008
We had to get up early today to get ready for a meeting with the Accountant in a Dome Café in Subiaco on the outskirts of Perth City Centre. We had just finished getting every thing ready including the kids when Sharon announced that she was not going to work today and would be happy to look after the kids, needless to say, the kids jumped with joy at the thought of not having to sit quietly during yet another meeting and we jumped for joy at the thought of not having to tell the kids to be quiet every 2 minutes during yet another meeting.
The meeting went well; we now have a Company called: HoJo Management Proprietary Limited acting as Trustees for Hoyle-Johnson Family Trust and we will soon have to add on to that, trading as Olde Chapel Café. That is what you get for talking to Accountants and signing lots of bits of paper, the process sounded quite complicated but we were going to try something similar in the UK at one point and it was a lot more convoluted and expensive over there, here it would appear that virtually every business does it like this.
We had a bit of lunch in Subiaco and then drove back home, the estate agent rang and said that we would need to increase our offer again if we want to stand a chance of getting the house. When we got back Sharon and the kids had not yet got back, she took them to play Crazy Golf at the Botanical Gardens and Marisa won, no surprise there. When they got back we had one of Ian’s latest concoctions for dinner, Moussaka with a twist (the twist was he didn’t know the recipe so he had to make it up as he went along) it was very nice.
Late afternoon we received an E-mail giving us our ABN (Australian business number) from the accountant so we rang the Mortgage Broker and gave it to her so that she can go to our preferred lender and get a better rate Mortgage for us.
We then sat down for a quiet evening and an early night, it is quite boring now that we are in limbo waiting for the business sale to go through and the Bank to accept our offer on a house.

How not to impress a customer

Friday 29th February 2008
Had a meeting with the Lavazza Rep in Mindarie and everything that could go wrong with the Coffee did go wrong, while the rep was explaining about the best techniques for making nice Coffee the staff in this place were determined to get it wrong and by the end he was almost pulling his hair out.
We will probably use Lavazza when we open as they seem to be willing to work with us in pushing the brand in order to push our business and are willing to offer merchandising support including Crockery and Umbrellas etc. Also there are no other businesses selling the Lavazza brand in Busselton.
Carolyn phoned the Removal people today to get a new quote because on the original move from the UK it only included delivery up to 30 Km outside Perth and we are going to be closer to 200Km outside.
Our first offer on the house was turned down and we put forward another offer, the Trustee has come back and said that they will send a Valuation officer in to get an accurate valuation on the property, according to the agent this could be a good thing bet we are not likely to know before Tuesday because there is a bank holiday this weekend.
Ian has started making salads in practise for when he is working in the Café, one of our ideas is to have a selection of fresh Homemade salads available each day.

Coffee, cafe, menu, business plan

Thursday 28th February 2008
Have been putting together a Business plan to present to the Landlord of The Olde Chapel Café and it is a bit time consuming, but the need it to help prove that you are capable of operating a profitable business in the confines of their illustrious Shopping Centre.
We have decided that quality Coffee is going to be the thing that is most likely to push the Café forward bearing in mind we will be opening for longer hours, and we have been searching online for Barista Courses so that we can get it right from the word go.
Contacted the Lavazza Coffee Company with a view to using them as a big name to Brand Up the Coffee Offer, the rep rang back and we have arranged to meet him tomorrow in a Café that he supplies just down the road from Sharon in Mindarie Harbour. We went there for lunch today just to check it out, Carolyn enjoyed her meal but the rest was pretty average apart from the Chips which were good, we are not Coffee experts but the Coffee there was pretty average to say the least and we normally like Lavazza Coffee so can only assume that it was the way it was made that made the difference. We then walked round the corner to the Dome Café and that wasn’t much better.
When we got home Ian started work on a possible new Menu for the Café, we don’t intend to change things immediately but there will definitely be changes and this is the best way of putting a few ideas together.

More meetings and another offer

Tuesday 26th February 2008
We got up early today because we had loads to do including checking out of the Chalet and driving back to Sharon’s. Having packed the car, checked we haven’t left anything behind and picked up the deposit for the keys we headed for Busselton. On the way in we rang the Realty Agent to let him know that we wished to put in an offer on the house and we arranged to meet at 11.30am.
We stopped at Vasse Primary School on the way who confirmed that even though they have small class numbers at the moment the would not entertain the idea of taking in pupils from out of area.
We then went into town and confirmed with the Accountant that we wanted him to act on our behalf, he took down details of the Company name that we want and has confirmed that it is now reserved for us, HoJo Management Pty Ltd and he is going to check over the books and start work on building a Company and Trust set up for us.
Then we went to the Settlement Agents to let him know that we wished to use his services and then went to the Realty Agents so that we could fill out the form to make the offer on the house official.
At 11.30 we met the Realty Agent and we talked about our proposed offer and during the conversation we realised that we had got the wrong end of the stick when he said the Bank had put it on the market and that this is quite often the case when dealing with a Deceased Estate and the Beneficiaries do not live close by, so we had to quickly reassess the situation but decided that we would still like to submit an offer , only for the figure to be a bit higher than we had originally planned.
So, with the help of the Agent we filled out the Offer form and he told us that he would send it off that day and get back to us when he had a reply.
We were late for the other appointment to view a house this morning and we weren’t sure if the agent would be there but we thought that we had better turn up just in case he was. Fortunately we did go because there he was sitting patiently in his car waiting for us. Although we had put in an offer on another house we felt that we should look at this one as the viewing had been arranged the day before.
The house was immaculate, the rooms were big, the garden was big, everything about it was right except it was on the wrong side of the Highway, but that was why it is so much cheaper than the other house that needs work doing to it. If we went for that one, we would get very little growth out of it whereas the one close to the beach should hold us in good stead for the future.
When we had finished all that could be done at the today we started the long journey back to Sharon’s, stopping in Bunbury on the way to drop off one sacred set of Business Sales documents with the agent that could tell us nothing, and getting back just in time for an evening meal.
The Car Registration Document arrived in the post today.

3 schools and a house

Monday 24th February 2008
We got up early again today because we have got a lot to do and we are going back to Sharon’s tomorrow, we wanted to visit the Schools that we were happy with and try to fit in a couple of House viewings.
First stop Vasse Primary School, this is quite a quaint little school really, it used to be classed as rural working out of a couple of classrooms but had now become quite well developed with just over 200 pupils and plans in place to take more because it is situated right opposite a building site with hundreds of plots for housing just waiting to be sold. We had a look round the school with one of the Deputies and he answered our questions, we were quite impressed with it.
Next stop was Geographe Primary School, this is the largest of the Primary schools with just under 600 Pupils, it was hidden away behind a Sports Centre and difficult to find. When we went into reception the lady behind the desk was unable to give us much information at all really and there was nobody available to talk to us or show us around so we left. The place hadn’t felt right from the word go, it is a bit big compared to what the kids are used to and just didn’t have a very good aura about it.
On to West Busselton School where we were welcomed and had a chat with one of the Deputies who explained everything in great detail before showing us around, when we got to the Oval (playing field) we were standing under some Peppermint trees and told us that these were home to some Possums and that the children see them quite often. Well, you can imagine, the kids were swung over by this bit of information and when the Deputy pointed out a piece of Possum Poo on the path that was it they were ecstatic and desperate to start school immediately.
There is not a lot to choose between Vasse and West Busselton and we checked to see if you could live in one area and put the kids into school in another, but unless you send them private the State Schools will not entertain the idea.
We then went into the town centre and arranged to see a couple of houses in the afternoon before we went for lunch at the Olde Chapel Café. We went there because they have a wireless connection and we would be able to pick up our E-mails.
We ordered some food and drinks and while the kids read books on one table we checked our E-mails, Ian is not happy because he has just found out that Birmingham managed to nick a draw on Saturday, while we were doing this the Owners son walked over and gave Ian the phone saying that there was a call for us, caught on the hop a little bit Ian answered it and it turned out to be Kevin the Business agent, he had rung the Café to tell them that the buyer had pulled out and when they told him that we were having lunch in there he had asked to speak to us. Our offer has been officially accepted and we don’t have a clue how the system works but we’re sure it will be fun finding out.
Just to finalise the offer there were a couple of alterations to the letter of offer that needed to be initialled so we arranged to meet him at his house and finalised that.
We needed an accountant and one quite close to the Café had been recommended to us so we went there on the off chance that we would be able to talk to someone and had a nice long chat with one of the accountants there who explained the best way of operating a business from a taxation point of view and this was almost identical to what another accountant had told us a couple of weeks ago, only this one was a bit more personable and cheaper.
Then we had to find a Settlement Agent (conveyance solicitor) and after contacting a few we find out that there is only one in town that is qualified to do Business Settlements and he has upset the Owner of the Olde Chapel Café at some point so she is using an agent from Margaret River which has done us a favour. The agent is also licensed to do residential as well and as we will need to purchase a house we managed to do a deal for him to the Settlement on both.
After that we went to look at a couple of houses none of which were up to much so we arranged to meet the agent again tomorrow to see another one.
We then decided to go back into town to check out some more properties in the estate agents windows and while we were looking at one display, the agent who had been lumbered with doing the late shift came out to ask if we wanted any help so we told him we want something near the beach, cheap and near the right schools and he said I may have just the thing. He went inside and came back with details of a house that was a bit tired but has been put on the market by the Bank, we arranged to meet him there for a viewing about 15 minutes later, so we quickly bought the kids an Ice Cream to shut them up and met the agent.
The house is lovely, a bit old (30 years) and in need of some TLC but the layout would suit us, it’s got the right number of bedrooms and although it needs a lick of paint it looks structurally sound, it’s near the beach and it’s on the market at about $100k less than others in the area that have been kept tidy. Apparently the Owner died about 2 years ago and the family still use the house for holidays from time to time but the Bank as Trustees have now put it on the market for whatever reason, we are thinking if it’s a repossession we could be on a winner here. We had a good look round and love the place, it’s just a matter of how cheeky we dare be with the offer.
We had a look at the closest bit of beach, 200 yards we reckon, it is quiet and safe being fairly sheltered in the bay. We then head off back to the Chalet where we demolish most of what is left from yesterday’s picky bits and agree to put in an offer on the house in the morning. We have decided to go in with a stupid offer to see what the bank say after all banks in the UK used to virtually give houses away as long as they got their money out of it.

A long distance swim, a pizza and Arsenal FC

Saturday 23rd February 2008
The idea of going for breakfast at Sails Café has gone out of the window because Carolyn needs to go on line to check out the other schools in Busselton before we possibly commit to buying a business there, so while we are in the Internet Café the kids are playing in the park.
The Internet access held up this time and Carolyn was able to find out virtually everything we needed to know about the schools in town and there was only one that had any cause for concern and that was in an area where we wouldn’t be looking at living anyway, the rest were all pretty much of a muchness, all doing better than each other at different things.
We arrived at the Business agent’s office at 9.30am and he explained that under Australian law we could put in an offer on the business subject to the current offer failing to complete but that it would not have any influence on the deal in place at the moment. He said that as far as he was aware the deal was still going through but that if another deal was in place it would speed things up should it not complete.
We believed him, because Business Agents always get up early on a Saturday morning to help foreigners fill out offer forms that are not likely to be used, we are hoping the other deal is about to collapse.
We made our offer, added our conditions and signed in all the right places and he told us that he would pass it on and let us know if anything happened.
After the meeting we headed towards Busselton and stopped in Dunsborough on the way, Dunsborough is about 10 km outside Busselton and unlike Busselton has very Modern Town Centre, we went in search of another Café that was for sale but were not impressed with it so we had a wander round before having a very average lunch in one of the small Cafes in the Centre of Town. After lunch we had a look at the Beach in Dunsborough and took a little drive round to look at the area just in case we wanted to live there, but we don’t think we do. We then drove into Busselton and had a chat with a couple of Realty (estate) Agents who were very keen to show us around a few places but didn’t have a great deal of any interest really.
The kids have been very well behaved today so we went down to the Seafront as the weather started to cool down and went for a swim. Ian, Fraser and Marisa swam round a small jetty that probably goes out about a hundred yards or so, a distance that neither Fraser or Marisa had ever done before and while Fraser would not worry about the distance it brought a big smile to Marisa’s face and we think it has given her a confidence boost, like she needed one. Carolyn just sat on the sea wall reading a book.
We drove back to Margaret River and it was getting a bit late, close to 9pm, so we stopped for a couple of Pizza’s in town and took them back to the Chalet to eat and the kids went to bed while Carolyn demolished the best part of a bottle of sparkling Rose Wine before going to bed and Ian went to the pub to watch football.
Ian popped into the pub to check if the Birmingham v Arsenal was going to be shown and the barman said that it would as long as it finished by 11.45, which it should have done. Unfortunately Eduarda got a broken leg and the game was held up for 10 minutes, at 88 minutes and Arsenal looking comfortable winning 2 - 1 they turned the TV’s off, Ian was not happy but accepted it thinking that the 3 points were in the bag now and left it like that.

What do you mean Busselton is full?

Friday 22nd February 2008
Ian went on line this morning determined to find something for this weekend and found a 2 Bedroom Chalet on a Holiday Park in Margaret River, we left this morning and don’t go back till Tuesday.
While we were driving down Carolyn rang the agent from Bunbury who couldn’t tell us about a business to see if he could now tell us anything about it and he couldn’t.
She then rang Kevin the agent dealing with the Olde Chapel Café and arranged to meet him when we got to Busselton to look at a Lunch bar and a Juice Bar both of which were not right for us and we explained to him what we were looking for and the only thing he had on his books at the moment that fitted the bill was The Olde Chapel Café but he said that as far as he could see the sale was going to go through. We parted company and he drove off while we had a walk round the town.
It was lunchtime and the kids were hungry for a change so we decided to go to the Olde Chapel for a bite to eat, however as we were about to walk in we saw Kevin the agent chatting to the Owner so we thought better of it and went elsewhere.
After lunch we drove to the Holiday Park in Margaret River it is about ½ hour further south of Busselton and we are beginning to wonder when we are going to run out of land, Perth is supposed to be South West and only ½ an inch away from the South Coast, we have been driving South for over 4 hours and we still haven’t reached the Southern Ocean, the size of this place is going to take some getting used to.
On the way to Margaret River Ian remembered seeing a Cafe on the Internet, it was originally on about the same time as the Olde Chapel, looked like a good bet, a bit expensive but good returns and it had gone under offer at about the same time as the Olde Chapel, a couple of weeks before we came out here but it had just come back on the market again because the sale had fallen through.
The Café is called Sails, is right in the centre of Margaret River and as we drove past it on the way to the Holiday Park we see it looks quite presentable, so we have decided to go there for Breakfast tomorrow Morning to check it out.
We booked into our accommodation early evening and got unpacked before going out to do a bit of shopping, we didn’t need much, just Milk, Tea, Cereals etc. When we got back we got a call from Kevin the agent who said that as we are not normally in the area what he can do is take an Offer for the Purchase of The Olde Chapel Café from us subject to the existing sale failing to go through, which we think is a bit funny but if it gives us first dibs we will do it and have arranged to meet him in his office in Cowaramup just outside Margaret River at 9.30am tomorrow.
Carolyn has started to panic because while she has done some research into the Schools in Busselton she has only had a quick look at them to see if there is something obviously wrong with them she has not done the thorough research that she would normally do and we could quite possibly be committing ourselves to a future in Busselton tomorrow. On the Holiday Park there are no wireless connections for computers so we had to go and find an Internet Café in town where Carolyn had just finished checking out one school when the system crashed and she could not get into the other schools sites so it looks like an early start tomorrow to try and get through again.
We went out for a Chinese meal tonight, it looked like quite a nice place and it was busy but we should have realised it was not going to be a great experience when we saw a white waitress, nothing personal, but you should have a Chinese waitress in a Chinese restaurant. There was however a glimmer of hope, we had got a glimpse into the Kitchen and as well as being clean there were 3 Chinese looking people in there.
We were shown to a table by the waitress but not offered a drink or anything because she was too busy dealing with other customers and she was the only one Meeting, Greeting, Taking Orders and Serving. The people on the table next to us got up to pay after we had been sitting for about 10 minutes without so much as a glass of water and when she had finished taking their money she came over and said “if you can just hold on a couple of minutes I will lay up that table for you because can get more people on this table”, she couldn’t cope with the number of people she had so I can’t imagine why she would want more.
Anyway, table cleaned we sat at it and she brought us over a couple of bottles of water and disappeared again, as we were looking round the restaurant it was like watching a sketch from Farty Towels. The table of 4 behind us were receiving their meals one at a time instead of all together, obviously the chef couldn’t cook more than one meal at a time and the other 2 Chinese people in the kitchen must have been there for moral support, as the meals were getting to the table the 4 of them were sharing the one meal before waiting for the next one to come out. We waited over an hour for our food and while we were waiting we must have seen about 20 people get fed up with waiting and walk away.
Unfortunately for Ian his meal came out first and turned out to be by far the best but the kids ate most of it while they were waiting for their food to come out.
Meal finished it’s off to bed for an early night because we’ve got to get up early in the morning.

From Perth to Mandurah, or not

Thursday 21st February 2008
Had a meeting this morning in East Perth with another Business Agent who not only would not let you have any details on a business until you had signed a Confidentiality Disclosure Document but would not let you have the details until you had signed it in front of him. The business in question was a Café in Mandurah, we had walked past this Café before when we went to Mandurah so we knew where it was.
After the meeting Ian started driving towards it while Carolyn was reading the details, it turns out that the Café is open 7 days a week and long hours, we were tired and thought that if we went down there today we would not see it in its best light so decided to go home, chill out and maybe look at it another day.
Ian spent the afternoon on line trying to find some holiday accommodation in Busselton for the weekend so that we can have a break but also have a better look at the town but everywhere is booked up, apparently it is boat race week. We would also like to give Sharon and Malcolm a bit of breathing space, it can’t be easy having 5 people who you wouldn’t normally see more than once a year suddenly invade your space for so long, still hopefully we will get something sorted soon and one of Ian’s other sisters is coming over at Easter and there is 6 of them so we will have to be gone by then.

46% tax on your savings!!!

Tuesday 19th February 2008
We stayed at home all day today, Carolyn did some housework while Ian scoured the Internet all day looking for businesses with some potential for us to look at.
We contacted the Tax Office to let them know that they had got our residential status wrong and that we were actually living in the country which is why we needed a Tax File Number rather than paying 46% tax as a non resident. Perhaps they thought that we were trying to get preferential treatment with our visa by paying tax over here when we had never even set foot in the place.
Carolyn took the kids over the park for a while and later they went to the Library and in the evening Carolyn checked out the map of Busselton and rent prices etc before sending off a Confidentiality Disclosure Document for a Lunch bar that is on the market.

The importance of remaining a Bunbury

Monday 18th February 2008
Had to get up very early today because we went to Bunbury to have a look at a couple of businesses and meet a Business agent that had apparently got a couple of businesses for us to view but couldn’t give us the paperwork or tell us where they are because we need to sign a Confidential Disclosure Document.
It was a long drive to Bunbury, it took nearly 3 hours to get down there and it’s only Freeway (motorway) for about half the journey but the funny thing is when you get off the Freeway and get onto the main road south, a lot of which is single lane, the speed limit jumps up by 10 Km per hour to 110 kmph.
We arrived in Bunbury and met the Agent who got us to sign the all important Confidentiality Disclosure Document before giving us details of a Business in Busselton, the next large Town down the coast and then going into great detail about how he expects to sign up this other business which he couldn’t tell us where what it was, where it was, how much it was taking, nothing, he could tell us absolutely nothing about this business but it took him about ½ hour to do it. We left him, promising to return the details of the business in Busselton within 21 days as per the Confidentiality and Disclosure Document, unless of course we were buying the business in which case we could keep it.
It was lunchtime so we had a quick walk by of the couple of businesses that we had details for in Bunbury, decided that they were not for us and went for lunch.
After lunch we headed for Busselton which is about 40 minutes past Bunbury and as soon as we drove into the Town we were thinking ‘what a lovely little town this is’ and it was, very old fashioned and quaint. We parked up and walked to the first Café that we had details for, had a cup of Coffee and while we were in there reading the local paper we came across a ½ page write up on the business by the agent that was selling it, so realising that everybody in town already new that it was for sale we decided to approach the owner to see if we could get a viewing straight away and he duly obliged. The Café was quite busy although in his best salesman’s pitch he did point out that it wouldn’t normally be this busy on a Monday and he couldn’t work out why it had been today. The Café was presentable but we had noticed that there used to be a Coles Supermarket virtually opposite and it had relocated to somewhere else in the town so presumably a fair amount of passing trade was now passing somebody else’s Café. The figures were good but we don’t feel that it is quite right and there are no toilet facilities for customers nearby which would be one of the criteria in our ideal business.
When we were still in England Ian had picked up on a Café in Busselton, The Olde Chapel Café, that he liked the look of and had contacted the Agent about it, monitoring it from afar, finding out as much as he could about it, even to the point of signing a Confidentiality Disclosure Document and faxing it back so that he could see the figures and see how it was trading. Ian was convinced that it would make a good business but about 2 weeks before we left the UK the agent said if we are interested we need to say so now because somebody had put in an offer, obviously we had to let it go because we wouldn’t be able to view it for at least 2 weeks and even then we would have to view other ones to know what we were comparing it to, but we told the agent that if it fell through he should let us know.
Well the agent has not been in touch but Ian wanted to find it anyway, Ian had seen it on the map before so it didn’t take long before we found it and it still looked as unloved as it did on the internet, it was closed so we had a look through the window and then walked into the Shopping Centre to look at it through the main door and both thought that it needed a bit of work but the fact that it was closed while every other shop in the Centre was open meant that there was obviously room for growth. By the door there were stickers on the wall saying Café for sale with a couple of phone numbers, we couldn’t understand this because the agent new that we were now in Australia and hadn’t contacted us to say it was back on the market so we decided to ring and find out. We rang the first number and got through to a firm of Solicitors who knew nothing about it so we rang the second number which was on ansaphone, the third number was answered by the Owner of the Café who said that although technically the business was still under offer she had doubts as to whether it was going to go through. We explained to her that we were only in town for the day and asked if we could have a viewing and 10 minutes later she was showing us around, we think the agent must have mentioned us in the past because she seemed to have some idea as to who we were.
The place was a bit untidy, in need of a good clean and generally in need of some TLC but there was obvious potential there and it is right opposite Coles the Supermarket. She made it perfectly clear that she did not want to be there and also that she did not particularly like the potential buyer that she was selling to at the moment, we made it clear that we may be interested in taking it further if the sale fell through so she gave us as much financial details as she had on her and also the agents number and said that she would contact the agent herself. This Café looks like it could be promising. We rang the agent who said that it was still under a period of Due Diligence at the moment and that it might fall through but that there was also a local family that were also interested so he would keep us informed.
We then went for a walk around the town and had a look at a couple of other sites but neither of them tick all the boxes although one of them, which we got from the agent in Bunbury is in a great position but it is a Franchise and we haven’t read through the Terms and Conditions yet.
From there it was time to take a look at the seafront, we parked up in this immaculate tree-lined car park right by the waters edge and took a stroll to the beach we are right by the Jetty (probably the most famous part of Busselton) and we have fallen in love with this town, everything this afternoon that we have seen with regard to the layout of the town, the ambience, the Jetty and parkland close to the beach, the free parking, the cleanliness it has all gone towards convincing us that this is where we should be. Obviously there is a lot more to a town than this so before we came home we drove down as many residential streets as we could find looking at the quality of the housing in the area and we looked in quite a few Realty Agents windows and could see that we could afford property down there although by this time the agents were all closed so we couldn’t pick up any details. Carolyn will go on line and check out Schools tomorrow because we know that there are at least a couple of businesses out there that might fit the bill.
With that it was time to drive home, we drove to Bunbury and it was getting close to 9pm, now bearing in mind that it is virtually impossible to get any food over here after 9pm we thought it might be prudent to grab a take-away and also it might shut the kids up. We stopped at a Chicken Treat (a bit like KFC) and we were the third from last people to get served, talk about cutting it fine.
We unwrap all the food so that the kids can see what they are doing and then set off; the kids soon finish eating and nod off and we were just driving along pitch black country roads, relatively straight but without catching up with or being over taken by a single vehicle we supposed that everybody else must have been keeping to the same speed limits as Ian. We got home close to midnight absolutely shattered but glad that we have still got the courtesy car because we are certainly clocking up some mileage, sorry kilometerage in it and at this rate if we were using our own car we would be needing to service it every month, it might drive like a dog but it is doing us a favour at the moment.

A night out without children......

Saturday 16th February 2008
Sharon has heard through a friend that there is a Busy little Café up for sale in Warwick shopping Centre, she knows the Vendors name but nothing else so we have decided to go and have a look at it. It was busy and appeared to have the right criteria for us if the price was right, so Ian took the kids off for a wander while Carolyn spoke to the Owner and it turns out that he and his wife had come over on the same visa as us, had bought the business which had helped them meet the requirements for gaining residency and were now getting rid of it because they had never wanted to do this type of work over here but it was what they were good at back home so it was a safe bet. Unfortunately an offer had been accepted on it about 2 weeks earlier so Carolyn left our number with him and he said he would let us know if anything changed.
From there we went to a Gelato shop in Mount Hawthorn that has been on the market for a little while, it is cheap because it is not selling much Gelato and we were only looking because it is in a great position, in a lovely area and we thought that if you could fit it out with a Kitchen that it could be the answer to our dreams, alas it is too small to fit a Kitchen in so we can forget about that one.
On the way home we decided to come back via Hillary’s Boatyard which we had been informed was the in-place to be unfortunately it did not do much for us as the whole set up was designed to take every last penny out of your pocket and whilst it had a lovely safe swimming area for the kids the area was surrounded by things for children to spend money on and it would most definitely not have been a relaxing trip if we had decided to stop there. We then went to Mindarie Harbour which is the closest Harbour to Sharon’s house and had a little stroll around there admiring the boats as we went, according to the map you should be able to reach Mindarie beach from here but they are in the middle of developing that side of the Marina, so it is just one big building site at the moment.
In the evening Sharon and Malcolm offered to baby-sit the kids so that we could go out for the nice, romantic meal that they did not get round to having on Valentines Day. We decided to go down to the Marina because there are a couple of places to eat and drink down there. The Marina was busy and we went into the Indian Ocean Brewhaus and Grill first, the beer was alright but Expensive $7.40, the Restaurant area was fully booked and they don’t serve food after 9pm, we didn’t fancy eating Bar Snacks on a High Table with the Band 10 feet away so we walked round to the next hostelry, the Boat.
The Boat was heaving but we managed to get a drink and a menu, although they don’t serve food after 9pm, we managed to find a table outside on the patio next to 2 tables of Brits Abroad, the language was a bit choice but the band were good. We decided what we wanted to eat and Ian joined the queue to order it, after about half an hour Ian returned having ordered the food and been told that it will take about 45 minutes to come out. Time to go and get another drink, this queuing lark is bad for your health, when the pager that they have given us to alert us that the food is ready starts buzzing (shortest 45 minutes I’ve ever known). The food was pretty good considering how much they were pumping out, the band were still good and the Brits Abroad were slowly starting to stagger home when the staff started to close the Pub windows, we can only assume that it is to avoid upsetting the neighbours that live on the waters edge.
We went indoors to continue listening to the band and found out that the pub closed at 10.45pm so we quickly called a Taxi to avoid the rush at closing time and when it tuned up, would you believe it the driver was Polish and he didn’t know where he was going, just like being back in the UK.
When we got back Sharon, Malcolm and the kids were still sitting up watching DVD’s and the kids looked very pleased with themselves after being spoilt all evening.
When the kids had gone to bed we sat down with Sharon and Malcolm and polished off 1or 2 tinnies until about 2am whilst putting the world to rights.