as you were

what a day....


- back at the negotiating table for the pub, with some much improved outcomes. All is fair in love and war (and so it seems business) and after making unenthusiatic noises about the deal some of the more unreasonable requests evaporated and or shrunk to a manageable size. I'm still going to take it very easy with the contract negotiations though. No need to hurry....


- Booked in a lunch date with a young tearaway chef who may be keen to jump ship.


- talked to little bro about his apprenticeship and why sticking with it may be a good idea. I'm not going to launch into a tirade on the shortcomings of Gen Y, and their lack of work ethic and slim grip on reality. I successfully resisted the urge to tell him to harden the fuck up and thereby maintained cordial family relationships if not my blood pressure.


- heard from a young mate in Melbourne who's doing it a bit tough on the love front. He was starting to worry me a bit and we've been talking a lot and after some gentle prodding he's gone and finally got some help. Just counselling and a few pills to get him through the tough bits.


- had to lend a mate ten grand to buy a house. Only till Wednesday mind.

- got quotes on sexy shiny stainless steel machines that go ping. (and hopefully cook chips and wash glasses as well)

- wrote up the rankings for the young musician of the year award run by the local council of which I'm the sole and somewhat bemused judge.

- ate some fish and chips and did the dishes.

- practiced with the band with no name. Tonight's new songs were Fisherman's Blues and Tomorrow Wendy.

- collapsed in front of telly. Buggered.

in for a penny

in for a pound. The offer on the pub has been accepted. It's subject to about thirty eight different get out clauses and possible hitches, but at the moment it's looking pretty good. The landlord and current tenant have to come to some sort of detente, but once that's been acheived it should be a relatively quick process. Fingers crossed anyway.

Suddenly I've got so much to do - recruit a workforce, work on a menu with the chef (who is hopefully still keen to work for me) organise suppliers, acccountants, solicitors, permits, licence transfers and come up with a marketing plan...

I'd better get off the net.

nerves

yep I'm a bundle of them. The waiting game seems to be an integral part of pub sales. Nine months ago it was me on the other side of the fence, trying to hang tough and not drop my price. This time I'm the bad guy, putting in a brutally realistic offer to some people who really need to sell fast. The pressure they're under must be immense, waiting for another offer to try and drive the price up. I at least had solace of knowing the business I was selling was solid, not spinning slowly towards a nasty run in with the bailiffs. None of this really helps though, I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas when its still June.

To keep myself busy, I'm applying for jobs again. Just in case it all falls through, you know. One is pretty funny - a certain large bank is trying to recruit managers from the business community and I'm through to the third round. They've yet to meet me though, everything so far has been online or phone. I reckon things will get frosty when a lumbering, fat, hairy behemoth arrives wheezing and sweating at the personnel manager's office. The other job interview is tomorrow morning. Someone is opening a gastro pub deep in the heart of deliverance country, about half an hour from Ballarat. I'm kind of just going out of curiosity, they must be mighty brave folks. The town it's situated in is better known for thuggery and rum drinking rather than a nice pinot with some braised offal on a bed of red cabbage. Should be fun...