Day 4 - This is Me (Part 2)

Before I get into this I am constantly amazed by the persevering stupidity of some people who drive up and down the south coast between 'texas and Port Shepstone or thereabouts.
In just about every newspaper there is a a story about some idiot caught driving at 190/200/210/220/230 kmh (this is the interactive part so please, pick a speed) - so you would think, I think, that if this stretch of road is overly populated with officious speed cops standing behind bushes trapping people then people would be clever enough to drive a bit slower.
Personally I enjoy speed and don't care either way if you speed but c'mon, really, don't complain if you're dumb enough to do it on this stretch of road.


I could get a bit philosophical here and try and convince you that this is but the tip of a melting iceberg and the reason SA is this and  SA is that...but (another but) it's not! That stupid people inhabit our space is beyond our control...anyway, enough whining for today!


The Old White Lion, East Finchley...majestic old boozer in north London supported by just about every villain living in Hampstead Heath, the students from the McDonald's University (yes that McDonald's and yes they do have their own university) and a good few commuters from the tube station next door.
The up side as a 25 year old recent but former back packer from SA: I could live upstairs for free, I had more than enough space for my mates to work and live in the pub too (also illegal workers from the dreaded SA), I was earning a reasonable'ish wage and on the way to doing something sort of respectable with my life! The down side: 7 days a week, dealing with needy people - both staff and customers - and having a lot of responsibility!
As luck would have it, in the same 'hood an Aussie had set up a furniture removal company and employed only Aussie and Kiwi blokes to move the stuff around. They discovered my pub and the rest is history....'cos as you know, after South Africans, the Aussies and Kiwi travelers thought they could drink! 


About this time my sister and I went off to the US for a holiday - a bit of time in NYC & Washington and ended up in Orlando. Now this is a story that I have told a million times...an absolute stranger we met at a mall gave us the use of her 350SLC Merc for a whole week and at no charge. No catches, no stories, wanted nothing from us...other than to return the car (I think she was quite relieved to see us though at the end of the week) so the next time you knock the Americans remember this story. In all my travels this, to me, was the single most generous event I have ever experienced. Made even more special as we had no intention of hiring a car because we couldn't afford it anyway and now we could do the whole Disney, Epcot thing etc.
While all this was going on I had taken a promotion to move to a different pub so on returning to the UK - once again, kak from immigration at Heathrow - I moved to the Nightjar - same deal as before, just better pay and now out of London, in Poole, Dorset. 
Every pub has a story and every pub has its characters, in the previous pubs it was the Aussies and the Kiwis and a tramp who used to live on the allotment, at the Nightjar, it was the former South African and now retired British Army Regimental Sergeant Major - him and I hit it off like a house on fire (although I have to admit it was disturbing and somewhat embarrassing when he started saluting me after one too many!)


It was now mid '95 - the Rugby World Cup in SA was imminent - and being this passionate and loud mouthed Seffrican I arranged for the biggest TV I could find to be installed in the pub. 
Opening game: South Africa vs Australia. We won. I was found. Passed out cold on the beer garden bench. By my wife. Ah yes, my popularity levels at home took some time to recover from that one. Great pub with some great people but on the progress route now so was promoted to a brand new opening called Edwards - sort of city bar cum niteclub in Bournemouth.
And my first taste of running a niteclub! Wasn't too excited about the salary that I was offered but quickly worked out that the bonus was gonna be massive because who ever had done the initial forecast had vastly underestimated the potential of the place (and of course my charming presence and enviable talent!!!)
I was on a role - the same area manager who had given me my first appointment to the Old White Lion and then moved me to the Nightjar and then gave me Edwards was promoted to some higher corporate role, her replacement came into the company already in senior management and it seemed destined for great things so I was pretty sure that my star would continue to shine....and
once again it did, ...bigger things were beckoning!
Its now 1997...life is good and about to get better...but more on that later.


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Until tomorrow!