Grand opening is on us ! Oh, God help us, not really much into praying, but today I was !
Shaking with excitement and nerves !
Had we ordered enough stock ? Would the three of us behind the bar be enough ? Would anyone come ?
Glad rags on, wanted to look amazing for the opening night, well the best I could !
Everything looked as good as I could possibly make it, clean tidy, painted, as new as we could ! It had cost us a lot of money, a lot of time and a lot of blood, sweat and even a few tears ! But we were here now and time to really start our new life in the most massive way !
The doors opened on that fateful night, a warm March evening, in this amazingly beautiful white Spanish village. The air was heavy with the suspense of the night ahead !
Waiting, no crowds at the doors as they opened, why did I think at 7pm on a Friday night there would be a queue round the sports centre and the mile into the village, ok maybe a little ambitions, but then so was what we were doing !!
No I am so nervous, my heart is jumping out of my chest, I am pacing and pacing, sweating and shaking, doesn't really go with my Diva Landlady image I wanted to put across!
7.30 pm no customers, oh God, no one is coming ! What have we done ! Busy myself moving things that don't need to be moved !
7.40pm thank you, thank you, thank you our first customers arrive ! A car full of people who have travelled 25kms to get to our opening night. Our friends from Albox, Barry had met these people through his passion for Cricket and although we didn't spend a lot of time with them, we got on ! Rory had a bar in Albox at the time and his help had been priceless. Mas had the Indian restaurant in Albox and again help had been priceless. But the really amazing thing was that they had put staff in to cover their businesses to come and support us ! You just can't buy that sort of genuine kindness and friendship !
That was it we were off, now people were coming slowly but surely. The local expats and then as time ticked by the Spanish, yes they had come !
Spanish people unlike us Brits go out late, hardly ever before 9.30 for a night out !
And they came !
The local shop keepers, the mayor all there to support us mad Brits.
I was relaxing into the swing now, calming down, first hurdle over, people were here and even better we were coping!
Everyone was mixing Expats and locals, talking the best they could, people were even dancing, along with me of course. It is totally impossible for me to not take up an opportunity to dance, don't get me wrong, I am no Ginger Rogers, but I love it !
I am famous around the village for my fiesta dancing, not sure if that is for the right reasons or wrong ! But hey who cares, I have fun !!
The Grand Opening went well, better than I could have dreamed or hoped. We ended up having more Spanish locals than expats and everyone had fun ! Had they had enough fun to return, looked like it, but you never can be sure. We finally shut the doors at 2.30am.
The nerves had gone, we might just pull this off ! Tired, aching, excited and flying high on the adrenaline of what we had achieved so far we closed the doors and went home to our much needed bed with huge smiles running ear to ear on our faces !
What would day two hold ?
Exciting times for me, find out why, by reading my latest blog and/or take a look at this video, see why I am so excited I can hardly sit still !!
http://www.empowernetwork.com/almostasecret.php?id=samritchie
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