Eriska, Scottish Island

double power cut double annoyance!!

Yesterday like much of Scotland at half past 4 we were plunged into darkness. As it happened it was a particularly good time as we were having a meeting to finalise the annual accounts with the accountant and he was about to tell us how much his bill was going to be. Anyway Chay rushed off and  returned a few minutes later to tell us that the generator was in operation and that the power was due to be off for a few hours.

Over the next 30 minutes it became clear that Chay had his mind on other matters and indeed he started to get a little twitchy until eventually he came clean and admitted that he had had to borrow some of the fuel from the genreator and now needed to replace it unless we would run out of power. We parted company and he dashed off in his landrover- "to borrow" so supplies from my mothers tank. As my house and some of the staff accomodation is now on geothermal and solar power we could be little help on this occassion. Anyway true to form before Chay had returned the generator began to stall and eventiually the ligts went out - again. I remained reasoanbly philisophical, I thought, about thesituation, Chay began to sweat as I stood over him supervising the fuel transfer and within minutes we were up to speed.

However when Chay suggested a pause for a cup of tea as he predcited if he moved any fiurther fuel the power would be immediately restored by the national Grid I stood my ground and insisted that we move the correct amount of fuel to see us through the evening. True to his word as soon as the last tank was refilled there was a calll letting us know the power was resotored and we could put the generator back on standby- now noting that it was fully fueled.

This however was not the end of the story as this morning as I was seeing guests off I once again apologised for the disruption, as it happended most had been upstairs and once the generator had come on they had tried to watch the news but the lack of transmission had made this futile so many had simply opted for a short nap and therefore missed the excitment of Chays flashing light disco so by the time they had decided to prepare themselves for dinner we havd been up and running again. A lucky escape but probably a bit too close for my liking and hopefully the lesson has been learnt!!

Weather wc 29th March- Start of Brittish Summertime!

Well with the clocks leaping forward this is supposed to herald the start of summer time and certainly looking south to the green hills one could easily be fooled however if I spin round and look north the view is very different and although there are blue skies and lots of sunshine it is reflected off the white mountaincaps.

Ineed it was overnight on Friday that there was certainly a good deal of snow and even the Ski resort at Glencoe reported all runs open yesterday- Hardly the start of Brittish Summertime but maybe thats about to change!

Today: A bright but rather cloudy start with some light patchy rain, preceded by hill snow, around especially across the hills

Monday: Remaining rather cloudy with patchy mostly light rain at times.

Tuesday:Still the chance of outbreaks of rain but it is likely to remain largely dry. Moderate, occasionally fresh, southwest winds. 

Wednesday: Bright and mainly dry through the coming days with some good sunny spells and mainly light southerly winds.

Thursday: Brightest day of the weekwith plenty of sunshine and just a light breeze.

Friday:It will begin cloudy with outbreaks of rain and drizzle later in the day.

Saturday:Outbreaks of rain and drizzle may extend throughout the day and a wee bit cooler than earlier in the week.

 

It always seems to be the same the Electricty cuts out on the wet and windy Friday night, or the Grass cutter gives up the ghost on the day that the rain stops and the sun comes out despite a recent service, or the ironer in the laundry goes biserk on the mormning you have arranged to catch up on all the linen and teh day after it receives its annual maintenance call and so it was with the boiler last night. Half past 6 just as everybody was getting ready for dinner the first call came through about the water not being its usual self.

Fortunately for once we were prepared and had a new pump standing by so despite the gushing water and my ability to get it everywher but back down the pipe for a coupel of minutes we managed to get water back on and hot within 20 minutes! However youn can imagine my annoyance when I pointed out the issue and everybody admitted to being aware of it- but me- and told me it was scheduled for replacement next week- hence my ease at finding the parts!  Well disaster averted but only half a lesson learnt- the half about being prepared and keeping stock of spare parts, but not the half about fixing probelms when you know they exist and averting disatser before it happens!

Well teaching will continue! 

New Yachting Experience

Yesterday I was kindly invited to view a new business venture on the west coast- described as a luxury yachting experience I was intriguedand interested to have the opportunity of seeing the concept first hand. I had briefly looked at the website but had not really taken it all in and therefore arrived at Dunstaffanage Marina not fully prepared. My memories fell back to the 80's when I used to offer a yachting experience form the shores of Eriska in our own 33 foot Bermudan Sloop- Shuna of Melfort- now sadly gone (due to the cost of building swimming pools!)

In those days the day out began with a paddle out in a dinghy and then a bracing sail up the loch with all involved in handling the sails and boat and whilst much fun was enjoyed it was far from the luxurious experience I was to witness on board this new nventure. Firstly it was a sedate arrival stepping off the pontoon to be welcomed on board by the two well dressed crew members. The boat was spotless with all kinds of gadgets, where we would have checked the shipping forecast in themorning to check for weather warnings they now have 24 hour satellite surveillance to keep the weather at bay, where we offered good wholesome sandwiches and a beer they offer a wonderful lunchtime spread across a large table, where we would have offered the opportunity of following the latest Grand prix results on a crackley radio they offer satellite television- Oh how times have changed.

Seriously the boat looks more suited to the pontoons of Monaco and the service is akin to a hotel but as an interesting venture and one I certainly would wish them well with it certainly is. They plan to offer overnight or even longer cruises in the three cabins each ensuite but they also wish to offer up to 10 guests the chance of crossing to Iona for the day or even tripping down to Jura for a tasting at the distillery and whilst Iam certain it will be suitablyy expensive it does seem to  planning  a memorable day. I did however opt to get home before asking the price for fear I topple overboard with shock but as Ikeep reemphasizing to everyone providing it offers value for money then it will succeed and I for one would have no hesitation in recommending it to our guests and wish them well in their endeavors.

End of year time!

Our financial year at Eriska always concludes at the end of January, we did for a stage conclude the year in line with the government and finish in April but with our seasons getting longer and the desire not to finish up amidst the chaos of the festivities on the 1st of january the sensible choice seemed to be the end of January. This year however we were helped by being open for a few days in January so this helped supplement our income for the last financial year.

So today agfter much tooing and froing we finally met with the accountant to look over and reflect on the last 12 months. Whilst it is always an essential thing to do and helpful to have someone keep us on the staright and narrow there is certainly a feeling that we are in a completely different year and need to react and prepare for it ahead of reflecting on the past. As ever helpful tips from our accountant are always welcome and his skill at balancing the books especially any returns to the government are essential but in many ways its a shame becuase in the past this role was held by the bank manager who knew your business and was able to help and offer unbiased guidance but thats all changed and now the bank manager wants simply to sell products  but at least the Accountant is there to offer a friendly safety net - and does. 

So although I was happy to reflect on our accounts for 2008, and concerned about the year ahead I have left confident that we are doing all we can to prepare fro the onslaught and hopefully the worst will not come! If not I will question the accountants bill even more stringently! 

Weather wc 22 March

A guests just checked out and thanked us for all their help during their stay but especially for the weather we laid on. whilst it was very tempting to take credit for this element I was quick to point out that this area is still beyond our control, not to emphasize our humility but more to save us taking the blame if next time they vsisit it is maybe not quite so stunning. Anyway it just reinforces the fact that it has been a great week but I am afraid this welcoem to sprilng is about to end!"

Today: After a cloudy start it should stay mostly dry and bright with a few sunny glimpses.  However later and into the evening there will be with a few showers developing, especially over the hills.

Monday: Fresh westerly winds becoming strong later in the day will usher in a change in the weather.

Tuesday:There will be a good deal of dry and bright weather with sunny spells. Scattered showers will develop, especially in the West, wintry over the hills.

Wednesday : Mainly dry with sunshine but still a risk of showers.

Thursday: The showers will become frequent and heavy later in the day with gales and showers wintry on hills.

Friday: During the day unsettled and cool weather conditions are expected push in heralding heavy downpours that are likely to be wintry in nature on hills.

Saturday: a better day but cold on the hills although it will be clearer and still windy

Mountain of Mist!

  As I was driving home yesterday afternoon I was amazed coming down Stone Hill how low the cloud was and given how clear the skies had been and how bright the horizon was I was a bit shocked been plunged into the low visability. but then I soon realised why as I came accross the whole mountainside of Cruachan up in smoke. Clearly they were being more successful than me with my Muir Burn. Indeed I suspect that this was intentional unlike my office tidying escapade whihc nearly ended in disaster.

However it was impressive as 500 vertical Metres of  hillside was burning in a reasonably straight line and the only downside was that given the very low wind the smoke was begining to settle by the road. the weatehr must have been perfect with 7 days of no rain and bright sunshine and the still winds allowing a degree of control. I did however wonder how they stop it or whether indeed they just hope for rain before it reached the East coast!!

Hot Tub back in action

We have been working with jacuzzi for several year now and have always had exemplary service, either help over the phone or in worst case scenario the missing or broken part has arrive the next day so when we reopened in January after the refurbishment of the Sauna and steam Room and found that one of the jacuzzi pumps was not operational we simply though we would order the rreplacementand all would be rectified quickly. Thinking nothing of it we continued and although slightly weaker it was still in service.

Then two weeks ago it started blowing fuses and we discovered that the pump had not yet arrived and the fuses were simply caused by over anxious guests being a bit over zealous with the button thinking that although a sign explained the fault, pushing the button harder would somehow sort the issue but instead it was making mattes worse so last week it eventually gave up the ghost and we had to start chasing up the missing pump.

After a bit of chasing we eventually got to the bottom of the issue- the cold snap earlier this spring had lead to a number of clients tubs- which were turned off and had never seen snow- actually freezing and ruining the pumps- they are supposed to be drained in the winter if not in use! Anyway that had quickly used up the UK supply of spares and combined with the fact that the credit crunch had led to less pumps being in stock in the USA meant that a delay was inevitable.

However the good news is that today the new pump and more importantly more fuses arrived and after a bit of crawling around in the dark Chay and Eric had us back in full operation. at the same time we did check with Jacuzzi if we ought to hold a pump in stock and they simply laughed saying that it was a very rare occasion that a pump blew and even rarer occasion that they would not have them in stock. Believing them we have therefore not ordered a spare but I have made a note in the diary to order one in the autumn so that we are not caught out. Sods law now says that at least it will insure that we get a nice mild winter next year!!

Travel Agents like Buses

Whenever we meet as hoteliers it is amazing how we often commend how our business is like feast or famine with either the House being very busy or very quiet when ideally a steady flow would make life both easier and staffing simpler. so it seem ismy dealing with the travel agent community. Last week I dashed to Zurich to meet our main agent Falcon travel and we held a good meeting and had the opportunity to show off Eriska dn Scotland. Then last night by coincidence we had a visit from 20 of the main travel agents in Switzerland who use Falcon Travel.

In reality had the latter been arranged first I may have canceled my Swiss trip but that would have been short sighted as we did not see the same people and certainly showing off eriska to those in the front line is an essential part of spreading the word but actually having the chance to develop a relationship with those who actually finally place the booking is vital too. The tour leader had already received a presentation from me in Zurich and it was especially nice that having ooed and aahed at the images from the projector she told me that the scenery an landscapes of Scotland were even more impressive- not bad from someone who comes from such stunning scenery as the Swiss alps!

Anyway i think we are now ready to welcome visitors from Switzerland with all the difficulty we had describing the cheese trolley and the difference between Ewes Cheese and Cheap Cheese which clearly comes from woolly animals that Baa!! I have opted to avoid explaining Haggis this morning- better left to fabrice and his grasp of the French language!

Weather wc 15th March

Having pushed Chay the last time we were closed to complete the window exchange on the first floor on the premise that  next available dates would be dreadful weather, of course last week when we were closed the weather would have been fine for changing the windows- such is life but at least we now benefit from silent warm rooms now with no ratt;le in sight and no draft in play.

So whats ahead for next week:

Today Mainly cloudy but most places starting off dry. Patchy rain over North Argyll during the morning, edging south to many other parts later in the day. Freshening southwest winds so the iwndows will get more testing!

Monday Cloudy with rain clearing later in the day.

Tuesday: Dry with sunny spells and light winds .

Wednesday: The best day of teh week with sunshine among the clouds

Thursday:After a spring-like startto the week today, there are now expectations that colder weather will return

Friday. Should start mostly dry and very mild, even warm, with some good spells of sunshine,

Saturday After a bright mild start toi the weekend winds turning into the east are expected to bring much colder weather westwards