A new beginning

So it is the early days of January 1969. I have had to wait because the coast was cut off due to snow. Yes that is correct. They say there is never any snow much on the coast but over Christmas and the New Year it was bad. However as soon as I arrived the weather changed and all of January was fine and sunny, cool yes but that is only to be expected in January. I managed to get all the exterior painting done, all of the interior ready for the opening day of 1st February.
At last the day arrived and you can guess, it snowed heavily once again. During the next fortnight the weather was bad drifts in the street up to 3ft. Not a good start to my adventure into business.
My opening times were every day from 8.00am until 10.00pm except Wednesday, I had an early day off. I used to close at 4.00pm. Mind you I was only 32 at the time. The customers were mainly young ones, they would not spend much but at least it gave me some idea as to what to expect , or so I thought.
It was the same sort of routine every day, I started to try to get some staff sorted, not easy when you have never had to do it before. I managed to get a cook for the season only, she said she would help me to get started. How greatful I was too. I also had a couple of youngsters so all was slowly taking shape.
From taking about £15 in a day, Easter hit me like a ton of bricks. Queues everywhere, no organisation, staff not knowing what they were doing and me running around like a headless chicken. It had to be sorted. Thank goodness it was only for 3 days. I decided to number every table. Believe this, I was the first person in the town to get organised like that. I told staff they would be responsible for the tables I alloted to them and no others. I then told them that when an order was placed it was to be put under the pile so that each order was worked on in rotation. Now at last I felt as if I was getting somewhere and that I could look forward to the next holiday Spring Bank Holiday. No May day, not yet introduced.
Now Spring Bank Holiday is far busier than Easter, it lasts for a whole week and it is the busiest week of the year. Of course I was not prepared for this, but I at least made a better fist of it than Easter and all considered I was satisfied. There were still trains running though and at teatime all seemed to congregate at the same time and all want fish and chips. Hopeless of course I could not supply that amount in such a short space of time. Times without number customers would come to the counter, pay for the tea and bread and butter, apologised and said they had to catch the train back home. This way I stumbled through my first season at the seaside. As soon as I saved any money, it was immediately put to good use purchasing some more equipment to aid the service to the general public.
The season ended abruptly, as soon as the children went back to school the season ended. The first week in September. To try to stretch the season a little longer there was a Carnival Week, this was supposed to give youngsters a chance to participate in games, but most were back at school. The Parade on the following Saturday was good though and did bring a certain amount of visitors in. But that was that. The Caravan Parks closed the second week in September, well most of them anyway. it was then back to struggling to make a living. It certainly had been a baptism of fire for me and I was sure that I would be far better prepared for the next season. So it was relaxing and planning for the 1970 season. To be continued.