Three years ago today I flew away, with my friend Gilly, for some winter sun. This is something we’ve done almost every year of our adult lives. It’s a massive treat – we relax, chat, eat, drink and sleep a lot.
In 2016 we chose Dubai. It ticked the priority box for our holiday (good weather) and as a bonus we met up with some friends I’d studied for a master’s with in London.
We drank cocktails at a bar that was ‘most of the way’ up the world’s tallest building and did lots of eating out, a bit of running and some swimming – but mostly we just lay around in the sun and in my case daydreamed and hatched plans – and at some point during that week I had an epiphany.
At the end of the holiday, en route home from the airport, I stopped off in Burnsall to chat the then owner of the kiosk – and the Riverbank journey began. Three years on and I can hardly believe what’s happened.
With an incredible amount of help and talent in my corner, we’ve transformed the kiosk on the green. There have, of course, been tough times (very tough times) along the way and not all of the riverbank vision has been delivered yet (see below!), but it will be.
For me, life is very different. I love, love, love creating things that people enjoy. I love working with the riverbank team, chatting to customers and learning new things every day. I have put my heart and soul into it but I must confess, I am exhausted! My annual chill with Gilly has taken a back seat while the focus switched to establishing the new little business which, (apart from the building phase) has been open every Thursday to Sunday since August 2016. Until this week…
Just after Christmas I made a decision to close for a week and head off to the sun with my pal. I pinned notices up everywhere, told all of our regular customers (several times), updated Google, Instagram, Facebook and riverbankburnsall.com.
As a bonus I arranged for some snagging work to be done inside the building while I’m away and I’m sure the builders will tell me whether anyone turned up looking for lunch!
Like everything else, this is a test. Maybe closing (with plenty of notice), will work and maybe it won’t. Only one way to find out I guess – but as beautiful as Burnsall is, it’s lovely to have another view – and time to write a blog post…
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