Leonard Cohen
For those of you who follow my blog, you may recall that last April, as we were entering winter and what seemed to be the toughest economic times ever, I wrote about our austerity campaign at the Cafe. I kept it light and cheerful, but the truth was a bit more grim. I really thought we might lose our business. But, we made some hard decisions, cut back, worked harder and smarter and by the time winter was drawing to end in August, we were feeling slightly more optimistic. Spring was in the air and customers would soon be venturing out, and if we kept up our work harder and smarter attitude, we’d probably be okay. Whew!
Now, my point. We have been at the Hilltop for almost seven years. However, the building has been let down in recent years, with very little attention being paid to her by her owner (we have the lease and are only responsible for the business). Gutters and the roof have been leaking, a quickie, cheapo paint job a few years back is flaking, the fence falls down every time one of those gale force winds packs a punch. About a year ago, our landlord informed us that she had finally sold the property and we would be getting a new landlord. Fantastic! Anyone buying the property would certainly want to look after it, right?
Ironically, the gentleman who bought the property died about 6 hours before the final signatures were to trade hands. The family did not want to lose the deposit, so they allowed the sale to go through. Then, the bickering started… We continued to pay rent, but had no idea who it was going to, and we continued to have no maintenance done. This added greatly to my despair during the austerity campaign!
In July, we decided not to pay the rent – not so much because we couldn’t, but because we wanted to get a rise out of someone. At the beginning of August we got a call from 'Dave'. The family had resolved things and he was our new landlord. We explained our frustration and he agreed to come up and see us. He also forgave us part of the arrears on the rent. He owns a number of properties in Christchurch and seems to be pretty switched on.
The following week he turned up with some builders, had a good look around, and to make this long story slightly shorter, about two weeks later we had a stunning new fence, fixed gutters, and the roof no longer leaked.
But, on September 4th, we were violently awakened by a massive earthquake. Amazingly, no one was killed and few were injured. Sadly, many of
Built in 1932, The Old Lady (The Hilltop) is an old building. But she was built to weather those frequent gale force winds and snow, so the earthquake was not a big deal for her. Lots of superficial cracking in the exterior and interior plaster and a broken window were about the extent of the damage to the old girl. The gate on the new fence didn’t close anymore, though!
Dave came out again with another team of builders (they fixed the gate) and they completely surveyed the property. A few days later Dave called.
“I want to re-plaster the outside of the building. And then, of course, we’ll have to repaint. You need to start thinking about what colour you want. Is that alright?”
“And they are going to re-jib and re-plaster the upstairs bedrooms and stairwell, and of course, repaint that, too. Is that okay?”
“Oh, and the electrician will take the conduit off the outside of the building and hide it, and relocate the outside lights so they are in a better position. Will that be alright?”
“Oh, and that idea you had about opening up the gents toilet in the bar and making it disabled accessible and have a baby changing facility… Well, they want to start work on that on Monday. Is that okay with you?”
“Oh, and by the way, this team of builders is one of
Well, the scaffolding crew arrived last Thursday, and spent all day Thursday and Friday erecting the metal frame. The Old Lady looked a bit grim in her new attire, but it was clear that something was happening – something big! We worked through the weekend, and planned to close Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week, as we felt the work would be a bit off putting to customers and it would give us a bit of a break before the crazy holiday
Well, when we arrived at 9:00 Monday morning, the scaffolders were back at it, the electricians van was parked outside, the interior plasterers were prepping the disabled toilet, the painter’s apprentice was prepping some woodwork while he was setting up to paint the re-modelled toilet, the builders were jibbing away upstairs and the exterior plasterers had neatly taped plastic over ALL the windows, including the big front ones that feature our view. ‘Danger! Building Site’ signs abounded. Chef Vojta diligently had muffins in the oven and had set up the deli, but The Man and I looked at each other and said, ’We’re not opening today are we?’ We met everyone, answered questions, inspected the work in progress, and then made them all cappuccinos, for which they were grateful. Seeing as how we had a deli full of baking that wouldn’t be selling anytime soon, we set out a plate of cookies, and really won them over!
So, that’s our routine this week! Go to work, be amazed at the progress, and prepare the workers ‘morning tea’, or ‘smoko’ and then work on our lengthy list of home chores and work chores.
While my eyes keep welling up with tears, I can’t quite wipe the stupid grin off my face! There really was a crack in everything……..but that’s how the light has gotten in!
We're not quite done yet, but this gives you a taste!
