The Bees was buzzin’

I am bleary eyed, exhausted but happy. The cafe is open at last, and the first hour was pretty eventful – more of that later. Since my last post a few days ago, I have spent much of my time on the herculean task of cleaning the cafe. Each investigation of another nook or cranny revealed more grease or grime. Each new purchase of storage containers or crockery meant another load of washing up to freshen them up for use. How the previous owners operated without a dishwasher I’ll never know. Installing a commercial one, that does a rack of plates in three minutes, will cost a packet (they cost easily ten times as much as a domestic one) but will be worth it. I loathe washing up. I think a main motivation for my cooking urge is it usually gets me out of the dirty business of washing up. I love it on Christmas Day when I can sit back with an aching stomach and watch everyone else clearing the table and washing away at all those troublesome trays, bowls and glasses. No matter that the meal took me hours to cook.

The cleaning is now done, and even though the cafe will of course become dirty again, at least I know that if I keep on top of it, the job will be one of maintenance rather than overhaul. The shopping for new stuff was fun. I have gone for an eclectic mix of TK Maxx and Habitat. I love TK Maxx. In lieu of Brighton’s appalling lack of a proper market, TK Maxx offers a similar experience. Full of tat and has-beens and never-will-bes, it has hidden gems if you dig deep, as well as the kind of silly stuff I will no doubt come to regret buying, but enjoyed the hunt even so. I bought some Laguiole (pronounced La-yoll) cutlery, because they have bees stamped into them. It’s not the real mccoy (despite the bogus authenticity leaflet included) as I couldn’t afford that, but I still like them.

And so to today. After a couple of 16 hour days trying to get everything sorted, it was time to take the plunge. As I dragged myself out of bed at 7am on a Sunday, I questioned the wisdom of this whole thing momentarily, but lingered longer over the wisdom of going to a party til 1.30 am this morning. But the party was great and everyone was so full of encouragement and heartfelt congratulations for going for it. People have been bloody nice to me these lasts couple of weeks. Thanks! I grabbed some bread, butter and juice from the Co-op, and a real gent at the other Co-op at Seven Dials swapped me some change. I got to the cafe and marked up my freshly painted blackboards with some brief menu details. Between one thing and another (most notably a troublesome printer) I havent really got a proper menu printed up, so I winged it today. Big breakfasts were a fiver, pancakes with bacon and maple syrup £3, hot drinks all £1.50. Those prices can’t last, but for a soft opening they’ll do nicely.

I toddled along the alleyway to put up my A-board, and set myself for what would probably be a quiet morning getting stuff done for the week ahead. Within 15 minutes I had seven customers! Ay caramba, trial by fire, or, more accurately, by griddle. A combination of mild panic and slight dithering gave way to a more pleasant feeling of ‘You can do this, me lad’. A sudden pop from the hot water boiler was a cause for concern, but no time to worry about that now, as I tried to remember who wanted what (made mental note:  there is a reason why waiters write these things down). The food and the service was far from perfect, but it wasn’t too bad at all, and there was a really nice atmosphere in the cafe, with people saying hello and chatting across the tables. You have to learn to walk before you can build Rome in a day. Or something.

In no time at all the morning had passed into afternoon and the sausages were running low! It felt great, and not even the realisation that the boiler was indeed kaputt, and so the pile of plates and cutlery and pans and serving spoons would need washing with kettlesful of boiling water, put a dent in my smile. It also helped that Jenni (my wife) came in and got the Marigolds on (Thanks Jen). As I cleared up and set the kitchen to rights, it did dawn on me that this is a relentless occupation (what do you mean ‘I should have thought about that already?’), and I had a lot to do to get myself set for tomorrow and the next day and so on. But nevertheless I felt that a rubicon had been reached and crossed. Off we go! And off to bed.