Merry Christmas from Brightwater Holidays

Friday 17th December 2010

And so the Brightwater year comes to an end pretty much as it started - the car park is like a skating rink and we had a moaning delivery driver who begrudgingly off-loaded our 2011 holiday brochures, with the first pallet falling off the back of the lorry spilling boxes of brochures everywhere. Andrew and I proceeded to spend the next hour and a half transferring said brochures to be stored in the basement of the office. It is one of the true signs of a good Tour Operator - can you off-load a lorry of two tons of brochures between the snow showers?!
Thank you Andrew, above and beyond the call of duty.
As soon as we had the brochures in the dispatch room, the girls were sending the first ones out.
To order your copy simply contact info@brightwaterholidays.com although all tours are of course featured on our website www.brightwaterholidays.com
Talking of the website we have recently moved web consultant so look out for some new features in the New Year.
It has been a week of ticking boxes getting through jobs that had to be done before the Christmas Holidays - I was in West Wittering near Chichester on the south coast on Tuesday night talking to a really nice Gardening Club - big turn out - which was nice. Driving home late at night I had wonderful views of Salisbury Cathedral lit up in the clear night sky - what a beautiful building it is. The next 'box' was to drive to Cupar from Somerset with my son Angus and our two dogs. The drive was uneventful, which is how we like them, although we did smash our record of Eddie Stobbart lorries seen in one journey - 150 - surely an unbeatable tally?
Another 'box' was the delivery of the brochures - but I've told you about that.
Then we had the Brightwater Christmas night out, which entailed a Witches and Ghosts walking tour around Old St Andrews followed by a hearty supper in a local pub.
I'm going to be sentimental now, so watch out - It was really nice for me to look around the table and see everyone laughing and having fun - at the end of another year with Brightwater Holidays. A year of Volcanic Ash, Strikes, terrorism, sand storms, sea storms, drought, heat strokes, broken-down coaches, lost luggage and cancelled flights. But also a year of thousands of wonderful garden visits and holidays to every corner of the country, indeed the world; archaeological wonders, happy passengers, poetic passengers, poetic Tour Managers! Another year of Brightwater Holidays.
What will 2011 bring? I can't wait to find out!
Merry Christmas from all at Brightwater Holidays.
See you next year.
Graeme Mitchell, Managing Director

Beech tree wisdom

Monday 6th December 2010

After struggling into the office today via Prestwick Airport, Glasgow Queen Street, Edinburgh Haymarket and Cupar Railway Stations - I was met with about two feet of snow. Trudging into Eden Park House I past my favourite Beech tree and thought to myself how many snowstorm has it seen?

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas!

Friday 3rd December 2010

The year is ending just like it began - up to our knees in snow and we need no reminding about the disruption that snow and wintry weather makes to the economy of the country when everything is at a standstill. Monday bought the first wave of heavy snow to the east coast. I arrived at Bristol Airport at five-thirty in the morning to be met with a cancelled sign - Edinburgh Airport was closed due to the snow. I crawled back to a slumbering house. To be honest I have never been so relieved to see a flight cancelled sign, as had I got to Edinburgh I would probably have got stuck there - and as I had two important meetings in London on Wednesday I felt better to at least be in the south.
Meanwhile staff were battling the elements to get into the office in Cupar. Moira (bless her) arrived by tractor - over and above the call of duty, but will look good at her staff appraisal. Alison was stuck under two feet of snow in Kinross. A few others made it in but the conditions were chaos.
Tuesday was no better - worse in fact - Alison now under three feet of snow! Andrew makes it into Cupar but has a hell of a job on the way home.
Wednesday - no-one makes it into the office as the roads in Fife are clogged with abandoned cars.
Meanwhile in Somerset I depart at 0445hrs in dark and freezing conditions to catch the 0600 train to London in order to get to the RHS's offices in central London for a nine o'clock meeting with Sue Biggs the new Director General (i.e. Top Gun). She has recently been appointed to the position and after 20 years of running Kioni Travel so I was keen to meet her. I wasn't disappointed, she was a clear thinker, sharp as a tack and hopefully someone with whom we can do business.
A quick dash across London to meet up with our colleagues at the Guardian newspaper who were all on great form and a very positive meeting was had. I then lost an afternoon of my life traipsing across London and its suburbs to Twickenham St Mary's to pick up some items that were left behind at the recent AITO conference - don't ask - but I was not best pleased with a certain co-director of Brightwater Holidays!
I dashed back to Paddington just to miss the last off-peak train back to Bristol - the thought of pretending to be asleep or hiding in the loo while the ticket inspector came round to check my off-peak ticket did actually spring into my mind - but the gods were smiling on me and for once the inspector did not call. Home by 7.30 to collapse in a heap in front of the fire. It is so glamorous this Travel Business!
Thursday brought progress when Alison eventually digs herself out of Kinross and other staff members avoid Cabin Fever setting in by getting into the office. Not much is done other than cancelling our Metro Shopping Weekend - much to the passenger's relief - but to the anger of the hotel concerned. We also sign off our Daily Telegraph holiday insert for January.
Friday brings to an end a week that I think we would all hope to forget - hopefully next week will be better and marginally warmer.
Stay warm, stay safe.