Wordsley, Stourbridge, England: 12 degrees, cool, sunny and slightly overcast.
Friday is a day filled with movement in the morning and evening. Waking early, a brief half-hour chat on the phone with Julie, then exercise, a blog post, and out into the street.
It is Friday, so I don’t usually have any classes early, which allows me to do my rounds, including the two cafes, supermarkets, and anything else that my mother or I may need.
I passed by Luke’s Cafe, but it was closed. Although it was early, it should have been open, but it wasn’t. His business is going downhill rapidly, and I need to speak with him about it. I went to Jim’s café, where Julie works. It was her day to work, but she wasn’t there yet; it’s still early. When I arrive early, there are very few people present, so it’s a good opportunity either to discuss business or gossip.
Jim is a very nice Scotsman, and from what I understand, he was brought up in Germany; he still has a very strong Scottish accent. I believe they have money, but they prefer to work. For me, the café is a success; now it is just a matter of them building on the success they already have.
Julie entered, and we complimented each other from a distance. She’s working, and I would like to kiss her, but she seems shy. I don’t really want to overexpose our relationship, but a quick peck on the lips would be nice. I had brought my computer with me, so during the first hour, I prepared and finally published my blog post for the day.
I then put my laptop away, and now it was time to try to catch up on my journal entries. It’s been a hectic week, but I can’t fall too far behind, as consistency is key to success.
As I am now considered both a regular of the cafe and a local of Wordsley and Kingswinford, while I am writing, there is always somebody coming over to talk to me. Or they know me, or they want to know me, or they want to know why I’m writing or studying.
When it was time to leave, I couldn’t see Julie at the counter, so I left. I thought she might have been hiding from me because I had wanted a kiss and that she would have been embarrassed, but she wasn’t; she had only gone to wash her hands.
How would I have known that?
When she had finished her work, the first thing she did was to message me to find out why I hadn’t said goodbye. This topic went on for almost the whole weekend; it wasn’t really stressful, but she wanted to ‘step on my neck,’ a Brazilian expression, so that it wouldn’t happen again.
On the way back home, I passed by Luke’s Cafe, and now it was open, but it was deserted. He commented that he was lost and didn’t know what he wanted to do. We talked, and I said that maybe I would have a proposal for him, but we wouldn’t be able to speak, either now or tomorrow, only next week. Saturday morning, I had arranged to visit the greyhounds at a shelter with Julie, so it would only be possible next time.
It always fascinates me how two businesses in the same region, doing essentially the same thing, can have vastly different outcomes: one is very successful, while the other is not. Is it due to the competence of the owners and the mentality behind the businesses, or is it a matter of luck, or a combination of both?
Jim’s cafe is doing very well, but it is clear that he knows what he wants. He has identified his market in terms of quality and price, and he is completely dedicated. Whereas Luke has the potential to do very well, he has not yet identified his marketing price, and he doesn’t seem as dedicated as Jim.
Luke is a nice guy with potential, but if he complicates his situation and doesn’t focus on what he needs to do for his own business, he will encounter problems. Sometimes, people overcomplicate what they need to do to ensure their work or business succeeds.
Often in life, success isn’t rocket science; it simply requires focus and discipline!!!
When I arrived home, my mother was out; she had gone to Stourbridge to attend to some matters. When she came back, she told me that she had gone to the Stourbridge branch of the West Bromwich Building Society to sort out the confusion with the b#tch manageress of the Kingswinford branch.
The staff at the Stoubridge branch agreed that the manageress had crossed the line and gave my mother six months to withdraw money from her accounts on her behalf, if needed. They also told my mother that the manageress had reported the case to the head office, clearly to cover herself.
What a b#tch!
I hadn’t shouted or been aggressive; I was simply being objective in my argument. Clearly, a man contradicting a woman in her own Kingdom, her domain within her branch, would be considered sacrilege, but I didn’t mind. My mother and I discussed it a little more, and it was all more or less settled.
In the evening, I met Julie in Kingswinford village for a drink and possibly something to eat. When I had lunch with my mother at Wetherspoons on Wednesday, I noticed a Balti restaurant on the opposite side of the road facing Wetherspoons. It didn’t look very inviting during the day, as it was closed, but it brought back memories of my teenage years.
Before going to London, I used to regularly visit Mr Dave’s, the first and very famous iconic Balti restaurant on Lye’s High Street and in the region. It was very popular at the time; we’d often take our own drinks, and we would often stay late, being the last to leave at 2:00, 3:00, or 4:00 in the morning.
I met Julie in the Market Tavern in the village, her favourite pub; she loves the place and the barman. A young man named Grant, who is a lovely person and not just being falsely nice for trade. We had some desperados’ long necks, talked to Grant about the local restaurants, and then we were off. We passed in front of the Balti restaurant, and at night, it was a little quiet, but it looked quite nice and clean. We entered, and I was pleasantly surprised by the organisation and cleanliness of the place.
We ordered the food, and it was excellent, better than the Balti we had at a more upscale restaurant on Bewdley High Street a couple of weeks ago.
Balti dishes are typically served in large, oversized steel bowls. If you examine the food in terms of appearance, it might look like vomit in a bowl, but it was delicious. The food was good, and we were pretty pleased. When it was time to pay, I couldn’t pay with my card; I could only pay with cash. I didn’t have any cash on me, as I’m still waiting for my cash card from Brazil to arrive.
Luckily, Julie had cash, and it was relatively cheap. As we were leaving, I started to ask the very reserved and polite Indian manager about the business and other Balti restaurants, only to discover that he had worked at Mr Dave’s over 30 years ago in Lye.
How crazy is that?
We caught up and had a chat, and it was lovely to be current on what had happened since I left the area 30 years ago. It’s funny when you want to learn about how things occurred, which in turn fills many gaps in one’s memory from the past.
What a delightful and lovely evening at the Balti restaurant. I took Julie home, and once again, I passed by the bus stop, but this time I was lucky; a bus arrived in two minutes, so I was home in twenty minutes. My mother was in the backroom watching TV. I stayed with her for half an hour, sipping a glass of wine, then I went to bed.
In bed by 1:00 p.m.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
