Hello everyone. Well what a couple of weeks it’s been. A thousand pardons for not blogging last week but I had to go home to take care of some family matters.
Right, I left you last time with New Year’s behind us and I had a new positive attitude towards 2012. Well, adversity once again flew in the face of Glenn Sheridan. The first Tuesday back to work (Jan 3), we had a really good lunch. Dinner was well on its way when, lo and behold, I saw a fire truck pull up out front. Being a curious George, I went outside to see what was going on. The store 2 doors down, was engulfed in flames!! And let me tell you it was raging! So I could tell that with all the fire trucks on main street, we were probably done for the night. I felt so bad for the owners. I mean, I’ve seen fires before but, you never know what the person has really lost. Yes insurance will cover “things” but pride, blood, sweat and tears can never be replaced. The fire brigade got the fire out pretty quick or so I thought. Kyla needed a ride home so I thought I’d take her home and come back and see what would happen to Le Bon Marché. When I got back, the entire upstairs of that business was a light. Now it was serious! I watched the brigade work diligently. My brother Ken was a fire fighter and is now a Fire Marshal (or what ever they’re called today) so it was neat to watch these guys doing their job. I understand a bit more now what Kenny went/ goes through. As I said before, there’s nothing like watching someone do what they do best. And these guys were amazing to watch. At 11:30 the fire seemed to be out and I got a hold of the Chief to ask if he thought LBM would be alright? He said we should be ok. So with that, I left to go home for the night.
Wednesday I came in at 10am only to find the fire burning again!!! I got a hold of a fire captain and asked if I could go in and look around LBM. He accompanied me inside and we did a walk through. To my astonishment, there was not a single bit of damage. No water or smoke had come in. What a relief I thought. Unfortunately, I couldn’t open Wed because of safety reasons. So I left to do a couple of business errands, had lunch with Jake then went home and played Legos with the kids. I built a plane FYI. Thursday morning, I was back in town and to my horror, the street was closed off. The side walks were also closed off too. We did two ppl. Here I was, lucky enough to escape damage and yet I was suffering anyway. I hit facebook and called ppl telling them we were still open. But it made no difference. Friday I went to a DIA Press release to find out what was happening. I had already talked to Ken, and I had a feeling that things weren’t going to be good for LBM. While at the press release, a reporter asked if she could have a few words. I didn’t know what to say. Jake and Amy are always on me for being negative, so I told it how it was. I was lucky to have escaped the fire but unless ppl came to support the downtown, we would be closing the doors. January is a bad month for the hospitality industry as it is. This could kill us. We did 5 on Friday.
Well, Saturday we opened up at 11am and ppl were waiting at the door! “We read your article” they said and “we’re here to lend support”. A City Counsellor was the first one in. Some of these people had been into the Resto and loved it and others were there just because they didn’t want to see us fold. My favourite (which almost put me in tears), was a little old lady who said. “I want to support you but all I can afford is a bowl of soup”. I’m a pretty insensitive guy but that lady really hit me hard. I was beside myself. This is what you watch on T.V. Small town disaster and everyone pitching in to help. I was and am still, in awe at the ppl who came to my side in a time of need. One owner, who also lost her business to the fire, came in to support me even though she had lost everything. Wow!!! I refused to let her pay. I just couldn’t.
So Sunday comes around and I had to do my family thing for a few days. Kyla was left running the show. I took off. Then another shocker hits me. Two Resto’s in town (good ones too) closed their doors and were gone. Wow just like that. I don’t think this person is in trouble, but it just goes to show you, you never know what someone’s going through. This is why I like this blog. Anyone who knows me will tell you. I tell it like it is and I don’t mince words. That has resulted in what I call, a low friend count. However, I am very honest and loyal to the friends I do have.
Friday I had to don on the whites again as Kyla needed a couple of days off. Wow my retirement from the kitchen lasted 12 days. Call me Troy Aikman ha ha ha. I had a great time being back in the kitchen but Kyla is back next week so back out front I go. Now I’m friends with some of the staff from the Japanese restaurant Kabuki House. Anyway they called me up on Saturday and said they wanted to come to Le Bon Marché for drinks and dinner. I said sure, can you bring me some sushi? They agreed and brought me some over. So there we were, sitting in LBM, they were eating French food and I was eating Japanese food. Absolutely brilliant!!! It’s great to be working in tandem to make North Bay a dynamic place to dine. We have the talent here. Ppl just need to realize it. I apologize for the winter menu being late. The fire and my family thing set me back a bit. I hope to have it out by next week. I wrote the “L’heure Verte” (coming Feb 7th) and the Valentines Day menu’s today. We will also be having a poetry reading on Valentines evening as well. As you know, Le Bon Marché is “just a little bit different”. Do I ever get a day off you ask? Ya right!!! Tomorrow I have to clean the Resto as per usual and do a post fire interview for the local paper then it’s off to Toronto
So with that, I’ll bid you adieu and look forward to seeing you at LBM. Have a great week everyone.
Cheers Rusty Chemise.
No comments:
Post a Comment