(Should probably mention that this is going in blind, Ben asked to review before me posting but I’m going to brave it – sorry Ben, hope you like!)
Before I dive into today’s diary entry – I’d like to emphasise that I am not a city person. I’ve never fancied London, I find it too big and in all honesty, a pretty lonely place. I don’t like the general lack of personality it omits, and how a person can so easily just become one of the crowd. I much prefer the tranquillity of the slower country life, which was probably evident from my choosing of a country pub in the deepest depths of Wiltshire as my first calling post Vodafone. But, I quickly realised that London is where the money is and is home to a magnitude of new and upcoming restaurants, of which my pizzeria could be one of. So, with the view that moving to London would benefit me and hopefully the success of MYO, I decided to look for jobs. My search didn’t take long as I am incredibly lucky to be friends with Ben who manages a couple of pubs in the London area and turned out needed an assistant manager to tide him over while he found new staff. It’s funny, as soon as my moving to London was decided, my hostility towards our fantastic capital just vanished and was replaced with a burning excitement – bring on the big smoke!
So that’s the background. Let’s talk about today! After dragging what seemed like the equivalent of 50kg of luggage across London (with no offer of help by the way!), and feeling like I could definitely be spared from doing my daily Insanity workout as a result, I arrived at the Village, in Walthamstow. I’d been to the pub many times before with Ben, so knew exactly what to expect in terms of atmosphere, layout and food served, however, what I wasn’t expecting was such welcoming staff and to feel so at ease, even before I started. I usually expect to have to work to fit in first, but everyone seems genuinely lovely (So far anyway!)
Ben and I spent the morning in the office, counting the float and doing various back office-y bits and bobs. I’m here to learn as much as my brain, and Ben allows me so to be able to do all this on my first day massively exceeded expectations! We then took down all the Christmas decorations, as it’d be bad luck otherwise, given the date. This made me sad as it shows an absolute end to the one season where so many people in the world share a mutual love for. Ah well, I guess we’ll soon see the Easter Eggs in the supermarkets, a potential to justifiably overdose on chocolate always gives me something to look forward to. Anyway, we went to the bank – well, it was raining so Ben went to the bank while I stayed undercover and shopped in Sainsburys for our food. I say our food, but Ben is on this silly try hard Atkins diet at the moment so it makes choosing what to cook for him incredibly limited, and expensive. There is simply no enjoyment in cooking boring food, so I might go on strike.
We got back, and Ben had a date to go on so he left me to go get ready while my muscles surged their way through an Insanity workout. If you haven’t heard of Insanity, give this link a click. It is insane, quite literally. I’ve always considered myself quite fit but this takes things to a different level! I have parts of me which I didn’t even know I had, aching like crazy. Although apparently I was causing such a racket that it was sparking rumours amongst the clientele at the bar, directly below. Slightly mortified… Anyway, although initially sad that I’d be spending my first night in the Village alone while Ben plays Casanova, I’m now actually quite glad that I’m on my own tonight as the groans that exude when I try and move are definitely not attractive. But, the stomach always beckons so I braved it downstairs in search of some grub. To me, a relationship with the chef is essential as my stomach will always come first and I’m so glad I’ve found Matty. He let me move around the kitchen, offered suggestions of what I should eat and generally had a very easy-going conversation.
Now, I’m going to make use of the ole Netflix account and watch Flight before Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason presents itself on itv2, and enjoy my delicious looking roast chicken, with smash and gravy. Oh, and don’t judge the smash!
Day out of ten? A solid 8.
