It’s a kinda sad thing that, even having run this business for 12 years :shock:, that some things make you feel better about things.
In my case it’s when the business makes a small move to expanding.

I sometimes feel that we are not growing the business at a fast enough pace, and that we should make some more bold moves to forward the progress of the business.
I am constantly reminded though, by those with a more level head, that if we did that we’d be exposing ourselves to unnecessary risk and jeopardise what we have built to date. We’d certainly NOT be here if I’d been the one making the decisions alone!

So in this same vein, it’s kinda comforting when we DO make a bold leap ~ in this case we bought some furniture

I know, you are stunned at us making a quantum leap into the unknown miasma of the future
Yeah right!

I KNOW its just a little thing, but its something tangible; Something I can reach out and touch that symbolises our growing business.
1x desk, 2x chairs and a little trolley hardly constitutes a major investment, but still…

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Today’s woes included major issues with Sage Accounts and Act!
Sage decided that it just wouldn’t start (fixed with a reinstall and reconfiguration), Act! decided it wouldn’t connect to any databases.
Just a minor issue for a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) database package!

I finally had to remove all of the database related software, remove Act! itself, and do a manual clean up of anything vaguely database or Act! related; Then do a complete reinstall. Fixed

Thankfully all the data was on the server, so I didn’t have to worry about damaging that.
Praise the Lord for small mercies! :oops:

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It’s a sad shame that holidays are either never long enough or too long…
Even though I had an ‘interesting’ time, it would have been nice to have a few quiet days at home before braving the cut ‘n’ thrust (paste?) of the Digital world

We British seem never satisfied

1st day back and things are going swimmingly.
It can’t last…

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Back fresh from our Bulgarian odyssey, here’s a quick shake down of what and where we went…

Country: Bulgaria
Location: Sunny Beach on the Black Sea coast
Accommodation: Helena Sands (5*)
Duration: 7 Days
Weather: Sunny and hot all week ~ We didn’t see any bad weather at all
Overall Experience: A bit disappointing really
In general, the Hotel was the main let down for the holiday, along with the organised trips.

It’s a little hard to write this as I feel that I’m being a little unfair, but indulge me for a bit and I’ll try to explain.

Upon arrival (the flights here are at a stupid time – we arrived at the hotel at 05:20 local time), we were greeted with a friendly smile and little else, not much by the way of explanation of what was expected apart from the welcome meeting arranged for 15:30 the same day ~ bedtime then…

The meeting went ahead and we learned little of the protocols and rules of the hotel ~ the whole things wasn’t worth the bother beyond the booking of the organised trips. This may have been down to the rep, but it would have been good to know what to expect at meal times and what/where things were.
After this we were set free to holiday, this is where the second problem ensued. because of the timings, we struggled to find some reasonable food at the hotel! (bear in mind this was a 5* place!).

There were NO facilities for tea/coffee in our rooms (we were told this was a Bulgarian law and due to ‘safety’ ~ I think I can handle a kettle…).
No Iron/pressing facilities beyond the ridiculously priced laundry service.
The mini-bar prices would not have looked out of place in London.
The, on site, ‘wellness centre’ offered treatments which were more expensive than the same over here! (one girl we got on with arranged a hair trim for 15 BGN (lev), about £7.50 ish, and was charged 25 Lev once it was done ~ conned )

The room safe cost us 40 lev for the week ~ a little steep for something that was already there I felt…

It has to be said, that the food at this place was AWFUL ~ As there were lots of guests from Germany, we could only surmise that the food was tailored to their tastes, but I find it hard to believe that the Germanic people enjoy over/under cooked meats and extremely greasy vegetables.
I’m not a fussy eater, not at all, but I struggled every day to find something even vaguely edible ~ I have actually lost weight on this trip and am not alone in that…
The food was so bad, it became a comedy situation with all the English guests we talked to ~ sad really…
The attitude of the waiting staff gets a special mention – nearly having an argument on the second day with the wine waiter, and watching bored staff member playing with the food, deserve highlighting. Everyone in the restaurant needs to go on a customer service course, at least to learn how to smile!

The organised trips, something we usually enjoy as we like to see a country when we visit, left another bad taste in the mouth. They were all over long and expensive for what you got. We were left in several locations with hours to explore, when you could walk the entire place in 30 minutes…
Most of us felt bored and let down as a result…
Again the included lunch on the trips was positively disgusting – We had local, very bland soups followed by a main course, one of which I fed several local cats with, as the chicken meat in the dish was almost raw, and cheap ice-cream for dessert every time.

On the day of  leaving the hotel we were kicked out of our room at 12:00, a big pain as our airport transfer was due at 01:30 and our flight wasn’t until 04:50 the following morning. We could have extended our room stay for 15 lev PER HOUR (about £100 in total!), an option most guests decided against.

Having said all that, there ARE some positives!
The rooms at the hotel were clean and tidy, the pool area was immaculate, and the location of the hotel is in a great, quiet location.

Bulgaria itself seemed to me to have lost it’s identity. My lasting feeling is it’s been invaded/liberated by several nations and hasn’t regained it’s own sense of who it is. The country has lots of history but didn’t present me with a strong picture of ‘This is Bulgaria’, more a feeling of a country that is a place between other places.

I may be being unfair, but that’s my opinion (and the same as the people who were holidaying with us it seems).
I would recommend a trip there with a big caveat to not expect too much and to try a different hotel (the Riu Evrika got a good review from some of the people we met, but it’s away from the beach)

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