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Cafe Morello |
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| A friendly face in the centre of the fine city of Norwich | |||||||||
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Cafe Culture - May 2008 |
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Sunday 4th May Well, we are now into May so, at last can we expect some warmer weather!! Thursday we had hailstorms!!! Plays havoc with the spring flowers. But, when the sun does come out it has a bit more warmth to it so we are finding more of our customers are choosing to sit outside amongst the flowers.
There are a lot of Thank yous this blog which is rather nice.
The primlulas are continuing to put on a good show and I have the pleasant task of dead heading them now which is another excuse to get out into the sunshine. We had an unexpected surprise last week, when one of our customers, Jackie, from Sprowston, donated to us three lovely pots. I thought I would plant one up with a Hosta and the other with a nice bright Geranium so that's another little job I shall have to tackle soon. So thank you Jackie, they will be put to good use and we can all take pleasure from the extra colour they will bring to the yard. Our summer hanging baskets are with 'Vic', who is now planting them up and will nurture them for us until it is time to put them out. In the meantime take a moment to look at the ones that have been there since last summer and amazingly the original fuchsia is back in flower as are two of the geraniums all of which have made it thru the winter. I haven't the heart to take them down yet . so think I will leave them up till the others are ready.
Amy sadly cannot return to work full time as yet as her back problem has still not improved sufficiently. She does pop in during the week to keep an eye on what we are up to and we all hope it won't be long before she is back to full fitness. She thanks all the customers who have sent her their good wishes.
We had a nice turn of events last week when one of our customers, we discovered, owns a farm close to our home in South Norfolk and they sell 'free range' eggs. So we now have a new supplier and can boost that all the eggs we use in the cafe are free range. We have started to use them this week and have immediately noticed the darker colour of our omelettes and the chicken mayonnaise. (Thanks to Claire and Trevor, of Saddleback Farm, Tivetshall). We are sure our customers will appreciate this change and it is another positive reason for supporting our small independent, family business.
They say, 'it's an ill wind......' and this was true last week when Marks and Spencers had a small fire in their basement. It caused a major problem with their electrics, which in consequence meant they had to close their restaurant. Well.... where were all those thirsty customers supposed to go? They were forced to search round the area for another source for their tea or caffeine fix. The lucky ones found us!! So we gained a few more customers last week and ,hopefully, some of them will come back. So to M&S I say 'sorry for your accident but Thank you!
As you all know we get very busy lunchtimes but from 2 pm onwards we are virtually empty. So to try an encourage a few customers to come to us for afternoon tea, we have decided to put on a special offer. So, if you come to us between 2.30pm and 4pm for the sum of £2.95 you can have a piece of cake or one of our Gateaux and a cup of tea or coffee. This has attracted one or two new faces to us and we hope to run this for a little while to see if it will prove popular.
Our latest, Saturday, staff addition, Flossie, is doing well and continuing her training, so look out for her on your next visit. I will get a photo soon and post it here so you will recognise her.
We have had a bit of a problem with the visitors page on this site. It appears at least one of you has tried to post a message but we did not receive this. I can only apologise and Steward, 'the web site man' is trying to identify and fix the problem.
That's it for now, so take care of yourselves, we hope to see you soon,
Friday May 9th
One of our more regular customers at
present is this gentleman, Hussam from Ismailia, Egypt. He likes
our cafe because he says it reminds him of the cafes at home. Very
friendly places where everyone talks to everyone else. I have
heard before that customers think we are like French or Italian
Cafes but never Egyption!. Perhaps its a fact that all good
relaxed Cafe's have the same type of atmosphere. It's good to know
that our efforts to make our customers feel at home are working so
well. Hassam is a graduate student in Mathematics at the UEA
and his wife Yosra is awaiting his return to her, at home, in
Egypt. I have taken this photo of him so Yosra can see where he is
spending some of his spare time.
Summer arrived this week and it is so
good to see more customers outside than inside. Perhaps this is a
sign of what is to come for the rest of the summer? Lets hope so.
Sunday 25th. May 2008 As I sit here I don't feel too bad about not being outside as it is cold, raining and windy. In fact pretty normal bank holiday weather!. What a great shame for everyone who has organised outside events today. I know it can't be good weather for all events and us British have to learn to be stoical in the face of our weather but it's still very disappointing for those involved in all the hard work. It is Jennette's birthday today and we were all going around to have a BBQ but that had to be cancelled. When you see her next week, don't forget to wish her many happy returns!!
Pam and I went to the Chelsea Flower
show for the first time on Saturday and we were lucky, as the sun
shone all day. I have a few pictures to give you a taste of what
was a brilliant day it was. It was really busy and quite difficult
at times to get near enough to see the show gardens, but patience
and determination pay off in the end. One picture shows how tiring
it can be, when Pam found a bed to lay on, but she soon got off
when we saw the £900 price tag!!! One thing I didn't expect was
the physical reaction to being so intensely surrounded by flowers
and pollen and, though I have never suffered from hay fever, I was
sneezing all the time and my eyes were quite sore by the
end of the day. I certainly wasn't the only one and the sounds of
sneezing could be heard all over the showground, from just about
everyone. Just click on the photos to open larger ones.
I have finally taken a picture of
'Flossy' our most recent recruit. She is doing well and learning
quickly and we are very pleased with her progress. Say Hi! to her
when you next see her.
Although the Cafe was closed
this Bank Holiday Monday we were there sorting out the window
boxes and hanging baskets and planting up the tubs. As well as
putting up the cleaned net curtains and getting prepared for
Tuesdays opening. Its these little background jobs that make the
Cafe what it is and I know you appreciate the results.
We were a little disappointed last
week when a customer left a negative comment, on a napkin, at the
table, rather than coming up and telling us. We try so hard to get
everything just right to make your visit enjoyable. Thats why, if
we are presented with a complaint ,we will do all in our power to
put it right. All we ask is that we abe given the chance. When you
think of how many meals and drinks we serve in the course of a
week its no suprise that very occasionally we may not meet our
very high standards. If that happens we just want you to tell us,
not leave an anonymous note. I'm sure it was not one of our
regulars but whoever it was, it was such a shame.
I went fishing last week at Fen Lake
Fishery, Carleton Rode and I thought you might like to see
one of the carp I caught. I can recommend the location to any
anglers reading this. Its such a well managed series of lakes,
very peaceful, surrounded by trees and the fishing is superb.
I am afraid that we have had to revise
some of our prices again. Its an inevitable consequence of
the times we are living in. Just about all our costs are rising so
quickly we have never experienced anything like it. I'm sure you
are aware of how quickly all your household bills are rising.
Its quite a scary time for everyone. We can assure you that we
will always give you good value for your money, as
well as good service and a friendly atmosphere.
Thats it for now
Bye Y'all
Stephen
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Cafe Morello: 2-3 Orford Yard, Red Lion Street (opposite Debenhams), Norwich, NR1 3TB. Telephone 01603 764441 |
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