I'm Now Away On Annual Leave....

Posted by Scott on 14/07/2011

As I write this blog my two eldest sons are playing tennis, Oliver my third son is fascinated how bread rolls double in size when thrown in the swimming pool and Linzi is calmly trying to feed baby William his third bottle of the day while desperately trying to read the sixteenth page of her holiday book!...ok I should have got the bloody TV fixed in our bedroom and what's this got to do with coffee I hear you thinking!?

Well its the school holidays and this year I'm fortunate enough to have spent a week in Portugal while looking after a friends villa (I hope they are not reading this as I've already rescued Darth Vadar and half a loaf from the pool filter!) And the question I always ask myself is should I feel guilty working on holiday and what message does this portray to the team back at base?

Due the wonders of wifi I'm able to connect with the Roastery, track orders, respond to client emails and spend about an hour a day keeping in touch with the team back in Suffolk but should I really be doing this? Are holidays for winding down or does being a business owner in the 21st Century mean you never really shut down?

We now have 100's of loyal clients and 1000's of social media friends who interact with the team on a daily basis and that's just it, Paddy and Scott are real people behind a real coffee brand, the jury is out on how you manage this but I'm sorry to say I like to keep my finger on the pulse, even if its only for an hour a day.

So you'll never get an infuriating auto email response from me saying "I'm sorry but I'm now on annual leave..." I'll always, when ever I can, respond to emails and it goes without saying I feel very lucky to be writing this blog (sorry for a ny spelling mistakes, I have no spell checker on my Blackberry play pad!) in the Algarvian sunshine during these challenging financial times but that's my point, I like to think work is an activity not a place..

As for coffee, I have found a lovely little cafe about 5 minute walk away that makes fantastic coffee don't speak a word of English and have learnt "bicca" in Portugal means espresso not a child's cup!

P.S I'm back on Monday!