Yay! Another Coffeeneuring challenge completed. I love that this challenge gets me out on my bike every year, with no pressure on distance ridden or “ramping up the miles”.
To sum up:-
- 16th October 2019. Ride to tai chi, calling in at Allington Farm Shop cafe in my way home. 7 miles ridden.
- 17th October 2019. Riding back from Chippenham after dropping my car at the garage, via Coffee #1. 4.5 miles ridden.
- 29th October 2019. Grounded in Corsham for their excellent dark chocolate brownie. 5.5 miles cycled.
- 5th November 2019. Ride in Berlin sightseeing. 11.5 miles ridden.
- 7th November 2019. “Bowie” tour of Berlin by bicycle. 8.5 miles ridden.
- 12th November 2019. Double win! Coffee with friend in Corsham at Grounded, and then qualifying drink in Previous. 5 miles cycled.
- 18th November 2019. Pound Arts Centre Cafe, Corsham. 5.5 miles ridden.
I started this year’s challenge having just been extremely unexpectedly made redundant. I was really upset and down about this, and the couple of jobs I found that I was perfect for (in my mind!) I wasn’t even invited for interview. These rides, along with the runs that I slowly started taking (physio permitting!) gave me a chance to think about what I wanted from a job, and how I could earn some money.
By the end of Coffeeneuring I had remembered a long held dream to run a vegan cafe. I was considering taking some “food hygiene” courses as an introduction when a good friend of mine told me that the Pound Arts Centre cafe needed someone to work a couple of days a week. It’s a veggie / vegan cafe and so sounded ideal, but with my confidence pretty low I had no idea if I could actually do it.
My final Coffeeneuring ride was to go and have a good look at the cafe, to see what was on the menu, to see how it was run, and to see if the people working there seemed nice* (an important consideration!) I ended up going in for a chat with the manager, and extremely quickly was signed up for a couple of sessions to see how it went. I then found myself dropped in the deep end and was working there by myself on two very busy days just before Christmas.
I’m going back again on Monday, hopefully when it’s quieter, for some more training. I’m still unsure whether this is the new career for me, but being stubborn I’ll stick it out for a bit longer. In the meantime, all cyclists are welcome! The Arts Centre has bike racks outside, very good coffee with a great selection of cakes. (How am I doing on drumming up trade??!)
*The people working in the Art centre are all lovely, and have been soooo tolerant of my mistakes. Thankfully.
