Going anywhere nice for holidays?

The great Australian summer holidays … no holiday period on earth comes close does it? The sheer poetry of a couple of weeks (or more if you’re lucky), located smack bang in the middle of high summer time – conveniently amidst the height of the silly season, is hard to beat.

Slow summer days and even slower and longer summer nights … Beers and barbies, surfing, fishing and swimming. Kids and dogs and walks on the beach in the cool of the evening … It’s idyllic and unique to our hemisphere and coastal lifestyle. Sure there’s a downside – mozzies and sunburn and heat induced crankiness for a start. But, I don’t think there would be many Australians who would give it up for a white Christmas.

It’s as if the heat, festivities and enforced down-time hit a giant pause button on life as we know it. Everything literally gets put on hold, it can wait till February. Even in our email and mobile phone obsessed culture, it’s acceptable to switch it off and not check the inbox for a bit.

Sounds like bliss doesn’t it? If you work in an office, there’s a good chance of this happening, but if you run a restaurant in a holiday town … forget it!!

This time of year in the hospitality industry is the most crucial of the entire year. All the accommodation is packed to the brim. Hoards of hungry masses are swarming the town looking for fuel for their fires. Competition is fierce – how to get the most bums on seats, how to get them to come back. Tempers are frayed-for the management and for employees,  it’s a question of how to stay sane as this season of leisure, family and sweat brings out not only the best in people, but also the worst …

As the cicadas scream and the waves pound, many sweaty workers are running around madly, many chefs are grilling, searing and roasting in temperatures that clock more than 50 degrees C.

It’s an oppositional world to the one that’s being catered for. Don’t get us wrong, we wouldn’t have it any other way. With the challenges and gruelling physical grind that is faced, we come out the other end in need of a good shower but also darn satisfied with the hard work and achievement of having yet another huge day.

Just don’t ask me if I’m having a break or going anywhere nice for the holidays …

It would be infinitely more apt to just wish me a commercially prosperous holiday season!

Happy Holidays from all of us at the The Stunned Mullet!