Happy New Year !!

We (Sharon,Caitlin and Myself) would like to wish everyone a "Happy New Year" and hope 2011 will be a better year for all !!

Happy Chrimbo !!

Hope you all have a Happy Christmas !!

A long week.

Its been a long cold week which saw us have plenty of snow,which kept me busy at the school gritting playgrounds and clearing paths.

We also had a mini OFSTED on Wednesday in which we got another "Outstanding" to add to the rest of our OFSTED`S.

We decided to go and enjoy the snow yesterday and took Caitlin and her friend Rachel sledging over Parliament Hill,we managed to cope for an hour before we all got too cold and decided to head home to thaw out.

The view from the top of Parliament Hill over London is great and i have added a picture of the view of the City and Docklands as seen from the top of the hill.

Been a bit quiet lately.

Its been a bit quiet on the blogging front as we have been spending a bit more time with my Dad now that the "season" has come to an end, although we are still getting the odd request for bike hire which is welcome.
We was at the unit yesterday (Saturday) just to close it up turn the water,electric off etc, it was just Sharon and myself as Caitlin decided to stay with Nanny and Pops.
I think the reason Caitlin stayed in London was that she thought it would be colder in Thanet but it was warmer and had some blue sky while London was grey and cold.
Although we have shut up shop for the "close season" we may still be around if we get the odd request for bike hire.
Whilst we was in Thanet we decided to brave Westwood Cross which was suprisingly not too busy, and it was good to see that one of the empty units has now been taken by Phones For You.

The sun is shining.

The sun is shining the sea is calm and blue...................somewhere but not here in Margate and here i am open and ready to rent out bikes.
All jokes aside i opened up early today waiting for the courier who did not come Thurs,Fri,Mon or Tues to collect our faulty chip and pin terminal so hopefully he will turn up today.
We have had a telephone booking for 3 bikes this morning so hopefully it will not be a quiet day.

Half Term.

Well it is half term and we are not in Kent yet,we have spent the last two days waiting for a courier to collect and exchange our faulty chip and pin terminal but after two "no shows" we have decided we will head to Kent today.
The only excuse we was given was that the courier was "not happy" with our address whatever that means....excuse us for living in a school !!
Hopefully tomorrow we will visit the White Cliffs Experience in Dover to help Caitlin with her school topic - WWII.

Cancer research 10 k run.

This weekend we stayed at home in London due to the fact that on sunday i ran a Cancer research 10 k race, along with my two brothers and a teacher from my school.

I managed to finish the race in 56 mins beating my target time of 1 hour,we also raised in excess of £500.00 which all goes to help research and treatment against cancer.

I will add the link to our sponsor page later so if anyone feels like donating they can.

Sun is shining !!

Yesterdays promise of sunny weather was delayed until today so now we have lovely sunny weather here in "Planet Thanet" we are open for business as was we yesterday, today we are hoping to have some bike hirers but if not who cares we will just enjoy the sun.

Sunny Saturday !!

After a bit of a trek getting here (Blackwall and Rotherithe tunnels being closed and Tower Bridge being up) we got to Ramsgate at just before midnight after leaving home at 9.45pm.
Now its a lovely sunny Saturday here in Planet Thanet and we have just had a couple of bikes and a trailer go out,that gives me a bit of time to blog and to research what pick up truck we should get,ive been impressed with the Nissan Navara and Sharon the Mitsubishi Warrior now we just have to compare the two.

Finally....some good news !!

Well at last we finally have some good news,we attended the Royal Marsden Hospital with my Dad yesterday for the results of his scans which he had to mark the first course of Chemotherapy and...good news his 3 cancers (stomach,lungs and liver) have shrunk !!
Although we know this is not a cure it is never the less great news so it gives him longer with us.
We are not in Thanet this weekend we are "Daddy sitting" so my Mum can go to a family party with my Uncle and Aunt, and besides we get to spend some quality time with my Dad, i know we have been moaning about how slow business has been and yet here we are not opening up at the weekend but family has and always will come first !!

Its bloody typical.

Its bloody typical isnt it....back to the day jobs in London and the weather changes for the better, lets hope it stays nice for the weekend and we can hire some bikes out.
Its been very busy this week at the school and the children only came back today (school would be a much peaceful place without teachers and children) every teacher wanting something moved or a job done and wanting it done NOW!!

Not a bad weekend so far.

Well it has not been a bad weekend so far,had bikes hired out both Saturday and Sunday.

As well as the bikes being hired, Caitlin and I managed to smash our personal crabbing record of 63 by 60 making our total yesterday in just over an hour 123 !! we have found that crabs prefer Morrisons cooked chicken over sweaty bacon.

A little better.

Despite yesterdays weather being overcast and grey it was a little better for us as we had a couple of bikes hired out.
It would of been better but sods law being what it is saw us packed up and on the way back to Ramsgate before getting a call from a gentleman wanting to hire a bike, we would of turned back but we was then going to head back to London to see my Dad who was just out of hospital.

Is press ganging legal ?

Is press ganging legal ? if so this is what we may have to resort to due to bike hirers drying up in Margate.
This summer has so far been very quiet may be due to the weather may be not who knows,but it is not helping small businesses like ours.
We are trying our hardest to get ourselves noticed and to some extent it has paid off but a few more hirers would be most welcome.

Crap weather = no visitors = no bikes hired !!

Well as the blog heading states this week so far has been crap weather = no visitors = no bikes hired,had a couple fo email enquiries for bike hire that end in.....weather permitting so who knows what will come of the rest of the week.
Come on sun make an appearance !!!!!!!!

Another slow start.

Today started pretty slowly on the bike hire front till about midday then we had one bike go out to someone who is becoming a regular customer,then a Spanish couple came along to hire two bikes to check out part of the viking trail and in between hires i replaced an inner tube for one cyclist and sorted out a faulty valve on anothers bike.
Yesterday i had an encounter with the Kent Velo Girls (an all ladies cycle club) when one of their members had a flat tyre (another faulty valve) which i sorted and saw them on their way to finish the viking trail,as i did this for free they said they would put a link on their website and mention to their members how helpfull we are at Caitlin`s Beach Cruisers.

A quiet start to the week.

Its been a quiet start to the week so far,today saw a couple of bikes,kiddies trailer and a tagalong hired out so hopefully things will pick up before the weekend.

The weather has had its moments of sunshine and clouds,yesterday the sun shone for a good while in the afternoon which enabled Caitlin to test her new dinghy in the harbour.

Mentioned in the media.

Its great for a small business like us to get a mention in the media no matter how small and trivial the piece,but this weekend our blog got a mention in the Thanet Gazette and we also got a mention on Heart Radio today which suprised Sharon a bit as they say any advertising is good advertising.

All good so far.

The summer hols have been good so far,last sunday all our bikes went out on hire then yesterday we had 5 bikes hired out all day and today so far we have had two bikes go out.
Lets hope it carries on like this for the rest of the summer.

Busy weekend.

What started out as a quiet weekend turned in to a rather busy one today,not that we are complaining as we had all our bikes hired out today leaving us twiddling our thumbs until they were returned.
Lets hope thats the start of a busy summer for us.

Great staff at the QEQM Hospital.

I just want to say what great staff they have at the QEQM Hospital especially the Paediatric Nurses who treated Caitlin on Sunday, we ended up having to take Caitlin to A&E on Sunday afternoon for one of her regular trips (her first to the QEQM) after an accident involving her towing me behind her bike on a skateboard!!

I was not to blame (Honestly) she just collided with the wall on Margate sea front whilst trying to avoid a couple on the pavement,her injuries she received were one broken toe and one badly lacerated little toe due to the fact she was wearing flip flops at the time.................

so the moral of this story is do not cycle in flip flops wear steel toe caps instead!!

Race For Life.

Whilst i was run off my feet by the mass hoards of people wanting to hire our bikes (joke) Sharon and Caitlin was taking part in the Race For Life 5k at Palm Bay, they raised just over £100.oo for a worthy and deserving cause which is too close to home for us at the moment.

My Dad who is fighting cancer at the moment was there at the start to watch them on their way so i hope they made him proud.

Back to "Planet Thanet"

Well here we are again back in "Planet Thanet" after having last weekend off to go and celebrate my younger brother Jimmy`s 30th birthday,we had a 80s weekend and stayed in a old rectory in Tattingstone Suffolk.

The place was amazing and had 15 bedrooms,games room and 2-3 acres of garden but now its back to Margate to try and get people to hire our bikes at the moment it is pretty quiet so we shall sit and await the rush..............

Great weather.

What great weather we are having this weekend but...... and there is always a but it was very quiet out on the Harbour Arm yesterday as usual people were just parking up and heading to the beach, no bike hires at all but not to be deterred we are here again today.
Today has started ok sold a couple of little beach and bike related bits so lets see what the rest of the day has in store.

Here we go again.

Well here we go again just after i blogged last week my Dad became too ill to come down to Kent so stayed in London, so we decided to only open up on Saturday and go home to spend Sunday with my Mum and Dad.
Saturday was very slow and we did not hire out any bikes but that was the least of our worries our priorities lay elsewhere at the moment.
This week yet again my Dad had to spend Two days in the Royal Marsden (Tues/Weds) and had to have yet another blood transfusion due to his white blood cell count being low, he has been taken off the trial Chemo tablets until they sort out the dosage and hopefully this will be done on Tuesday.
Anyway we are going to open up all weekend (hopefully) as we know my Dad is in capable hands
and hope to hire out some bikes.

Its the weeeeekend !!!

Its finally here after a long week at the school the weekend has arrived,as i blog Shazza is upstairs packing the bag and Caitlin is stuffing her face in front of the TV.
I just hope the weather will be kind to us and that it will bring out people looking to hire bikes from us.
My Dad had his first session of Chemo on Monday and has had a Blood Transfusion today so getting down to Kent will do him good.

Been a bit quiet again.

I have been a bit quiet on the blogging front recently, due to the fact my Dad had to go back in to hospital this weekend for a blood transfusion all went well and he is due to start Chemotherapy soon.
We stayed in London at the weekend so we could visit my Dad and spent most of it at the Royal Marsden Hospital....even watched the football up there on Saturday.
Hopefully we will be able to get back to some sort of normality soon.

It`s here at last.....

It`s here at last..........our new Chip and Pin machine after waiting for over a month, all we need now are some customers to test it on.
Lets hope the weather is ok for the weekend and that Margate has some visitors who have the urge to rent a bike/bikes from us.

Half Term nearly over.

Well Half Term is nearly over and it has been pretty quiet on the bike hire front plenty of people have been visiting Margate but they all seem to head for the beach and......Primark!!

seriously all they seem to use the Harbour Arm for is parking and using the toilets but we will hold fast and hope it picks up.

We are ordering a banner to put up somewhere along the front to get noticed and hopefully pick up some trade.

I was just thinking if all else fails i will open up a off license and stock just cans of Stella at discount prices then in the words of Delboy "this time next year we will be millionaires"

well enough of my griping im off to do some crabbing :-)

Half term fun.

Well it`s half term and we took a day off on Tuesday to take Caitlin to Wingham Wildlife Park, the weather was pretty crappy but we enjoyed ourselves regardless.

Now for the rest of the week we are opening up for bike hire and yesterday we hired out 3 bikes then after we closed up we took our Niece and Nephew for a bike ride which along with Caitlin they all enjoyed.

Usual Bank Holiday weather.

Well the Bank Holiday is over and as usual the weather was not so great, but that did not spoil it.
We rented out 8 bikes and sold quite a lot of our "bits and pieces" so it was good, what made it better was to see Margate busy just a shame it couldnt be like that every weekend, the only downside to the weekend was that my Dad had to go home earlier than we wanted as he was not feeling too good.

I have finally blogged !!

I have not blogged for a while due to the fact that my Dad has been in hospital and finding out he has a serious illness, i have just not felt like it but now feel i should carry on as "normal".

Well today we finally received our Tandem, after 3-4 attempts by a courier to collect it for us we decided to cancel and use another courier company who did the job within 2 days.We are very pleased with it and it will only need a clean and we will replace the seats for something more comfortable and may be change the handle bars to make it look more "Cruiser like" not bad for £100.00 a bargain infact.

Forget the Guardian...we had a mention in the Gazette.

You can forget the Guardian we had a mention in the Gazette again,we was in the "web views" spot mentioning us moaning about the weather.
Talking of the weather we decided that if we can not beat it we shall use it so we are now selling kites and toy gliders for kids to use in the windy weather (can`t say we are not trying)

Yet another crappy week at school!

Yet another crap week at the school (literally) that saw me having to deal with a blocked staff toilet that had to be removed before we could remove the blockage, then yesterday i had to contend with two lots of puke and a child with an exploding bum who pebble dashed the boys toilets......oh the joys of being a school premises manager.
So i am glad its the weekend and that we are in "Planet Thanet"

Sharon`s birthday!

Today was Sharon`s birthday (39) so her sis and kids came round tonight ,so i put Callum our nephew to work sanding and spraying a bike may be he could be my apprentice.

Typical bloody weather.

Its bloody typical of this weather.....crap at the weekend and when we are back in London it brightens up, the sun waited until 7.40 pm yesterday when we was crossing the Medway on our way back to London before it made an appearance.
On a better note had the analytics of our website emailed to us it shows we have had hits from here in the UK,France and two from the USA, so we know its working and as proof we have had a preliminary booking for the weekend so its not all bad.

More crap weather!!

Another weekend and yet more crap weather, so we decided to work on the bikes........or i should say Sharon,Caitlin and my Dad are working on the bikes while i blog.

What crap weather !!!!!

Bank Holiday weekend and as usual what crap weather but we still managed to rent some of our bikes out.
We only opened for half an hour on Sunday then decided to take the rest of the day off and take Caitlin to the Granville too watch a film and then in the evening we went out for dinner with my family, so had a nice Sunday.
Today we opened up had a bit of a tidy up in the unit sat around until around 3.00pm then decided to take Caitlin to the fair at Broadstairs, and now back in London for a short week at work, Roll on Friday !!

A new string to our bow.

Well today we added a new string to our bow or i should say we are now offering a new service, as we are located right on the Viking trail we have plenty of cyclists passing by and earlier one asked if i could repair a puncture which i did and was paid for my services the princely sum of £5.00 so now we are going to get a sign made up and positioned at the start of the harbour where it meets the Viking trail offering this service.

The Bank Holiday is here and so is the crap weather!!

Well its the bank holiday and the weather is crappy lets hope it picks up a bit, and i hope Tracey didnt get too wet tonight either.
Yet another Friday night spent in London due to a choir rehearsing in the school so that means an early drive to Kent tomorrow.

What happened to the weather ?

I was wondering what had happened to the high temperature and sunny weather we was promised for Sunday ?
Although the weather on Sunday was not the best we did have some hirers a nice young French couple had two bikes over night and when they left on Sunday evening they said that thay had a lovely time.

Great weekend so far.

We are having a great weekend so far had a nice French couple hire two of our bikes overnight, we then spent most of the day enjoying the weather then went out for dinner with my Parents,Brother and Sis in law and my Aunt.
Now im ready for bed at 9.15 pm because i am so tired (cream crackered as we say in London)

Good weather forecast.

Well the weather forecast is good for this weekend so lets hope people will want to rent a bike or two, failing that at least they may come and check us out while we catch the rays (with my factor 30 slapped on)

Our first two weeks.

Its the end of our first two weeks trading and although it has been a bit slow we have had some trade and handed out over 600 flyers in this time,we was not expecting to to do any trade until at least May half term so it has been a bonus.

We are now back in London after a great weekend with lovely weather lets hope it holds up until next weekend.

Being Tormented.

I am being tormented by Sharon,Caitlin and my Mum, instead of renting out bikes they have decided to shut up shop and go to the Carvery at Westwood Cross and send picture messages to my phone of them tucking in to a lovely Roast.
Still at least some of us are hard at work.............

Yesterdays Guardian.

We found out that we got a mention in yesterdays (Friday) Guardian travel supplement in the top ten things to do in Margate, we checked it out on line and there is a link to our website and telephone number so hopefully we get some trade from that even if not its all good in the hood according to Snoop :-)

What great weather.

What great weather we are having and what a great first week for us, we have had loads of people passing by and asking what we are up to and going away with our leaflets also had a few phone enquiries and a couple of rentals today we had a young American couple hire a bike and they are coming back tomorrow to hire again.
We went to the Chinese takeaway in Kings street Ramsgate tonight and saw a bloke with blood all down the front of his England shirt coming from his throat, we called 999 and explained what we saw but had to tell them we thought he was not so bad as he was smoking a ciggie and went in to the Earl St Vincent pub !!
Well lets hope the weather holds out so we can enjoy working in the sun :-)

Summer is on its way.

Summer is on its way and we can not wait, we had a great day today had a visit from Sharon`s sis Carol and our niece and nephew Callum and Kirsty which was great for Caitlin to have someone to play with.
Sharon decided to go to Morrisons to get a few bits where she bumped in to a parent from the school with his two girls who then later visited us and spent a few hours with us.
What i have noticed for the week we have been open is that you meet a whole spectrum of people some very interesting and a few very strange people, one fella we was warned to expect made an appearance today......in fact made two and for a man in his fifties behaved like a kid trying to get our attention but working with kids has taught us how to handle attention seeking brats :-)
After we had locked up we jumped on our bikes and had a ride through to Westgate and back which was great to do, never one to miss out on an advertising opportunity we handed out a few leaflets on the way.

We are all knackered !!

We are all knackered today after getting to the unit just after 9.00am and not leaving until around 6.30pm, we now need an early night me thinks.
A lovely Belgian family hired some of our bikes and baby trailer for half the day for a trip to Broadstairs and returned them promptly at 6.00pm all very happy but tired.
So hopefully a couple more families/people like them hiring our bikes will ease us in to our new business.

Busy busy busy!!

We have been very busy since opening up, although we was not going to start trading yet we have been servicing the bikes, putting the trailers and tagalongs together, cleaning the bikes and generally tidying up the unit,
We have had a lot of interest with people popping in to see what we are up to and taking our leaflets, also had a couple of phone calls with people wanting to know prices etc.
So once the weather picks up and word gets out that we are here hopefully things will take off.
Anyway if you happen to be passing Margate Harbour Arm pop in and say hello (we dont bite....well Sharon and i do not, not so sure about Caitlin though !!)

A busy day.

We had a busy day today we put up our counter unit in place and secured it, we also installed our new burglar alarm in the unit and checked and altered all the brakes on the bikes and gave them all a clean.
We had quite few people stop by and enquire about what we are doing and take away brochures and flyers, one visitor who didnt stop but did a slow drive by (not the sort we get in London) looked suspicously like a very local rival in the bike biz (and later confirmed to be that man) may be i will stop by and and introduce myself sometime this week.

A big thank you.

We would like to say a big Thank You to everyone who came along on Friday to help celebrate our opening.
What a great sport Mayor Mick Tomlinson and his good lady wife the Mayoress were by getting on a couple of our bikes for a ride up and down the Harbour Arm,giving all that was there a great photo opportunity.
Yesterday i went back to London at 8.00am to drop off the van i borrowed and to return with two more bikes by midday,then on to the unit to tidy up all the empty bottles and leftovers from Friday.
Today we will be at the unit most of the day getting ready for our first customers (hopefully) by servicing the bikes and getting the unit shipshape and ready for business.
If you are passing by Margate pop in and say hello.

Mayor Mick does the Honours!!

Our Opening.

We would just like to invite everyone to our opening on Good Friday it will be attended by the Mayor of Margate...Mick Tomlinson.
Also at the same time Simon will be opening the Lighthouse Bar at the end of the harbour arm.
Hope to see some new faces as well of those of our family and friends.

Just back from Margate.

Just got back from Margate, Today we got the keys to the unit and started by giving it a good sweep out (well Sharon did) then unloaded some of our bikes and other bits and pieces.
As you can see from the picture the unit looks better with some of our bikes outside along with a couple of our skateboards, we are bringing more down tomorrow along with some paint to give it a freshen up.
Anyone want to pop along and say "hello" you are more than welcome.

Up early tomorrow.

Up early tomorrow to get down to Margate to collect the keys to the unit and to bring a few of our bikes down.
This week we have bought a Tandem, Lowrider and a childs ATB (Mountain Bike), we are also arranging our Grand Opening :-) for Good Friday around 1.00pm please feel free to come along for Champagne , Cockles (YES cockles and other shellfish) and sarnies.

Our website is live!

Our website is now live take a peek and let us know what you think, we will appreciate any constructive criticism.

www.caitlinsbeachcruisers.com

I have just finished spraying a Lowrider bike (which will be last of our Yellow bikes for a while) and one of our Longboard Skateboards then tomorrow i will start on the first of our Orange bikes another Lowrider, I will add a picture of a similar bike.

And now Orange bikes too.

In her wisdom Sharon has decided that we should also have Orange bikes along with our Yellow bikes (sitting here humming Oranges and Lemons) so today we went and got Orange paint along with Black (for mudguards and wheels) and clear varnish spray to protect the paint, luckily enough we went to Homebase and Halfords for said paint which just happens to be next to.........

KRISPY KREME DOUGHNUTS :-)

While i was stuck in my sprayshop...sorry i mean the school boiler house Caitlin was cycling around the playground in the sun and it was so nice to see her enjoying herself on her bike.

Its nearly the weekend !!

Well its nearly the weekend although i will not be rid of the staff and parents of the school, as they are having a quiz/auction Tomorrow night and some of the lots on offer are tickets to West End shows, pamper evening, baby sitting, cakes every month for 6 months.
Then on Saturday we have parents in school gardening in our not so secret garden.
Today i got another mountain bike to add to our stock, and have just finished spraying yet another Beach Cruiser (at least our bikes will catch your eye - Sunshine Yellow) only another six or so to do!!

Another weekend been and gone!

Well yet another weekend been and gone, got to Ramsgate Saturday morning and straight up the ladder to clean out the gutter of my Aunt`s place then onto Margate to hand over the lease.

Saturday afternoon was spent dodging psycho drivers in Westwood car park before going to eat at Pizza Express (Ramsgate) and finishing off Saturday at the Granville.

Sunday up early...ish then up onto the roof to string wire across the roof to deter them pesky gulls before a bit of shopping in Ramsgate before heading back down the M2 to London.

I will attach a picture that we took yesterday of the unit ( it will look lots better once it has lots of our Yellow bikes outside) with Caitlin Modelling outside.

The Granville.

Last night we went to the Granville to watch "Alice in Wonderland" although Caitlin and my mum enjoyed it but Sharon and myself on the other hand didnt so much so i had to wake Sharon at one point :-).
Then got up this morning and had to get up on the roof to put some wires across the roof to try and stop the Seagulls landing and scaring the wits out of my mum.
On the business front we handed over the signed lease to Graham of Margate Harbour Arm Ltd so now its just a matter of time now.

Another Gobshite!!!

Looks like im having to deal with yet another Gobshite some twat seems to have messed with my blog so as you go on to my blog within 30 seconds someother site then appears.
So if anyone knows how i can get rid of it let me know please.

Little Gobsh**e !!

Came out of the school this morning to move the car to a pay and display bay (one of the joys of living in London) to be faced with what i thought was bird cack all over the bonnet and windscreen...went to wipe it off and away it came along with the paint!!
Some little Gobsh**e had sprayed paint remover over not only my car but 2 others also, i reported it to the police at 10.00am and still waiting for them to get back to me.
On a better note we are signing the lease of the unit today so with some luck will be trading during the Easter Hols.

I actually had a lay in today.

I actually had a lay in today but was still woken by Caitlin and her belly saying "Im hungry" so got up......erm ten minutes or so later to find she had fed herself.
I am checking ebay today for some bike racks to park the bikes something we can put a chain through the wheels and rack to secure the bikes,found one of which i shall include a picture of.

At least we know our flyers and brochures work !

At least we know our flyers and brochures are working.....we had our first call asking to rent bikes today but sadly i had to tell them we are not yet trading,
hopefully that is a sign of things to come and we get many more like that.

And another week begins....

And yet another week begins and today i had a TON... yes a TON of salt/grit delivered to the school (just 2 months late) all on a pallet in 25 kilo bags and it was left to muggins here to unload it !
The postman delivered a new deck i am trying out for our rental short board skateboards nice bright yellow to match our hire bikes (make sure you wear your sunglasses when you come out on the Harbour Arm).
Got a few more emails back from local Thanet Hotels, B&Bs and Caravan Parks letting us know they are interested in our service, also got an email inviting me to attend the Hoteliers Association meeting this month which should be interestng.

New Logo.

Here is the new " Caitlins Beach Cruisers " logo which my cousin designed now just got to work out how to get it on to our blog header.

Its official !!

Yep its official im a fat sod (ate somewhere between 2-8 doughnuts will not say exactly to save my embarassment)Krispy Kreme have a lot to answer for.
Caitlin enjoyed her day Horseriding and eating Doughnuts (yeah yeah me too) it must of exhausted her as i had to carry her out the car as she was sound asleep.
On the business front we got a reply from another caravan/leisure park who want to use our bike drop off service...its all going well so far and to top it all i found two kids cruiser bikes i got ages ago and forgot that i had so that was a suprise.
And now im off to loosen my belt and trousers as im sure they have shrunk a bit in the wash ;-)

Its the weeeeeeeekend !!

Yesterday i said i had to deal with all the crap (literally) at school well today was one of those days i had to deal with the crap.... two blocked toilets and a little git (sorry meant to say angel) weeing on the floor but i guess after 21 years working in schools i should be used to it only another 500 or so days before i can give my notice not that im counting down to D day :-)
After school today myself and Caitlin went to pick up another bike a mens Hybrid - mountain bike from my new found friend and bike dealer Naz.
Got to get up early..ish tomorrow we have Caitlins belated Horse riding birthday bash and are taking Caitlin and 4 friends for a taster lesson (even at the weekend Sharon and myself cant escape children) then after on to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts to pig out and add to my ever expanding waist line (il end up like the big fella in the picture).

Nearly the end of a long week.

Its nearly the end of a long week dealing with the usual crap (sometimes literally) that goes with working in a Inner London Primary School.
Finally found a Solicitor who is going to check out the lease for the unit, also decided on the colour and design for the logo we will be using just waiting for my cousin to do the finishing touches.
Purchased a blank skateboard deck that im going to trial for our rental skateboards (short boards at least) will stick with the factory boards for the longboards.
Well im off to bed to rub some deep heat in to a very stiff and sore.......neck !

That Monday morning feeling !

Today i had that Monday morning feeling for the first time in years not wanting to get up or go over the school to start my day but i did reluctantly ( only around another 500 or so days till we can up sticks to Kent fulltime),We will have to start looking for a School (mixed comprehensive) for Caitlin during the summer.
On the business side of things my cousin who is a Graphic Designer emailed me some ideas for our company logo which was cool, we also got an email from another hotel interested in using our bikes so things are great on that front so far.
Sharon spent the best part of 5 hours up the A&E dept with what we thought was a broken wrist but luckily it was not broken just soft tissue damage...whatever that is !

Back home.

After a nice weekend in which on Friday we went to the Granville Cinema to watch the Princess and the Frog and then Saturday at the Palace Cinema to watch Percy Jackson and the lightening thief, we are now back in London ready for the next 6 - 8 week slog before the Easter Hols in which we shall hopefully be ready to start business hiring and selling our bikes.
It will be 6 - 8 weeks of hard work of working 7.30am - 7.00pm at the school and then trying to get the bikes all ready in any spare time we have, but hopefully all will go to plan ( Whatever plan that is !! ).

As expected...

As expected Caitlin made a quick recovery from her stomach bug only for Sharon to come down with it yesterday so while Sharon stayed in on the sofa Caitlin and I went in to Margate to drop off more business cards etc to three more hotels.
Today Sharon felt a bit better so we went into Sandwich and visited four more hotels and then on to Frankie & Bennies at Westwood for lunch, we could not believe how busy it gets at Half Term had a half hour wait to get seated,
before going to F&Bs we tried the Harvester but that had a half hour wait too, guess we will have to get used to things like that when we eventually move down.. we take it for granted in London having far too many places to choose from to eat.
We can not wait to make the move but will wait until Caitlin has finished primary school before we "up sticks" .

Managed to get out for an hour today.

We managed to get out the house for an hour today, as Caitlin has come down with a stomach bug but we didnt go too far just drove down to the Harbour to drop off some business cards and a brochure to three hotels then got as far as Manston on route to Minster ( Durlock Lodge Guest House )before Caitlin started puking, once she had stopped we carried on dropped off what we had to then headed straight back where we have remained ever since vegging...in front of the TV or Laptop.
We missed out on a job lot of led bike lights on ebay as the Laptop goes on a go slow here in Ramsgate then speeds up back in London where we dont need to use it, but im sure there will be more on there tomorrow.
Hopefully we will get out for longer tomorrow as long as Caitlin feels better or that Sharon or myself dont catch the lurgies.......

Making the most of half term.

We are making the most of half term this week, we are in Ramsgate to recharge our batteries and to drop off our business cards and brochures to local hotels that are interested in our bike drop off and pick up service, so far we have 13 that are on board and hopefully more to follow.
This will probably be our last school holiday that we will be able to enjoy before the "season" begins so will do a few things with Caitlin as well as visit the hotels ( a trip or two to the Vue at Westwood or Bowling in Cliftonville or both !!)

Old pictures !

A picture of my Dad on his bike around 1953 and a picture of Sharons Mum and Nan on a ride at the coast (maybe Margate ??)

Finally a lay in !!

Finally had a lay in (9.30) although Caitlin did come in at 8.00 we told her to go and watch a dvd in bed.
Trying to draft a letter / proposal to Thanet District Council regarding setting up a new venture in Margate but unsure which councillor to mail it to (needs to be linked to licensing),instead of making it easy to set up a new business TDC seem to make it harder...you would think they would help people setting up new businesses in Thanet and a "Green" one at that !

Yay.....its Half Term !!!

Its Half Term and a chance of a lie in.........no Caitlin had other ideas, she was up at 7.20 and wanted pancakes for breakfast so no lay in for poor old dad.
On the bike front we added another BMX,some Bike Bells and some Bike Multi Tools to our ever expanding stock !!

Nearly half term !!!

Well its nearly half term and that means a well earned week off from school for the Doyle`s and a chance to get down to Ramsgate/Margate.
Over the weekend in between kids parties and "Strictly come dancing" at the O2 we managed to get 2 Fold up bikes and a Ladies Cruiser, and at the moment im watching how the bids are going on a auction site for a job lot of 32 bikes (ex Centre Parcs).

Some good news at last !!

We had some good news at last, we got an email yesterday letting us know we are to be included in a Rural Thanet Tourism Brochure a bit of exposure for "Caitlins Beach Cruisers" can only be good.
Hopefully today we will be getting a new Ladies Beach Cruiser to add to our stock.
Away from bikes Caitlin is very excited as she has her first "tween" party dont envy the parents having to put up with 20-30 9/10 year olds running round screaming from 6 - 9 pm .

Another day....

Another day......and another two bikes added to our expanding stock of bikes
(1 Lowrider and 1 childs ATB)il have to have a count up of what we have and havent got and then buy some more !!
All the business cards are ready just got to organise the flyers and then they are ready to go.

Another weekend over !!

Well thats another weekend over in the blink of an eye although it wasnt a weekend wasted, Yesterday Sharon spent the day cutting hair and piercing ears and today we went to deepest darkest Essex...well Braintree at least to collect a bike seat and some cycle helmets.
No news on the lease to the unit yet may be sometime this week then things can get a move on, looking at getting a Tandem this week (hopefully).

Yet another evening on the PC

Yet another evening spent on the PC looking through all the bike "bits" on Gumtree and Ebay,Sharon (the ebay bidding queen) won a bid for a baby bike seat and two helmets to go towards our ever expanding stock of bikes and accessories.
We are also one step closer to finalising the details on the lease for the unit we will be trading from, im not a religous man but a little help from the fella in the pic wouldnt be turned down at least he is riding a cruiser !!

Well here goes.......

Well here goes our first entry on this blog so i may as well start by telling you a bit about "us"......

"Us" is Sharon, Mitchell and Caitlin Doyle and we are in the process of setting up a bike hire business in Margate, Kent.

As the name of our blog says the company name is "Caitlins Beach Cruisers" and we will be based and trading from Margate Harbour arm Margate, Kent.

This blog will keep track of how our first year (and beyond hopefully) goes.

A bit more about us we still live and work in London (both in Support roles in Education) and will do so until Caitlin has finished her primary education at which point we will up sticks and journey down the M2 to Kent, hopefully to settle somewhere in Thanet.

The idea to start a bike hire business came from a conversation with someone at the start of October 09 and within two weeks we had a meeting with Thanet Distict Council selling them the idea and since then the whole thing has snowballed, to the point where we have secured a place to trade from (a unit on Margate Harbour arm) have half the bikes needed to start, are in the process of having a website set up and trying to find an insurance company who will cover us for public liability insurance.