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26th may 2020 newspage

26th May 2020 Newspage

That is over two months now since the call to lockdown came, the call to shut the hotels, restaurants and pubs in Scotland and the rest of the UK.

The Coronavirus Pandemic seems to have passed over much of the world in its first flush and we will see if there is the much vaunted second wave or not.

Sadly, many people have lost their lives to Covid-19; the UK death toll sits at 36,914 with 121 new fatalities.

“Stay home, protect the NHS, save lives”

In the main, the population seems to have done that.

“Stay alert, control the virus, save lives” has been a little bit more confusing with a UK / Scottish divide adding some confusion to the less obvious phrasing.

“Stay home” is quite clear “Stay alert” not quite so clear.

Thoughts are now turning to reopening, with much of Europe having opened up restaurants and bars or in the case of Sweden, never having shut them down.

What will the rest of the 2020 season bring? Difficult to try and say. No doubt, there will be some life and some businesses will strike up, pitch up their stall and trade. Others may choose not to. That is everyone’s prerogative.

At CIS, an office has been kept open at Sunnybrae in Moffat where I live and where CIS worked out of from 2009 upon leaving Wentworth Street in Portree and before the day to day business moved into the shop on Well Street in Moffat.

There are reduced opening hours for now.

Monday to Friday 9am to 3pm and shut 1pm on the Wednesday. No doubt, these hours will change. If you get an answer machine please leave a message and I will get back to you. As the jobs pick up, I will spend more time on the phones, a bit like the early days in Glenmhor on Skye, I have one landline and one fancyish mobile which will be used when the time comes.

The three ladies who worked at CIS have all started their notice periods of redundancy as of yesterday the 25th of May.

The main issues getting the CIS office back up and running Well Street would be BT and Caterer.com who are chasing CIS for full payments whilst there is no activity. I am loathe to pay them off.

CIS Prices for hoteliers and restaurateurs have been reduced, and CIS is keenly priced to go.

Initially, the rates for relief chefs will be down a couple of pounds also to reflect the expected supply and demand for chefs.

After 20 good years of trading, one bad year is maybe to be expected.

Hopefully, for all the decent, honest, hard-working and skilled chefs who are keen to get back to work, the work will come back.

Some- time in July?

Many of us will be ready.

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