Maria is now back in charge of the reception although I seem to have spent quite a bit of time here today. Firstly to show her where all the money came from as she is unaware of the existence of the spreadsheet I’ve been using since the paper booking-in sheets ran out. Apparently, her brother has produced around 1,000 copies of the sheet for her. And there I am trying to wean her off her dependence on paper booking sheets.
I had thought about creating a custom database for the camping but I think, having looked into it more deeply, it’s too big a task for someone with no database programming experience. I have also found an online database product which might be just the job and is not overly expensive. I would like to see everything handled online with the customers actually being able to book and pay for their accommodation without having to call to speak to someone. I understand this is not everyone’s cup of tea but feel that many who are travelling about now tend to use web-based resources rather than have to phone up and perhaps talk to someone in a foreign language.
Maria arrived in the camping late yesterday evening and was at her post when I came back from walking the dogs. I came to do some handing over with her but I could see that she was quite tired and perhaps overwhelmed with the task of getting everything ready. She also handles the accounts so I imagine nothing has been done for the past four months at least. Quite a lot of catching up to do. I think she has been living a fairly stress-free existence so may find coming back here a bit of a challenge.
The afternoon passed reasonably quickly at the reception with a couple of visitors generally for simple enquiries. The boys of the people in T3 came to see the dogs during the afternoon so I had to go over to see what was going on. Maria had toothache last night so didn’t get much sleep. I volunteered to hold the fort whilst she went off to catch up for a couple of hours.
The boys came with me when I walked the dogs in the evening. The youngest, who told me he is four, took Pea and his elder brother looked after Obi. The brother is probably about nine. They did well as we walked over the rocks together. One slight mishap and a grazed knee but no fatalities. Their father appeared to be accompanying us but, in fact, strode off into the distance not to be seen until be returned. We all managed anyway.
The dogs have had their food and are in bed now so I just have to wait for my beetroot to cook as I forgot to do it earlier.
For the time being, Πέντε continues to be a night resident of the Grammeno Dog’s Home although Georgia reckons to build a small compound for them both for the summer when the camping is busy.
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