HEALTH, SAFETY & CHILD CARE

I just saw my eldest son go off The Tombstone, our biggest coasteering jump. Scary. You do all the sums, all the risk assessments, check and file all the qualifications, interview everybody five times, measure the water depth, test all the equipment...and you still feel ill when they jump off the big one. I have never been so pleased to see his mad grin as when he broke the surface and tapped his helmet twice to let the instructor know he was ok.

Everything is streaming into place at work. Pressure’s increasing now and the company’s like an engine starting to pull hard. All the little stuff, all the things we’ve learnt, all add together when we get to do what we've trained all year for. A bit of friction running up to the start of our season made me feel really jumpy: what’s gonna happen when we have to deliver service and make good all the promises made in this year’s marketing? The pressure seems to suit us better than the build-up.

Had a 2 1/2 hour meeting with HSE this morning. They really seem to get it, how it works, what we’re doing. Get it or not we have to keep revising and updating all the systems that keep everybody safe, and keep proving on paper that we’ve done a good job. Bring it on.

WORLD CUP’S OVER & IT'S ALL GOING TOKICK OFF.

Like going to confession, I should imagine: father forgive me, it has been 67 days since I have blogged…

We have two days to go before the schools kick out and it all kicks off here. Same, same but different; new faces, new systems, a whole new ride with the coasteering and a new shape for the teams. It’s like last year we were 4-4-2 and now we’re 3-5-2. Positively continental.

We’re locked down and ready to go with the rides, and running round trying to do all the signs/painting/polishing/saluting/mowing one last time before the ground starts to shake. I feel like we’re through waiting now everybody’s ready and champing at the bit and that’s making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

We have two crazy people in reception full time on the phones and sorting out the mail, a touch screen till etc etc. Where’s it going to end? That’s what I want to know. When we’re really going full tilt we have 11 people at it all day, plus the web guys, plus me. Nasty.

The freshwater coasteering is better than my wildest dreams. We’ve had about 15 groups out since we started a couple of weeks ago and Joe Public is loving it. Talk about a good use of the space. Imagine being able to bomb off the cliffs inside the set of a Bond movie. They look so cool in all the safety gear, yellow helmets and shirts with these crazy buoyancy aids that make you look like an action hero. I love it.

We now have 3 fully qualified instructors in the water. Jack and Lucas just came back from Newquay on Friday absolutely knackered having qualified in heavy swell and a strong onshore wind. Made me feel old just thinking about it. All these young dudes in Adrenalin Quarry shirts prowling around the site are better at the job than I am. Scary thought for an old man.

We have this massive internet booking portal that allows you to do it from home, then we do mail order gift vouchers, mail order merchandise, you name it. Sainsburys for lunatics.