A quick update from The Dock on a rain-streaked Valentines Day. The heat is on, the coffee is flowing, and (in what is becoming a fantastic Friday tradition) Barney’s fiddle-playing is wafting through the cafe… Love is in the air – but it could just be how much I love this place…

The day today started with a great event run by Volunteer Now and Business In The Community – the launch of the Be A Saint initiative. Over bacon butties and fruit platters (thanks Mace!) we were all encouraged to find ways to volunteer.  One speaker even broke into song – it was quite surreal (but wonderful) to be serenaded by Nessun Dorma and That’s Amore at 9:30 in the morning!

And the Saint’s Day theme continued throughout the day – one volunteer arrived with a lifetime’s supply of LoveHearts for every customer, while Stan the Baker got in the mood with heart-shaped shortbread and romantic German biscuits:

(Is that the first time the words ‘romantic’ and ‘German’ have been in such close proximity?  Now that Joachim is on the Dock team, never miss an opportunity for a German joke)

And finally, something to lift your spirits as the rain falls: if it wasn’t for the mad weather, we wouldn’t have started last Sunday’s Dock walk with a perfect rainbow arching overhead:

And as if nature wasn’t putting on enough of a show during our walk, we also had a friendly up-close visit from Sammy the Seal  when we were chatting at the water’s edge beside HMS Caroline (I know it’s a terrible iPhone photo, but honestly – he was right beside us!)

So there you go – I haven’t ever belonged to a church which got to enjoy visiting seals and rainbows during the service.  And I’ve never been in a cafe where a man serenaded the room with Nessun Dorma.  It’s a bit unique, this Life in the Titanic Quarter