WARNING TO READERS - This is a long, rambling, multi-part story and VERY British. The individual chapters will make more sense if read in sequence.
Chapter 13: Concerts and Gigs
The following week was shaping up to be a busy one for me. Emma had managed to completely clear the old stock room where Debbie and I had enjoyed our spontaneous shag and on Monday, Maggie and I put on old overalls and gave the room a coat of emulsion, painted the woodwork and brought an old carpet down from the house which could be fitted once the paint was dry. This was to be the new general office and would be Emma's domain as soon as the additional office furniture arrived and British Telecom had installed the required telephone and fax extensions. I was pleased that I would soon be getting my own desk back and there would only be Maggie and I in the old office again.
We were both very impressed with the way that Emma had taken to her new duties but what really caught us by surprise was when she announced that morning that she had signed herself up at college for short course evening classes in book keeping and office management. She had made the decision on her own without being pushed, although I had been thinking about organising some training for her. Maggie and I talked about it over lunch and she was in favour of trying to move Emma's courses so that she could do them on day release. I was not so keen on that idea; the whole college thing had been Emma's initiative and I wanted her to feel that this was something she had done for herself. In the end we compromised, it was the last year she would not have to pay tuition fees but we would underwrite her expenses and would look at giving her a salary rise once she qualified.
To our surprise BT turned up on time in the afternoon, and replaced the office telephone lines and fitted new extensions in the upstairs rooms and the shop, replacing the old fixed cables with new plug in sockets. All the handsets were changed for up to date push button dialling units and a new, much louder, bell extension was fitted to the outside of the building which could be heard from any part of the site.
Tuesday I had promised to go out and assess the garden maintenance job that had come in on Thursday. The appointment was not until 2 pm and so I suggested to Emma that she should come with me and we could call into the commercial stationers in Salisbury and pick up some new equipment for the office.
I wanted to make a good impression with Mrs. Harvey and so had put on a stone washed denim shirt and a new pair of brown corduroy jeans, with brown brogue walking boots and my Barbour waxed jacket.
"God, Jamie," Emma laughed when she joined me in the yard. "You look like you've just stepped out of the Young Farmer's Club, really cool!" She looked good herself. She was wearing her usual black; skin tight black leggings, beneath an extra short black mini skirt and a thick black polo neck pullover. Her hair was pulled back into a long pony tail that hung temptingly down her back.
We left about mid-day in the Land Rover and spend about an hour browsing in the office equipment show room. Maggie had already spoken to Emma about requirements and had left the detailed decisions about what to purchase to her. My sister was like a kid in a toy shop and came away wreathed in smiles with a box of small items and a new state of the art Panasonic word processor, with separate printer and a large box of floppy discs. I just got to sign the account and carry the parcels.
Neither of us had eaten that lunchtime so as Tuesday is market day in Salisbury Emma walked over to the market and bought sausage rolls and Cokes, whilst I took the heavier boxes back to the car. It was still very mild and sunny so we sat on a wall by the car park and ate our snacks and talked. Emma seemed really content, she was thrilled with her new job and to my relief seemed to have dropped the gang of no-hopers that she had been hanging out with and was spending more time with a couple of older friends from her school days and the twins. She had stuck rigidly to her promise and this week was due to pay me the final instalment of the debt relating to Mum's telephone bill.
As we walked over to the Land Rover, I told her about Maggie's suggestion that we paid her study expenses and I added that whilst she was doing evening classes I would either collect her after class myself or arrange for her to get a lift home so that she would not have to cycle in the dark. We got to the car and I handed her the keys.
"I'll navigate and you can drive," I said, and fished a couple of L plates out of my bag and stuck them to the front and rear mudguards. She had been getting on well with her driving lessons and Mum had taken her out in her car for a couple of hours at weekends and some evenings, so I was quite happy for her to have some practice in the Land Rover. She soon got the hang of the heavy vehicle and it was not a great distance to the Old Blandford Road.
The Cedars Retirement Home was a large rambling, Edwardian house, to which had been added a couple of modern ground floor extensions and a large conservatory at the back in which I could see several elderly men and women watching television. The grounds consisted of quite wide expanses of fairly level lawns, criss-crossed with narrow shingle paths and the gardens were surrounded by high laurel hedges, which had obviously not been trimmed for a couple of years. The grounds contained several of the most magnificent cedar trees that I had seen in the county. There were a lot of border flower beds, an extensive rockery maze garden and a wide paved terrace by the house with an absolute multitude of very old and magnificent pots and containers, some of which had been replanted with a few early bulbs and some still had last summers dead foliage hanging over the edges.
Jane Harvey was a very nice woman in her late fifties, tall and thin, with grey hair and was dressed in a woollen twin set suit of dark grey which looked a bit dated but was of good quality. I introduced Emma as our office manager, and saw her beam with pride, they seemed hit it off immediately and I left them talking on the terrace whilst I took a walk around the grounds, took a few photographs and re-assessed the provisional estimate that Maggie and I had guessed at. There was a lot more work to do than I had expected and the gardens would need regular maintenance if they were to be well kept all year round. The good news was that there was a well equipped tool shed with all the usual hand tools; an almost new ride-on lawn mower and the most enormous hand roller I had ever seen away from a cricket club. More importantly there was a twin outside tap and several long hoses and sprinkler units which appeared in good order.
Mrs. Harvey asked if we would like teas or coffees and whilst we were waiting took Emma for a tour around the house whilst I stood down in the reception hall and chatted to an attractive girl in a white nurse's outfit who was behind the desk. I discovered very quickly that her name was Janet; she was a trainee carer, eighteen years old and had worked at the home for a year. She lived on the premises and did not have a regular boyfriend. She was petite and blonde with sparking blue eyes a cheeky grin and a slight North Country accent. She looked very tempting in her uniform which hugged her slight figure so that I could see the outline of the bra and panties beneath it. Mrs. Harvey and Emma returned with another, older carer, carrying a tray with cups of tea and coffee and a plate of biscuits.
"If we get the job I will be coming over here quite often.... Perhaps we could go out sometime? I suggested quietly to Janet.
She smiled saucily, "OK," she replied, "I'll think about it." Then nodded at Emma, "That your girlfriend then?" she asked.
