Chapter 4 What to do?
Bob had finished his breakfast and washed the dishes by seven on Tuesday morning. The clothes he had washed Monday afternoon had dried overnight so he put them away then looked over the lounge to see if it needed cleaning. It looked okay to him and he didn’t see any dust when he ran his finger over the top of the side table. No need to do any cleaning until the weekend. He walked to his workshop and checked the wood he had on the racks. Overnight he had thought that he might have to order some more but there was enough for now. There was no news from Jenny in his mail, just his usual bills and a late Christmas card from Aunt Sally. He sat at the kitchen table and planned his activities for the week. Today he’d return the suitcase, go to the gift shop and talk to Rose, then catch the bus to Big End do some shopping and find out if Jenny had sold any of the farm sets.
Jane was busy in her kitchen when Bob arrived.
“Oh, hello Bob. No, I’ve changed my mind. I don’t need the suitcase. You can keep it. It’s an old one and we’re not likely to use it any more.”
“Thanks Jane. Can I leave it with you now and collect it later? I’m going to see Rose and then to Big End to talk to Jenny Wood and see if any of my toys have been sold. I don’t want to carry it there and back.”
“Sure. Let me know if she has when you come back.”
“I will.”
Rose welcomed him and asked if he had enjoyed his holiday.
“It was very enjoyable Rose. Lagos is an interesting town, friendly people, many lovely buildings and lots of exciting food. I’m thinking I might go again, next year. How are you and Jack doing?”
“We’re fine. We’re thinking about holidays too. Just for a few days. Somewhere not to far away that we can drive to. We can shut the shop Monday to Thursday any February week. Most of our customers only come on the weekends then and it’s too cold to work on the cottage so Jack’s free. Oh, yes, about your farm sets. I’m sorry, I haven’t sold any more. I think it’s too early. We’ll probably sell one or two over Easter and more during the summer. If you make any village sets I’d like to have one, just to see how they look and to find out if they’ll sell.”
“Okay, I’ll make a couple and bring one to you in a few days time. I’m off the Big End now to see if Jenny has sold any. ‘Bye Rose.”
“‘Bye Bob. Good luck.”
Jenny was glad to see Bob when he arrived. “I’ve some good news for you. I’ve sold three farm sets and lots of animals and it’s not tourist time yet. They sold to local people. Isn’t it great!”
“Oh yes! That’s excellent. You know I also make train sets and I’m going to make a village set next. Perhaps you would like to see them. I could bring you some next time I’m here.”
“Yes, I am interested. If they are a good as these farm sets I would like to have six of each. Let me give you a cheque and a statement for the ones I’ve sold.” She sat down, filled in a form and gave a copy to Bob.
“As you can see it says, ‘Sold three Small End Farm Sets at £22.50, minus thirty percent commission. £47.25. Do you agree with that?”
“I’m sure that’s correct,” and he put the cheque and the form in his wallet. “Thank you Jenny.”
‘Oh,’ thought Bob, as he walked out of the shop, ‘that was nice. But now I’m in trouble. I have to make six train sets and at least one village set before I see Jenny again. I’m glad I didn’t tell her I make birds. Well I’m not going to stop at the Fox nor have lunch here. I’ll just do the shopping then spend the rest of the day in my workshop.’
At home, after a quick ham sandwich and a mug of tea he went to his shop having decided what he should do. He’d make two village sets, one for Rose and one for Jenny. Then make train sets for Jenny. ‘She’ll probably want some more farm sets so I’ll have to make more of them.’
He sat on the stool and took his village sketches from the drawer under the bench. The village sets he had planned would have five simple houses, three larger ones, four shops with a single window and two with a double window, one church, one pub, one post office, one bus stop with a bench for waiting, and lengths of small and large hedges. ‘All this may be too much,’ he thought, as he looked at the drawings. ‘It’ll probably take too long to make. They’d have to sell for twenty five or thirty pounds to make it worth while. I’ll have to think about this.’ He took down a length of house-sized wood, long enough to make ten small houses, and began shaping it.
He stopped working at seven. It was dark and his light was not really strong enough for working on small details and he was tired. He’d done enough for one day. He’d made all the houses. He made the larger ones using the same production-line technique and just glued on an entrance porch and a conservatory. The houses hadn’t been sanded or painted but he’d try to paint at the end of each day so they could dry overnight and he could add the second coat when he next painted.
He decided to have his supper at the pub. He could tell Len about his holidays and that he was now selling his toys in Big End. That would interest him.
Supper, two pints, speaking to those in the pub filled the evening. At 9:30 he said ‘Good night’ to Len. “It’s time for bed. I’ve lots to do tomorrow.”
After Bob had left Len commented to the two men they had been chatting with, “I wonder what changed his mind? Before Christmas he was happy to be retired and his wood-carving was just a hobby. Now it seems like he’s a different man. He’s got more energy and drive. It’s like he’s ten years younger.”
Bob was back at his bench at seven on Wednesday with a table light taken from Regina’s bedroom shining on his work. On the calendar that his insurance agent had given him for Christmas he wrote “6-V” on Tuesday’s square to note how many hours he had been making village sets. He would also note how much wood and paint he used. ‘I’d better do that to know exactly what each set costs to make,’ he told himself.
With short coffee and lunch breaks and no tea break, he was able to write “10-V” on Wednesday’s square. Then he thought he should also record what parts of the set he had made during this time and wrote “houses” for Tuesday and “shops, church, pub and post office” for Wednesday and put “2” in a circle to note that he had made two sets. ‘I can probably finish all the other parts tomorrow,’ he thought, ‘and I’ll sand them on Friday then start painting.’
He was right about the time, he did finish the set on Thursday. The hedges still took a long time to make but he knew they were important; they greatly improved the appearance of the village when positioned. Friday morning he took everything outside and sanded them. Luckily it was a warmish and dry day; after lunch he gave the set its first coat of paint.
He had given everything a second coat of paint by lunch-time on Saturday and was tired and ready for a break. It had been a very busy week, something Bob had not experienced in the last few years. However he had to do his weekly Big End shopping so he took the bus there after lunch.
Since he didn’t have the train or village sets to give Jenny he didn’t enter the shop but looked in the window. There it was, one of his farm sets, complete with animals, right in the centre of the display. Two boys were looking in the window. Bob couldn’t see if they were looking at the farm so he moved a little nearer to hear if they mentioned it, but they were talking about the electronics kit; one of them wanted to build a radio and was telling the other boy that he had asked his Dad to buy the kit for his birthday.
Bob pulled out his shopping list. Ah, yes, last night he had wondered if there were quick-drying paints and had added “Art shop” to his list. They might know if there was such a thing. If there was he might be able to do all the painting in one day.
At the shop the assistant told him about acrylics. “That’s a quick-drying paint and it comes in many bright colours. Here, look at this box.”
Bob liked what he saw and bought a cheap student’s set to experiment with. He put the receipt carefully in his shirt pocket; he would need it when he did his book-keeping and
completed his income tax return. His next stop was at the building suppliers. He thought he might be able to make twenty farm sets, twenty village sets and twenty train sets during the next two months and had made a list of the wood he’d need. He gave them the list, paid for the wood and was told they’d deliver it next Wednesday. His last job was to shop for the foods he couldn’t buy in Small End. He went to the fish shop and was told there wasn’t enough demand for them to carry fresh sardines so he bought two salmon filets. At the supermarket he bought a package of frozen white fish then caught the three o’clock bus home.
At the Crown that night he told Joe and Jane what he had been doing and repeated much of it when Rose and Jack joined them. Joe wanted to know why he had decided to do so much. Jane wanted to know if he had decided about next year’s holiday. Rose was very interested to learn that Jenny had sold three sets in two weeks and Jack told him that he would have to enlarge his workshop if he was going into mass-production.
“I’ve been thinking about that. Do I need planning permission to make the shop longer? By about ten feet?”
“Naw you don’t,” said Jack. “But you won’t hav’ much garden left.”
“That’s okay. I won’t be doing much gardening in the future if my sets continue to sell.”
The conversation shifted to discuss their friends. Jack said that Bonnie had not heard from Claire. Joe looked at Bob when her name was mentioned and noted a faint flicker in his eyes. ‘So he still thinks about her, though I think his infatuation, if that’s what it was, has diminished.’ He mostly thought that because he’d watched Bob flirt, in a tentative way, with the unmarried women they met on the Portugal trip. He told Jane on their flight home that Bob was beginning to get over Betty’s death and explained why he thought so. Jane thought he might be right.
Sunday was a rest day for Bob. He didn’t go to church. He never had, his parents were not religious. He just needed a break from his week of work. He did his laundry and gave his house a good cleaning. That took most of the morning. After lunch he walked along the Tusset for a couple of miles, stopped to tell Betty, as he usually did when he walked past the tree where he dropped her ashes in the river, what he had been doing since his last visit. Then he took one of the foot paths that would return him across some fields and through a couple of woods to Small End. It was a fine day, warm for February and he enjoyed using his legs after a week in his workshop. The five miles took him three hours. It would have been less if he hadn’t stopped to talk to the two farmers he met. He was happily tired when he arrived home but had enough energy to cook the salmon, potatoes and peas. Betty’s cookbook stated that grilling the salmon in the oven was the easiest way to prepare it, so that’s what Bob did. It was sweet and tasty but too dry. He’d have to make the sauce that they suggested next time. After supper he watched television and drank a glass of port.
Bob woke at five thirty on Monday morning and lay in bed, asking himself again if spending most of his time making toys was the right thing to do. He couldn’t decide so told himself he’d just try it for a while. He’d increase his toy production and keep a careful record of how many he made, what they cost to make and how much money they earned, then, maybe during the summer, decide if he should continue. Did he want to start a business and travel or did he want to retire and read? He wouldn’t enlarge the shop until he had made up his mind about his future.
During breakfast he made a To Do list. The first item was ‘Make twelve train sets,’ thinking that should be enough to last until the summer. Then, ‘Make ten village sets.’ Then he added, ‘Ask Jack to design labels for the farm set and the village set.’ Until now Rose had just sold the farm set in the boxes like the ones he’d bought without a label. But Jenny, and Rose now, might want something better. He hoped that Jack would have enough time to do both labels. One more item went on the list, ‘Ask Rose to order another hundred boxes.’ That should be enough to last him all year.
Breakfast done, Bob began work. He decided it was easiest and quickest to make all twelve engines first, then make the thirty-six carriages. That should be quicker than making one set at a time. By five o’clock he had cut all the engine parts and they were piled in the cardboard boxes on the shelves. The wheels, boilers and chimneys were cut from different sized dowel rods. The base and coal boxes of the train were cut from planks.
After sweeping the shop he put a village set in a plastic bag and walked to the gift shop. Rose and Jack were both there and watched as he placed the pieces on the counter.
“There’s lots of different ways to make the village,” Bob explained. “It’ll keep children busy for ages.”
“Yes I can see that. I like it and want some.”
“Good. Oh, Jenny told me she would like to sell train sets as well as the village sets. Jack, could you design some sample labels for the village and train boxes? I’d like fifty of each and this time I’m going to pay for them. Rose, could you order me another hundred boxes please, the same size as before. Oh, and some rolls of tissue paper to wrap the small parts in. I don’t know how much paper I’d need. Could you decide that?”
“All right. My, you’ll be busy! Are you sure you want all this extra work? You’re very different these days from the way you’ve been during the last three years.”
“Yes, I know. I was a bit of a slow-poke then and I seem to have woken up. I feel more energetic now.”
“I’ll call t’train set t’Small End Train Set, eh?” asked Jack.
“Yes. We’ll use the Small End tag on everything I make. Oh can you make me a business card? Here is a sketch showing the information and how I’d like it to be laid out. I don’t know if you can put a small photo or a drawing of a train in the corner. If not don’t worry, I just though it would be nice if you could add a picture of some kind.”
“I’ll try som’in.”
Tuesday morning Bob shaped the long blocks from which he’d cut the base and the body of the carriages. He cut them into the parts for thirty-six carriages in the afternoon and cut the wheels from a large dowel rod. It didn’t take very long and he sanded everything afterwards. Now the painting.
Painting always took the longest for he had to paint the body, roof, doors, windows and wheels of each carriage and the body, wheels, chimney, coal and a few decorative lines on each engine. The problem was he could only paint colours that didn’t touch each other. The ones that met he had to wait until the first coating was dry which meant he had to leave them overnight. However the wheels were quick to paint even though there were a lot of them because they were only one colour. Hopefully acrylic paint would be the answer.
He had a quick supper then returned to his shop. It was time to find out how the acrylic paint looked and how quickly it dried. He wanted to know how long he’d have to wait before adding the next colour. He took an old piece of wood from the waste bin opened the acrylic set and painted six strips of red along the wood. He looked at the clock. After five minutes he painted a strip of white on the first strip of red. No, that was too quick, the red smeared. He waited another five minutes then painted some white on the second red stripe. That was much better. In fact there was almost no smearing and the colours were bright, almost vivid and very attractive. After another five minutes he could paint lines and strips on a red stripe and they kept their shape. ‘This is great! Now what does water do to the paint?’ It had to be waterproof since small children would be playing with the toys. He put a few drops of water on one of the red stripes and rubbed it with the end of his paint brush. The paint smeared. ‘Oh no, that’s no good, but maybe I put the water on too soon. I’ll let them dry overnight and see what happens in the morning.’
The first thing Bob did when entering his workshop Wednesday morning was put some water on the previous night’s paint job. Keeping his fingers crossed he scratched the paint with his finger nail. Nothing happened. He scratched harder, pushing against one of the thin lines. It wasn’t affected. Excellent! That meant he could paint the base coats
of all the carriages, then paint all the doors, then all the windows and the roof and, with care, the paint wouldn’t smear and it wouldn’t hurt if children wet them. He thought about how he’d manage the work and soon decided he would place them in a line and paint from left to right. Then return to the one on the left and paint the second coat on top, in fact, he could add a third or fourth coat, one after the other. That should do it and it looked as if it would take only a half-day to paint all of the carriages if he did that!
He tried the technique and painted all the bodies and roofs of the carriages then took a coffee break. After his rest he painted the doors and the windows using the white paint. White window panes didn’t look very good on top of the acrylic, maybe silver would be better. ‘I’ll have to see if the shop has any,’ he told himself.
The wood was delivered at one o’clock, just as he was about to eat lunch. He helped the man unload and, immediately after lunch, built four racks. The shop looked much tidier once all the wood was placed, upright, between them. Then he returned to painting and finished the engines, the chimneys and all of the wheels by six. It had been another very productive day.
Bob cooked some of his frozen fish in a frying pan filled with water for supper. It lacked taste and he wondered if there was a sauce he could add. Frying did taste nicer even if it was not supposed to be healthy to cook that way.
Thursday morning he felt tired. His back ached a bit from hunching over the bench when he was painting. He didn’t rush breakfast and thought again about what he was doing. He wanted to enjoy his life and not rush it so much. He knew now that he could make plenty of money if the Small End toys sold as easily in the future as they had in the past. He could probably make five thousand pounds a year if he wanted, enough for two or three holidays. He could make even more if he hired someone to help him, a boy fresh from school perhaps, one who was interested in working with wood. He sat in his easy chair by the window and day-dreamed for a while about all the trips he could take in the future. Then he picked up the book he had started on the flight back from Portugal and read for a while. He’d take the morning off.
But Bob couldn’t resist the urge to complete the sets so after coffee he returned to the shop and glued the parts together. He used hot animal glue that he heated on a little hot-plate, the same glue his Dad had used to mend furniture. It was quick to dry but he had to be careful when applying it. After lunch he screwed the wheels onto the engines and carriages and twisted the connecting eyes onto the rear of the engines and the hooks and eyes to the front and back of the carriages. He assembled one of the trains. The bright acrylic paint greatly improved its appearance; it looked much better than any of his earlier trains. Tomorrow, if Rose had the boxes, paper and labels, he’d pack them, ready to be taken to the shops.
During his supper, a curry and a bottle of beer, he made a couple of shopping lists. He’d need more hooks and eyes, a big box of acrylic paints and some silver and gold acrylic if they had any. Under his workshop needs he listed his grocery items. He’d buy another piece of salmon and cook it in water. The fish he had cooked that way yesterday needed butter, lemon and slices of buttered bread to boost its flavour; he’d look for a sauce of some kind the next time he bought that kind of fish. Salmon didn’t need a sauce provided it wasn’t overcooked. Maybe he should learn how to make a sauce. Well, not just now, in the summer perhaps, when there was less to do in the shop.
He walked to Tyne’s Gift Shop Friday morning, catching Jack as he was leaving to go to the Community Centre.
“Hi Bob. I got t’label designs. Want t’look at ‘em?”
Rose was behind the counter and pointed to a box and a roll of paper in the corner.
“And your boxes and wrapping paper have arrived Bob.”
“Oh thanks, Rose. Let me see the bill, I might have enough to pay you right now. Ah, yes I have. Here.” He gave Rose the money then followed Jack into their back room.
“They’s here. Wot d’you think?”
Bob looked at the different designs then pointed to one of them. “I like this one best, the one with the train and carriages. All the village labels are good, which do you prefer?”
“This ‘un, wiv’ houses an’ a duck pond.”
“Yes that’s good. Okay, that’s what I’ll have. Can you make fifty of each?”
“Aye, an’ here sketches of t’ business cards. I put a hand drill in t’corner of one. Like it?”
“Yes. That’s also the best. I like the font and the way the words are spaced makes it very easy to read. Can you make a hundred of these Jack?”
“Aye, but I’m usin’ jet print ink. It smears when wet. Wont me t‘spray ‘em wiv matt lacquer?”
“If that will stop the ink from smearing, yes.”
“Okay. When d’you want ‘em?”
“Can I have them tomorrow Jack? I’ll come down at nine to collect them if that’s all right.”
“Aye.”
They returned to the front of the shop and Bob picked up the package of boxes and roll of paper.
“I’ve got some more train sets Rose,” Bob said. “Do you want any? I’m using a different paint now and they are brighter than the earlier ones.”
“In that case I’ll take three but I won’t put them out until I have sold the ones I’ve got already. I’ve still got eight from the ones you gave me in December. I’ve a cheque for the farm set I’ve just sold. Here it is, £15.75.”
“Thanks Rose. Would you mind paying me at the end of each month from now on? I’d prefer that. It’ll make my book-keeping easier.”
“Of course. That’s what I do with most of my sales—pay at the end of the month. I’ll send you a statement of how many I’ve sold that month with the cheque.”
“Great. Thanks.”
Bob had his morning coffee when he returned to his house. It was another cold day and he turned on the electric fire as soon as he entered the workshop. He wondered if the cost of the electricity used in the shop would be a deductible expense and supposed it must be but couldn’t think of a way to estimate how much he used there and dismissed the idea.
He unrolled a length of tissue paper. A piece about a foot square amply wrapped an engine or a carriage. He placed the wrapped engine and three carriages in a box and fastened the top with some cello tape. ‘That’s another thing to put on my shopping list,’ he told himself. All the box needed now was the label.
After he had boxed all the sets he took them into the house. He’d glue the labels on the boxes in the house where it would be warmer. He wondered if he should put his business card in each box but decided not to. He didn’t want to open the boxes now he’d taped them and he didn’t want Rose or Jenny to think he was including the card in the hope that customers would come directly to him. He wasn’t going to steal their business.
Bob spent Friday afternoon making lists and doing a bit of book keeping. He headed one sheet of paper ‘Expenses’ and drew several columns on it. He headed the first column ‘Date,’ the second ‘Item,’ the third ‘Amount’ and the fourth ‘Number.’ Then he took out the envelope where he had put his invoices. He had only two, the wood and the paint; it was easy to add them to the expense list. He numbered each invoice after he had copied the details, put the same number in the ‘Number’ column then he clipped the invoices together and put them in a box. He added how much he had spent and pencilled it at the bottom of the page. Then he wondered if he should he open a business account at the bank? But no, it was too soon to do that. He’d just keep a good paper record of his costs and income.
He headed another list ‘Income.’ This was going to be a much nicer list to keep although there wasn’t much to put down yet. He didn’t include anything from last year. He would start his ‘business’ this year even if it didn’t turn out to be a business in the end. ‘If I ever earn lots of money I’ll buy a computer. I could use it to track my income and expenses. It could do the addition much quicker than I can. And I could make my own labels and type
my letters too. I wonder how hard it is to learn how to use one? Jack would teach me I expect, if I paid him. Hmm, I’m beginning to like doing all this; starting a business might become quite enjoyable.’
Jack phoned Bob at eight on Saturday morning. “I’m goin’ t’bring you t’labels an’ yor cards right now. Okay?”
“Yes, okay Jack.”
He had just finished his breakfast when Jack arrived. “Hi. Do you want a cup of tea Jack?”
“Nay, can’t stay, me helper’s sick an’ wood’s comin’ t’cottage.” He put a small package on the table.
“Thanks. Have you got a bill for me?”
“Aye.”
Bob fetched his cheque book and wrote a cheque.
“How do you keep track of all your income and expenses Jack?”
“On t’computer.”
“I thought you might. I’ve begun keeping a record of my expenses and income but I’m doing it by hand. I’m filling in columns on paper.”
“That’s ‘ard. Mus’ go now Bob. See you at t’Crown ternite. Tarra.”
“‘Bye Jack. Thanks for making these so quickly.”
Bob used a bottle of liquid glue to fasten the labels to the top of the boxes. ‘Very impressive,’ he thought. ‘I should have put my train sets and bird ornaments in labelled boxes years ago. Now they look professional and more people might buy them as gifts.'
He decided to have an early coffee then go to Big End. He’d take six trains to Jenny, buy a bigger box of acrylic paints, some silver and gold acrylic if they had it and get his Big End groceries. He added paint, bottle of glue and cello tape to his list. He’d have lunch at the Fox and go to the library. ‘If they have a book showing coloured pictures of farms I’ll borrow it.’
Jenny smiled at Bob as he walked into her shop. “I’ve sold another farm set. I hope you’ve got more for me. Is that what’s in the bag?”
“No, sorry Jenny. I’ve a village set and some train sets. We talked about them last time I was here.”
“Yes we did. I’d not forgotten. Let me see them.”
Bob put the bag on the floor took out a box and put it on the counter. He opened it and unwrapped the train and carriages.
“Here’s a train set. Rose sells them for fifteen pounds. If you like the look of them do you think that you could sell them at the same price?”
“Yes I could. And I’ll take just twenty five percent. Your stuff’s easy to sell and when I sell them I also sell some animals. We talked about my taking six sets, do you have that many?”
“Yes I do.” Bob put the bag on the counter and gave Jenny one of his business cards. “You can phone me if you want more. At the moment I have another three. If I don’t have any when you call me it would take about a week to make more. Here, let me show you the village set.”
He took the box out of his bag, opened it and put each piece on the counter. Susan joined them as he built a village and exclaimed “This is fun. We should have some of these Jenny.”
“Yes. Can we keep this one and have another six Bob?’
“Yes of course, but it’ll be a while before I have them.”
“All right. Bob, how do you want me to pay you? What I usually do is pay my suppliers at the end of each month. Would that be okay with you? I send them a cheque but I could give you cash, if you’d prefer that.”
“A cheque’s fine Jenny. Monthly’s good too. That’s what I’ll be doing with Rose from now on.”
Bob said goodbye to both of them and stepped out into the cold wind and headed for the pub. It was nearly lunch time. He’d eat early, go to the library and do his shopping afterwards.
After eating his steak and chips Bob pulled out his pocket book, thinking ‘I’ll have to make another list to keep track of the sets, how many Jenny has and how many Rose has, as well as how many they’ve sold each month. That way I’ll know how many and what I should make next time. A bit more paperwork but it seems necessary.’
There were no tourists in the Crown that night and Len had only two choices for supper, fish and chips and pot pie with chips and Bob chose the fish. Joe and Jane joined him with their drinks just as he was finishing.
“Hello Bob,” said Joe. “How was your week? Still busy?”
“Yes. I made twelve train sets. Rose has taken three of them and Jenny has six. There are so many new things to think about now. I suppose it’ll become easier when things settle down. How do you handle all the planning, buying, selling, all the paperwork attached to running a farm? Do you do some of it Jane?”
“Well, we split the task. Joe phones his buyers around December and asks what they might want next year. He orders the seeds, fungicides, pesticides and fertilisers, usually during January. During the year he organises his helpers, telling them what to do and making sure the vegetables are shipped out on time. I look after the paperwork. I used to do all that by hand but two years ago I bought a computer and learned how to use it. The Vegetable Growers’ Organisation had a special program written and most of the market growers use it. The organisation paid the program developer to prepare and run a course on how to use it and I went. The program makes all the paperwork much easier to handle.”
“I see. I’ve been thinking I should buy a computer. But not now, no time to learn how to use it.”
“I can see why, with all the toys you’re making.”
“Hey Bob,” said Joe. “I bet you can’t guess who we met in a pub in Winchester yesterday.”
“You were in Winchester?”
“Yes. There was a buyer I had to meet and we had lunch together. Well, who do you think we met?”
“Er, Claire?”
“There, Jane. I told you that’s what he’d say. No. it wasn’t Claire. It was Maria. You know, the travel agent we had supper with in Lagos.”
“Maria was in a Winchester pub? Why?”
“Her agency sent her to England to find out what our south coast could offer to tourists. You remember, she told us she ran tours in London and the Lake District. Well the company thinks that a tour along the south coast of England might sell. So she’s spent the last week visiting places between Dover and Southampton. Yesterday she was in Winchester looking at King Arthur’s table and the cathedral and wondering if she should include that city because it was the capital of England centuries ago. She’s going towards Land’s End now. I’ve asked her to visit Small End if she has time and I gave her Bonnie’s phone number. She can’t visit before the end of her trip but might do so then. She says she often takes a short holiday at the end of these trips so we might see her in a couple of week’s time.”
“Well that’s interesting, though she won’t include Small End in any tour. I told you that I might rent an apartment in Lagos next year, didn’t I?”
“Yes you did, but you also said you might change your mind and come with us to Spain, right?”
“Yes, I might.”
Bob thought about Maria as he walked home from the pub. It would be good to see her again. ‘I wonder if she’d be interested if I told her what I was doing.’ He could show her and tell her abut his plans.
After hanging his clothes on the line Sunday morning Bob tidied the house. He couldn’t stop himself from rethinking his plans for the future. Did he want to develop a business or return to his former life? To see if it would help he decided to do a few calculations. He’d find out how many hours he’d have to work to earn, say, five thousand pounds. He collected his calculator and a pad of paper from the shelf in the living room and sat in his easy chair by the window with his coffee. ‘Now, let me see. How long did it take me to make one train set. No, that’s no good. I’d better imagine I make twenty trains each time.’ He thought back to what he’d written on the workshop calendar. ‘It’ll probably take seven days to make twenty train sets, assuming I worked eight hours each day. And it’ll take about ten days to make twenty villages and about the same to make twenty farms. Okay, but twenty of each wouldn’t make five thousand pounds. It’d need about a hundred of
each, so let’s say I make a hundred of each set in a year. How much would that make me? Well that depends on who sells them. I’d get more if Jenny sold all of them. Perhaps Rose would take twenty-five percent if I told her that Jenny was. No, no, I can’t do that. It was Rose who told me about Jenny and I’m very glad Rose agreed to sell my sets after Betty died. I don’t mind her taking thirty percent. Okay, if Rose sold one hundred of each set I’d make, let me see.’ He jotted some figures on the paper and did a few calculations. ‘I’d make four thousand, three hundred and seventy five pounds. And, if Jenny sold them I’d make, err, four thousand, six hundred and eighty seven pounds fifty. Since I don’t know who would be selling the toys I’ll round it off and say that I’d earn four and a half thousand pounds. So I’d have to make a more than a hundred of each set if I want to make five thousand in a year.’
He checked his notes and did a few more calculations and found he’d have to work about one hundred and thirty five days. ‘About half a year, if I didn’t work on the weekends. No, slightly more, because I have to buy the wood and paint and other things.’
He went to the kitchen, poured another coffee, added milk and took it back to his chair. ‘Now. Do I really want to spend about half a year in my workshop turning out toys for children? Yes or no?’
Well, that’s what he’d been doing for the past three years, although he had not been working with a target to meet. It was just a hobby then. It would feel a lot different if he had orders to fill. But he had been leading a bit of a humdrum life before this year. Going to Portugal was fun. He’d like to take more holidays, maybe two each year, one in the winter and one in the summer, perhaps. There were lots of places in England he’d like to visit. They’d be nicer to see in the summer; he could go south, in Europe, where it was warm, during the winter.
Okay. He felt he now had the answer. He’d make a hundred of each set this year, have a holiday in the summer and go to Lagos for a month next winter. That would be cheaper than joining a tour and going to Spain. Then, in a year’s time, he’d review how it had been and decide if he should go back to the old ways again.
He immediately felt better. He knew what he wanted to do now and it’d be fun seeing if he could. So he had a quick lunch, eating a cheese and lettuce sandwich and a swallowing a mug of tea, then put on his coat and hat and set off for his weekend walk. This time he took the road going towards Big End; there weren’t many cars or lorries so walking was easy. After a couple of miles he turned right and followed a footpath that ran to the railway track and he followed it back towards his house.
He stopped at the railway station, remembering the years when he was station master. ‘I like my life better now than when I ran the station,’ he thought. He pushed at the door to the waiting room. It was still locked and he was surprised, having expected it to be forced open by some of the village lads. He peered through the window. The seats were dusty and the coal bin next to the stove was still half-full, the way he’d left it. ‘I’d better check with Jane to find out when they’ll start the new building and remind her I want to help. It’d be a nice change from working indoors all day.’
He made his monthly telephone call to his children after supper, this time having several things to talk about with his grandchildren. Roy told him that the aeroplane crashed and broke into many pieces when he took it to school and tried to fly it over the roof. Bob asked him if he wanted another but he said he’d prefer to have a game for his new computer. Jane and Bess told him that they still used their kitchen set but only when friends came around to play. “We help Mum make real cakes now.” Jane told him that she thought she might like to be a cake-maker when she grew up. Sam and Regina were much as usual and told him what had been happening since they spoke last.
Sam was a town planner in Dorchester; his news was that he had been promoted and was now head of the planning group. Regina’s husband, Bernard, was a solicitor and they lived in Yeovil. Her news was that she was thinking of taking a part-time job in the library. “Bernard doesn’t want me to work but I insisted. It’s only three afternoons a week.” Bob told her that if that’s what she wanted to do then he supported her choice. He privately thought that Bernard was too restrictive and that both Regina and Roy should have more freedom but he wasn’t going to tell Regina that.
First thing Monday morning Bob pinned a sheet to the notice board above his bench. It would be his inventory and he would note how many sets he had on hand. The first three columns were headed ‘Train,’ ‘Farm’ and ‘Village.’ He’d written “3” in the train column because that was how many he had on his shelves. He then took enough of the squared-wood lengths to make houses for twenty village sets from the racks. Time for him to get to work. He marked “8 am” on the February 26th square on the calendar. He’d keep track of how much time it took to make twenty sets of each toy.
He worked about nine hours each day until Thursday. That day he worked only in the morning, going to the Community Centre in the afternoon. There he worked with Jack, Jim and Ken making flats in the shape of trees, bushes and flower beds to be used by the dancers in the Spring show. They finished about five o’clock when Jim suggested they have a pint in the Crown before going home.
“Aye,” said Jack.
“We should do that every time,” said Jim.
“Aye,” said Jack, again.
At the pub Bob asked Jack if he knew when they would begin building the new hall and was told that they had to wait until Joe had time to clear the site with his tractor. “He’s about t’plow fields right now.”