Touch of Bath

C Wright D M

Description

The author welcomes you to step into eight situations within the world heritage city of Bath. Where people from all walks of life pass through its streets with something on their minds. Handle with care as you open this book and live within their emotions, which could match yours.

Informations

• Publié par: Self Publishing Partnership
• Date de parution: 07 octobre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781839521317
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published 2021
Copyright © D.M.C. Wright 2021
The right of D.M.C. Wright to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Published under licence by Brown Dog Books and The Self-Publishing Partnership Ltd, 10b Greenway Farm, Bath Rd, Wick, nr. Bath BS30 5RL
www.selfpublishingpartnership.co.uk

ISBN printed book: 978-1-83952-130-0 ISBN e-book: 978-1-83952-131-7
Cover design by Kevin Rylands Internal design by Andrew Easton
Printed and bound in the UK
This book is printed on FSC certified paper

CONTENTS
1. The ice cream scoop that changed a student’s life
2. Mirror, mirror on the wall whose life is it anyway
3. The blessed spirit of a busker
4. How to lose your bets at the Lansdown races
5. Jim’s mind-bender in a gazumper’s world
6. A call to family duty in the Parade Gardens
7 A dog called Plautius that heals a heart
8. A Bathonian bedtime story for rats
THE ICE CREAM SCOOP THAT CHANGED A STUDENT’S LIFE
Anne stood behind the ice cream counter of Salvados. It was her first morning at her part-time job, and she had just finished her first-year exams at Bath University in French. She needed the extra money to bring down her overdraft so that she could go travelling through France to practice her language. However, she wasn’t great at mixing with people. She was used to a small village life, but her school exam grades meant she had the opportunity to apply to three universities. Of the three, she had set her heart on Bath in Somerset. Having read all of the Jane Austen novels, she knew the city was steeped in eighteenth-century history, a period she loved reading about. She was over the moon when finally, after an interview, she got accepted.
It was in the university’s library that one day she met Eric. He was studying economics, and she had noticed that Eric visited the library quite often. The library, for her, was like a sanctuary where she could be at peace among the books. One day, Anne found herself sitting opposite Eric and noticed he was reading Emma by Jane Austen. After a while she plucked up enough courage to ask him what he thought of the Jane Austen novel. His interpretation of the book differed quite a lot to hers. Their discussion got a little heated and they were asked to leave the library. Once outside, they both started to laugh at each other’s point of view. From that moment on, they gradually realised that they had a lot in common. Eric also came from a village, and after two weeks of following the crowd had decided it was not his scene.
After a while they grew very close and decided to share a flat, something which really surprised the other students. However, both Anne and Eric knew they wanted similar things in life, and financially it made a great deal of sense. To make ends meet, Anne took a part-time job in an ice cream parlour, and then, with great trepidation, she awaited her first customer. Eric had been lucky enough to get a job in Waterstones bookshop in Milson Street.
Anne had arrived early that morning for the training, which only lasted thirty minutes. This included how to change the till roll, use the till, which had buttons for various cones and ice creams, but not for the extras – they had to be added individually before pressing the total button. Then a quick look into the freezer to see the tubs with their various flavours and how to use the scoop spoon, and that was it! The list of prices on each side of the counter seemed to create a block in her mind, as each flavour was individually priced along with the eight extras you could choose from, like nuts and sauces, let alone the six types of cones, three types of tubs and ten different ice creams! ‘Why couldn’t they all just be one price whatever the flavour?’ she thought to herself as the owner left, saying, ‘Remember, the customer is always right.’
With half an hour to spare she decided to go through an imaginary sale. One scoop on a small cone, sixty pence, two scoops, eighty. Large cone first scoop, eighty pence, second scoop, one pound twenty, if of the same flavour. If a different flavour, add another thirty pence. Then she saw the card, which had not been mentioned to her at the training. A ten per-cent discount for families of four or more, to be taken off the total. Anne sat down with the feeling of, oh well, what will be will be.
She then thought about her student friends, who might come in by accident. What if they saw her in this uniform looking like something out of an American nineteen-thirties’ movie? She cringed, then she cringed even more. What if they took a photo? The college rag! However, she was only on her own until eleven-thirty, when someone called Frank was due in to help with the lunchtime trade.
She peered down at the tubs she had taken out of the freezer. The freezer was a problem, as she was only five feet tall and to reach the tubs at the top she needed a chair. She saw her worried face reflected in the glass cabinet. She also had short arms, so reaching for the tubs in the front row of the glass cabinet wasn’t that easy. All these little problems were developing more and more fears in her mind as to what could happen.
Her eyes then caught sight of the Georgian architecture through the shop window, as a brilliant early morning sun created shadows in front of the Pump Room. This reminded her of the weekend she’d had with Eric at Lulworth Cove, when the sun poured down on them both while walking along the white cliffs. The only thing that upset the enjoyment of it was that the suntan lotion she had bought on the cheap had given her neck and shoulders no protection. This morning they were still sore, and before leaving home she applied some cream to try to cool her skin down. However, she hadn’t known then that she would have to change into a uniform top. This added to the anxiety of the morning, as the cloth was coarse and scraped against her skin.
It was five minutes to opening time and all the tubs were in position. She went to the door and turned the ‘closed’ sign around to ‘open’ and put out the advertising stand on the pavement. Before re-entering the shop, she noticed a coach party had started to line up outside the Pump Room.
The first customer came in after half an hour. It pleased her to get the first sale out of the way, even though it was only a single scoop. The double scoop was the one she had to master: it kept falling off in the morning’s training session. Funny wasn’t the word, as it took her five tries to stop the second scoop falling back into the tub with the proprietor saying, ‘Whatever you do, don’t become a bricklayer after you leave university.’ She didn’t really understand the comment, but felt happy after the sixth scoop stayed in place.
It was about a quarter to ten when an American family came in and nearly drove her round the bend. There were three kids, forever changing their minds on the second scoop just as she managed to get it to stay on. She smiled at the little darlings, thinking what she would really like to do with the ice cream. It seemed to have taken forever and a queue had started to form, with the odd person starting to cough or look irritated. Finally, she printed out their receipt, which must have been a foot long. The family asked her what all the subtotals were for. Anne smiled politely and said, ‘Compliments of management,’ which brought a little titter from those in the queue. When the family finally left, a sigh of relief came over the place. Then it dawned on Anne she had not given them any discount. When she had finished serving the other customers she saw that the floor on the other side of the counter looked a mess, with strawberry skid marks near the door and some of the grooves in the floor tiles full of sticky nuts. This all took a good time to mop up as the people coming and going had kicked the nuts into corners.
Her next problem came when the cherry rum ran out. The replacement tub she found was on the top shelf in the freezer. Five times she had to go up and down, until she found the right tub at the back of the shelf. When she did finally turn towards the customers with the tub, they all clapped, which brought a smile to her face. While serving another customer, the telephone rang. On answering it, she found it was Frank phoning in to say he was ill. She thought to herself, ‘How could he, on my first day?’ She then had to phone the manager to let him know. He promised to get a replacement for lunch time. As Anne put down the phone, she noticed that the lights in the ice cream cabinet flickered off and on for a few seconds. She served another customer, went to the till to ring it up, but no response. She tried again – nothing! She looked at the plug on the right side of the till, to see if it had accidentally gone off. No! Then she checked that the ice cream cabinet lights were still working, as they had flickered on and off earlier. No, they were fine! Then an idea came to her. If she switched off the till, as if rebooting a computer, it might trigger something in its mechanism. No sooner had she done that the till drawer sprang out at such a speed that the loose change flew everywhere. A customer ducked just in time as some went past him. At least he saw the funny side of it, and said, ‘Giving it away, are we lass?’ Apologising most profusely to the customer, Anne said, ‘I hope not.