Jinnie’s Story – Book Seven, Chapter Fifteen

A visit to Vauxhall Cross

WorthingGooner, Going Postal

Jinnie’s sudden increase in wealth had made her and Paolo review a few things. Paolo wanted a new car and suggested that Jinnie should also get one. However, she had decided that while DKL supplied her with the Lexus, a second car was just extravagant. So while she was more than happy to indulge Paolo’s urge for a Jaguar XR in British Racing Green and a host of extras, she opted to stay with her Lexus. However, she suggested to Izzy that with the twins growing fast a bigger car might be a good idea. Izzy was happy with her Citroen C3, so Jinnie suggested a C4 as it was similar but a bit bigger. The twins helped Izzy pick the colour and extras and accompanied her to collect the car from the dealers in Hatfield where the C3 was traded in.

Jinnie did wonder why Paolo wasn’t entitled to a car now that he was apparently so high in the embassy pecking order. Paolo had explained that he preferred to drive a British car rather than Italian import and opted to be paid at a higher level instead. Jinnie had long held the view that he wasn’t exactly being truthful with her over his embassy position and had concluded that he was really employed by the AISE, the state external security service and had connections to British security. If he was in the diplomatic service, she was sure he would have been rotated to another embassy by now but was content to play along with his minor subterfuge.

Jinnie had enjoyed a productive few weeks while waiting to hear the result of Professor Frank’s report. Belinda had rung her to say that planning permission had been granted for both the work on both the house and the Tally Ho Sybaritic. Works were due to start as soon as the notice period to building regulations had expired. Belinda explained that “her people” would be first on site to extend and convert the loft over the garages into Izzy’s flat. A ground works contractor would start on the foundations for the house extension, followed by a builder to construct it. Once done, her team would fit it out and knock through into the existing house once the new build was weatherproof and secure. If everything went to program Izzy should be able to move into the flat in about six weeks leaving her ensuite bedroom as a flexible area to use in the house until the extension was complete. The work on the Sybaritic would run simultaneously but would be run slowly so as to allow the restaurant to continue trading while it was happening.

The Aunty JoJo’s chain was growing rapidly both in the U.K. and the Caribbean. Artisan Sandwiches had opened four new standalone outlets that had been in the pipeline before the idea of sharing premises with Sybaritic had emerged changing future plans. P&O’s MV Britannia had emerged from its refit in France and an excited Brooke had boarded at the shipyard in Saint-Nazaire. She had immediately photographed the “Artisan Sandwiches by Trattoria Trevi” outlet and Jinnie thought it looked fabulous. She had sailed back to Southampton and was staying on board for the four-night shakedown cruise to the Channel Islands. On the phone she had told Jinnie it was being described by the officers she was mixing with as a “booze cruise.” But the good news was the people on board for the short journey to Southampton, mainly press and travel agents, loved the sandwich outlet and it had been busy. She was dying to see how paying passengers reacted.

As promised, Jinnie had arranged a blind coffee tasting before the first SuperBurger board meeting she had attended. To be fair she had got Ro to organise it in a side room to the boardroom. They had decided on purchasing black coffee from KFC, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Wimpy, SuperBurger, Trattoria Trevi and Artisan Sandwiches and putting it in vacuum dispenser jugs. The jugs were numbered and even Jinnie hadn’t known which was which. As the board had gathered for the meeting, Sir Percy had introduced her and explained that she had a theory that the fall in sales was linked to the falling quality of the SuperBurger product and wanted them to try their own coffee and that from competitors and a luxury brand. The idea was to put them in order from one to seven with one being the best.

The board had jumped into the task and had busily compiled their lists. Jinnie joined in and immediately started listing the results. She put what she thought was Trattoria Trevi (no.3) at the top, but it was a close call with no 7. But the worst was clearly no 2 but the remaining four were much of a muchness, Jinnie guessed they were KFC, McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Wimpy and made them equal 3rd. Ro quickly collated the results and read them out. Trattoria Trevi’s Blue Mountain was top on everyone’s list and Artisan Sandwiches second. The middle four had been very close but Wimpy had just beaten Wendy’s, McDonald’s and KFC. But SuperBurger had finished bottom on everyone’s list, including Sir Percy’s, causing a lot of muttering between board members.

The meeting had discussed the latest financial results, which were a little down on the previous fortnight. Jinnie had voiced her view that their food product was inferior to the competition and her view had been rejected by the sales director. Jinnie asked when he had last eaten in each of the various outlets and was told several months ago. Jinnie replied, “Right oh, at the next board meeting let’s have a tasting of the big sellers from each company, the SuperBurger ‘BigUn’, the ‘Big Mac’, Wendy’s ‘Dave’s Single’, Burger King ‘Whopper’ and Wimpy ‘King Size’, all with a small fries.”

Jinnie had suggested that she again had her personal assistant order the burgers to be delivered at one o’clock after the next board meeting and they should be judged on appearance, taste, price and quality. It was agreed and Jinnie noted that including her and Sir Percy there were 10 board members so they should order at least a dozen.

When the discussion turned to the coffee tasting Jinnie explained that the clear winner had been the quality brand from Trattoria Trevi. She said it had been included to show just what was available, but it was too expensive for a fast-food outlet to consider. She explained how Artisan Sandwiches had faced a similar problem; it needed a good product but didn’t want to price itself out of the market. They had conducted a big search before finally settling on the product that had just been runner-up in the taste test. It was now being used in all their branches and in the Auntie JoJo’s chain worldwide. She said she was quite happy to share the supplier with SuperBurger, but it was a couple of pence more expensive than most of the competitors.

The sales director hummed and hared, before saying, “Do you realise how many cups of coffee we sell a day and what that would cost?” Jinnie pointed out that coffee sales had fallen more than anything else and that if they changed blend, it might just increase coffee sales and cancel out the extra cost. After a discussion it was decided to try the different coffee in half a dozen branches and see if it halted the decline in their sales. Jinnie said that was OK, but they need to advertise the new coffee in-store to get people to try the new blend otherwise no one would know of the change.

***

Jinnie was told by Belinda that the first phases of work on the TT Ennios was nearly done and would she join her for the handover walk round. Jinnie jumped at the opportunity to see what was happening on the site and asked if they could arrange the handover for the day Brook arrived back in Southampton from her latest onboard inspection trip, as she would like her opinion on the reception/coffee shop. With that agreed, Jinnie rang Rick, who was reporting to her on a regular basis to let him know she, Brooke and Belinda were coming. He asked if they wanted a table in the evening and to stay over, explaining that he would love to show her the new rooms and the tweaks he and Alberto had made to the menu. Thinking quickly Jinnie said to book three rooms and a table for three.

Jinnie and Belinda met a Waterloo and caught the train to Southampton and took a taxi to the TT Ennios. As the taxi pulled up, a uniformed doorman was instantly there opening the rear door and saying, “Good afternoon ladies, welcome to the TT Ennios. Do you have any luggage you need handling?” “Good afternoon,” replied Jinnie, “we only have overnight bags thank you,” before heading to the desk to check in. The receptionist had obviously been briefed to look out for Jinnie and Belinda as she pressed a button on the desk and Rick appeared as if by magic.

Belinda said, “Hello Rick, I see you’ve moved some of the reception furniture around.” “Yes,” answered Rick, “this arrangement gives staff a little easier access between tables. We are quite open to making little changes if it makes things easier, we can always move things back if it doesn’t work out.” “Quite right,” interjected Jinnie. “Now do you know if Brooke has turned up yet?” “Yes,” answered Rick, “she was here before her room was ready as she was coming from a ship. That’s something we will have to think about when we start selling cruise packages. We had a long chat over coffee while Sue’s team got her room ready. You’ve got a very sharp employee there. I think she is in her room, number 68.”

“Thanks, will you be joining us on the walk around?” asked Jinnie. “Yes please,” replied Rick. “Can I suggest you acquaint yourselves with your rooms and we meet here in 15 minutes. I think Richard is down in the cellars, I let him know you are here. The phone signal is not very good down there.” Jinnie was in 66, next door to Brooke and on first impression she was delighted. She had been impressed with the original rooms, but this was just magnificent. From the deep pile carpet to the wide screen TV and the posh soap and shampoo in the bathroom, everything said Luxury.

The inspection party met in reception and spent nearly two hours wandering around the building, which was open for business. As usual Belinda was compiling a snagging list and Richard was giving her an estimate of how long each item would take to correct. Jinnie was, as usual, astonished by Belinda’s eye for detail. Most of the things Belinda had noted were not immediately apparent to Jinnie and it was only when they were being discussed by Belinda and Richard could she see the problem. A run in paint on a skirting board, a tiny area of wall vinyl not stuck down, a smear of paint on glass, a cupboard door sticking, some ceiling tiles that didn’t align correctly (which Richard fixed as they watched in two minutes flat), the welded seam of the floor vinyl in the restaurant ladies not finished neatly, and some carpet tiles not stuck down properly were typical of the problems.

***

When the inspection party had sat down in the reception, Belinda revealed that everything on the ‘snagging list’ would be completed that afternoon, but if they found anything else there was a 12-month warranty on the work. Jinnie signed off on that phase of the work and Belinda told Richard she was moving him on to the massive London fit-out as her site manager as work was just about to get underway. All the initial TT Ennios customer-facing areas were now complete. The next phase of work was to convert part of the cellar into a bar, they had already converted around a third of the area into offices, kitchen stores and freezers, a wine store, a bottle store and a furniture store. A huge cellar bar would take up another third of the space and what the final third would be, was still being debated.

Jinnie was extremely happy with the TT Ennios project. It was far better than she had ever dreamed of. Belinda had made a superb job of the fit-out. Rick had started putting his stamp on the project. Sue had obviously got housekeeping ticking like a well-oiled clock, every room they had visited had been perfect. The enlarged restaurant was lovely, and the new kitchens were fabulous. Because of the moving of so much to the basement, both the kitchen and reception had been increased in size and space made for a ‘business centre’ which had gone into the space that had previously been earmarked for the reception’s snack bar now that was effectively merged into the reception area.

Jinnie had realised that there was a decision to be made on what the final part of the cellar should be used for, it was currently wasted space and not earning its keep. She asked the small group what should become of it. Richard suggested more general storage. Brooke said it was probably a left-field idea, but she thought it would make a super space for an escape room. But it was Rick’s idea she liked, using it as meeting rooms with movable walls that could easily be configured to allow the hire of various size rooms.

Belinda nodded and said, “I think that could work. Let’s say we aim for 10 and 20-person rooms that can be joined by moving walls. I think we could convert it into flexible spaces for up to about 250 people if every wall was opened. Now we would also need toilets, a small kitchen for refreshments and a furniture store. It could become a conference space or a wedding reception space, both would drive room occupancy. The kitchen has enough capacity for catering for these sorts of events.” “My first thoughts are it sounds very good,” replied Jinnie. “I would need to get it through the board, but I don’t see a major problem. The main spend on the Ennios is finished with today’s sign-off, it is already making money with the restaurant proving very popular. Now we can use all the 84 rooms and the profits should increase rapidly. I don’t think they will be bothered about spending a little more, so please can you get Andrew and Willow working on a scheme? One thought, I think we might need a stage of some sort.”

***

Over dinner Brooke talked of the Artisan Sandwich shop on the Britannia and showed loads of iPhone photos she had taken. Belinda had commented on a queue and Brooke explained that was a lunchtime queue on the Channel Island cruise and it was actually moving quite quickly. Jinnie studied the picture carefully and said, “I see lots of people with takeaway coffee, that was something we didn’t anticipate.” “Well, it was a last-minute change by P&O,” replied Brooke. “On the way from the refit to Southampton, a couple of the directors were on board and tried our coffee which was free like the tea and coffee in the buffet machines. They said it was too good to be free and would stop people buying coffee at the various Costa outlets on board.”

Brooke continued, “The choice was between charging for coffee or not serving it at all. Well, they decided to charge £1 a time expecting few of the passengers to go for it when free coffee was available from the machines. But it didn’t put passengers on the Channel Island cruise off, they bought coffee like mad. I sat in the buffet, with my cheese and pickle sandwich and white coffee and talked to customers. The main opinion I heard was that it was miles better than the machine coffee and much cheaper than the Costa outlet for an equivalent product. I even saw people sitting by the Costa outlet on deck going into the buffet for our coffee!”

“I bet Costa were upset,” said Belinda. “Well, yes and no,” replied Brooke. “Their plain coffee sales fell, but it is their speciality coffees and snacks that make the money. It was the machines in the buffet that really suffered, and I don’t think P&O minded as they were making money from our sales as opposed to giving the stuff away for free. One of the directors chatted to me about using our blend in the Main Dining Rooms, I expect you will be getting a call.”

Jinnie asked Belinda about the Wedding Dress Bargains outlet in Crawley, it had opened earlier that week and Jinnie was yet to see any numbers. Belinda replied, “I chatted to Miranda last night and she said they were swamped on Saturday and Sunday. They have sold around 30 wedding dresses in the few days since opening. I asked her about bridesmaids and matrons of honour, and she said they had an average of three per wedding, plus groom and best man’s suits and accessories. Miranda said she was looking for more staff!”

“Gosh,” said Brooke, “that’s amazing, what with the cost of a wedding dress.” “That’s the thing,” replied Jinnie. “Our dresses are all made to measure, individually designed and are about half the price of a conventional wedding dress shop.” “No wonder they were busy,” said Brooke. “I’ll have to visit there when my boyfriend finally proposes.” “While we are discussing the County Mall, have you seen the cafe and had a chat with the owner?” “Yes,” answered Brooke. “I did my survey, and my, was the bus station busy early when the people were going to work. Quite a few people got off buses and walked away from the station towards the square only to come back with a hot drink and a paper bag from a sandwich bar and head to the station.”

“I wandered in after the rush and like you said the cafe was just opening,” continued Brooke. “I got a coffee and a sticky bun, and they were quite good, but trade was slow. I got to speak to the owner/manager and asked if it was always this quiet and she told me the same as you heard, it was the lunchtime trade they relied on. But she let slip she was thinking of retiring. I asked if she was going to sell the business and she said, ‘Who would want to buy it?’ She was thinking of running down the lease, it has 18 months to go, and then retiring. I said that could be expensive as she would have to make the staff redundant and pay for dilapidations. Anyway, to cut a long story short we agreed to get three commercial estate agents to value the cafe and I will make an offer, including taking on the staff. She thinks I will be running it as a cafe.”

Belinda picked up the story saying, “I’ve been to have a measure up, and we are working on a conversion design and cost, and I’m delighted to tell you it looks a cheap and easy conversion.” “I’ve had a word with the mall management company,” added Brooke, “and I think they are more than happy to have a ‘name’ tenant potentially moving in. I talked about an Artisan Sandwich Shop by day and a Sybaritic restaurant by night and they didn’t raise any objections, in fact, quite the opposite, they rather liked the idea of having a decent restaurant open till late. I will keep you up to date with progress.”

Belinda wanted to know how Jinnie was getting on with the search for a holiday home in Barbados and Jinnie explained that they had been flooded with estate agent’s flyers, some were relevant, but many were absolute rubbish. Jinnie explained she and Paolo had spent ages sifting through the properties and sorting a few gems from a mountain of dross. They had got it down to three they thought suitable, and Patricia had volunteered to look at them all and report back. Patricia had reported back that she had taken Monica and Keith with her on three viewings and they had unanimously agreed that two of the houses met all Jinnie and Paolo’s requirements but one was completely unsuitable. The intention was for the family to fly out to Barbados for 10 days over the Easter school holiday and view the two houses. If they decided to purchase one, they would use Forde, Weekes and Watson to buy the property and Keith to do any work to make it possible for them to spend the summer there.

Jinnie said she had been a little worried about being away from work for so long now she was so deeply involved with so many companies. However, Nigel had said that now they were using SAP and with meeting software like Teams it hardly mattered where in the world she was, the latest company information was only seconds away. He had promised to oversee the installation of ultra-fast broadband wherever the purchase, explaining that if there was no fibre connection locally, they could use satellite broadband. He had said it was a bit more expensive but quite practical.

***

The day after her trip to Southampton, Jinnie was at work at her desk in Maple House when her mobile rang with “unknown caller” on the display. Looking up she could see it wasn’t Sir Nigel ringing her as he was in conversation with Alberto and several others in the area of the office occupied by the ‘acquisitions group’. The chance had come up to buy a small chain of fried chicken shops on the South Coast and Sir Nigel was running the project to investigate whether the chain’s eight ‘Southern Fried Chicken’ outlets could be fitted into the growing Aunty JoJo’s empire.

Jinnie said a cautious “hello” and the voice at the other end said “Good morning Dame Jinnie, it’s Diane, ‘C’s’ PA. He wonders if you could look into The Cross at noon tomorrow, as he has just received the insurance company’s report. ‘C’ said to tell you he would like to talk it over with you over lunch in the director’s dining room.” “Okay,” replied Jinnie, “I’ll be there.”

Jinnie went into London by train, parking near Hadley Wood station and catching the “slow train” to Finsbury Park and changing onto the Victoria line as she used to do when commuting. Now she was officially back on the SIS payroll she had an office security pass but spoke to the receptionist on the way in, saying she had a lunch appointment with ‘C’ and she questioned whether her pass would give her access to the executive floor? The receptionist told her to go right ahead as the lift had been programmed to accept her fingerprint on the button for the executive floor.

Diane met Jinnie coming out of the lift and guided her to the executive dining room. Jinnie remembered the room as being all dark wood and leather, rather like a gentleman’s club. But the room Diane took her to had clearly benefited from Andrew and Willow’s design skills and was now bright, light and modern and made most of the views over the river. Alan was sat in a corner away from other diners, clearly ready for a private conversation with Jinnie. As she approached, he stood up and shook her hand.

Once seated and the menu of the day presented, Alan thanked her for coming and suggested they order before they talked business. Alan explained that the dinner room menu now always offered a steak, chicken breast or salads and daily specials. He said he was going to have one of the day’s specials, steak and kidney pudding which was one of his favourite dishes. Jinnie hadn’t eaten it for years and said she would join him.

Once the individual steak and kidney puddings, new potatoes, carrots and peas had been served and the waitress had withdrawn, Alan said, “I can’t show you the specialist’s report, but I can tell you what it said.” He explained that the specialist had reported that Jinnie had healed well, showed no psychological problems from being shot, was back to virtually fully fit, but had suffered long-term scarring. The entry wound had left a small permanent scar which the specialist had said might stop Jinnie wearing a low-cut dress. The scarring caused by the exit wound was more serious and the specialist had said that it would probably prevent Jinnie ever wearing a bikini or a backless dress, consequently he had increased the insurance payout.

Jinnie was now wondering just what the insurance company was willing to pay out as the report said she was fit again. She didn’t need the money and had decided that whatever was paid out would go into the holiday fund for the benefit of the whole family. Alan continued, saying, “I am delighted the report says you have regained fitness as that means we can properly restore you to the reserve and with what looks to be troubling news of possible renewed skirmishes between Russia and Germany, the more fluent German speakers we have the better. But I must tell you about the insurance payment. It comes in two parts for the injury suffered by way of your service with the SIS and the permanent disfigurement you have suffered. The first part runs on a fixed scale from death, via permanent disability to minor injury. You fall in a category between minor injury and disability. Taking into account, how close to death you were, the time you were unconscious, and the pain suffered, the award is £450,000. Now for the disfigurement caused by the scars, they have added a further £256,543.50p. Please don’t ask me how they come to such an odd sum, all I know they have formulas based on age, sex and the amount of scaring and women get more for scaring than men.”

In Chapter 16 – A new holiday home
 

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