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After dinner, the twins begged Jinnie to let them stay up for the sail-away from Barbados. As the sailing time was set for 20:00 and it was nearly 19:30 when they finished their meal, Jinnie said OK, provided they were in their pyjamas and ready for bed. The family all met on Paolo and Jinnie’s wrap-around balcony, and the twins listened to the steel band playing a selection of calypsos and watched as the rope handlers untied the mooring ropes until just two remained in place.
The twins had seen the ship sail before, but this was special. This was the start of a holiday, and people on the dock were waving while the steel band was playing. The last two ropes were cast off, the thrusters powered up, and the ship moved sideways away from the dock into clear water. Suddenly, the ship’s hooter blasted three times, and Paolo said to the twins, “That’s to warn other ships we are about to go astern.” Millie looked puzzled and asked, “What does astern mean?” Jinnie chuckled and replied, “We are going to go backwards out of the harbour, and then we will go backwards into that water on the right. They call that a turning basin. Then we can go forward and sail away.” “How do you know that, Mummy?” asked Willie. “I have seen them do it before,” answered Jinnie.
Izzy waited until the ship got underway, going forward, and the lights of Barbados were receding into the distance, then said, “Come on, kids, time to clean your teeth and bed. We are at sea tomorrow, so you can have two sessions in Splashers if you want.” Willie replied, “It’s boring paper cut-outs tomorrow morning, so can we go swimming in the pool, have hot dogs and chips for lunch? It’s videos, and Melody is reading to us in the afternoon, so we want to go for that.” “OK,” said Izzy. “I’ll tell Mummy when you are in bed.”
With the twins in bed, Izzy rejoined everyone else on the big balcony, accepted a rum and coke with loads of ice and a slice of lemon, and sat with everyone else in the warm breeze, watching the lights of Bridgetown getting smaller and more distant. Jinnie laughed when Izzy relayed the twins’ plans for the next day before saying, “Well, I think we might be able to accommodate that. I fancy a morning round the pool.”
Ten minutes later, Jinnie crept away from the gathering on the big balcony and quietly made her way into the twins’ bedroom. Jinnie looked at them sleeping soundly in their twin beds and decided to sit and watch them for a while. They were breathing regularly and were tucked up in their beds under their thin, summer-weight duvets. Jinnie was about to rejoin the others when Paolo sat down beside her and whispered, “When I realised you weren’t on the balcony, I guessed you would be here with the little ones.” “I just can’t get enough of watching them sleep,” replied Jinnie. “It makes me realise just how lucky we are to have them.”
***
The following morning went to the twins’ plan. After their favourite breakfast of Rice Krispies and boiled eggs with soldiers, they spent the morning by and in the pool, followed by hot dogs and chips for lunch. Izzy then said, “Come on, you two, it’s time to go to Splashers.” The twins kissed everyone goodbye and trotted off hand in hand with Izzy to check in at the children’s club. Jinnie watched them go and said, “Gosh, they are getting to be hard work, they are so full of energy.” Grandpa Walsh looked up from his paperback and replied, “I must admit I am worn out from all the activity in the pool this morning. I think I might head back for a snooze in the cabin. If I sleep here, I’m going to get burnt, and then I might look a bit daft speaking in Parliament.” Mrs Walsh agreed, and the couple headed off. Penny and Dan said they wanted to see a film at the cinema that afternoon, leaving Jinnie, Paolo and Izzy, who had got back from dropping off the twins. Izzy decided she was going to enter a table tennis contest, saying, “When I was at school, I was pretty good. I played for the county.” That left Jinnie and Paolo, and he said, “Let’s go sit on the balcony. That way, we can snooze in the shade. Besides, I fancy a cup of tea.” Jinnie replied, “I hope you don’t expect me to make it.”
As it was a sea day, it was also a celebration night, and that meant getting dressed for dinner. Millie had a new dress to wear and was anxious to show everyone. Willie had his first pair of black long trousers. Of course, he had jeans, but he normally wore short trousers, as that was the school uniform. He also had a white dress shirt, like his father, and a bright red bow tie. Izzy told them they looked good enough to eat, and the pair collapsed in giggles. It was a good ten minutes before they were composed enough for Jinnie to take a photo of them on the balcony.
Once again, everyone descended on Jinnie and Paolo’s corner cabin for pre-dinner drinks and the complimentary canapés delivered by Barry the butler. Jinnie looked at the twins, all dressed up for dinner, and realised that once again they had quickly caught the sun. After only two days on board, they were already getting brown, and Willie’s blonde hair was definitely lighter. Paolo said, “It’s because they have inherited my Italian skin and not your English rose complexion.” Jinnie wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not.
They were just leaving the cabin to go down to dinner when Jinnie’s mobile rang. Seeing it said ‘Monica’, she said, “Why don’t you go ahead, and I’ll catch you up? I need to take this, it’s business.” As everyone else headed to dinner, Jinnie answered the call, saying, “Hi, Monica, have you some news for me?” “Hi, boss,” replied Monica. “Yes, I have. One of my contacts told me that the catering contract at the Kensington Oval is due for renewal at the end of this cricket season, and they are going out to tender. I know this is a bit sooner than expected, but I hear it will be for a five-year contract. So if we don’t bid, it’s going to be a long time before we can have another go at winning it. So, I have just registered Bearcat (Caribbean) as a tenderer and downloaded the tender documents.”
“Trevor and I see a couple of problems,” continued Monica. “We will be up against the incumbents, and I suspect we will have to come up with an exceptional bid to dislodge them and the documents ask a whole load of questions about the bidding company and their financial status. As we don’t yet even have a company set up, that will mean a bit of expense setting one up, and we will have to reveal who are the real owners of Bearcat (Caribbean).”
“Don’t worry about them finding out who Bearcat is owned by. It will be obvious when we specify Aunty JoJo’s, SuperBurger and Continental outlets around the stadium. Have you spoken to Michael? We need the bidding vehicle set up urgently. I have been thinking about the company structure. I want you as MD and Trevor as COO. Michael can be company secretary, Brooke can be Development Director, Brian as Financial Director, and I will be an ordinary director. Oh, and while I think about it, talk to Anderson—we need to include a seafood option and get him involved. He might as well be a director. “Do you have space in the office to hire a couple of people to help put our tender together? I will authorise the expenditure from TT SuperBurger funds and get it transferred. I want this initially set up as a company owned by Brooke’s Fast Food Division, but I want it to grow big quickly, be international, and its own division in a year or two.”
“Golly, that’s ambitious,” said Monica. “Yes,” replied Jinnie, “and I want you to run it. So get that able deputy of yours to take over the day-to-day running of Aunty JoJo’s. You’re now MD of Bearcat Caribbean, and you need to concentrate on that. Set up the company, open a bank account, talk to the bank, and put the bid together. We must win this, even if we take the job on minimal or no profit. “You can come to me any time for help, as can any of the directors, but keep the bid confidential until it has gone in. I want Brooke to look for other opportunities to bid for, big or small, so take on permanent staff for the bid team. We will only need more staff when we land our contract. Get HR ready to hire full- and part-time staff. “Talk to Belinda about tendering for jobs—she does it all the time. She is OK to talk to; she can keep a secret, as can Brian if you need to talk financial matters. I think she is in her Sandy Bay house for Christmas, so tell her to ring me if she needs anything explaining. I am seeing Brooke in Antigua on the 27th when the ship is in Antigua to look at the new Ennio’s, so I’ll tell her about the project when I see her.”
“You really have been thinking about this,” said Monica. “I have,” replied Jinnie. “I think that once we get into the market, there is a lot of money to be made. My worry is it may cost us a bit to get into the market. In a minute, I’m going to ring Brian and get him to transfer £250,000 into the Aunty JoJo’s trading account. Can you move it to Bearcat (Caribbean) as soon as the account is set up? You will need some of the money for desks, computers and stationery. I’ll get Canada to send you the Bearcat logo and stationery electronically. You can edit it online from Canada to Caribbean, change the registered office and amend phone numbers and addresses. We don’t need to reinvent what we already have.” “OK,” said Monica. “I’ve got pages of notes. I don’t think I can do much tonight other than talk to Michael and Trevor, maybe Anderson. Most things are for the morning.”
Jinnie joined the family in the restaurant and was immediately presented with a menu and an amuse-bouche. Willie said, “You’ve been a long time, Mummy. We have all ordered.” Jinnie smiled and replied, “It was a very important business call, and as soon as we have had dinner, I need to make a couple more, so I will go back to the cabin with you tonight, and Izzy can go to the Crow’s Nest with the others.”
Jinnie sent the twins off to wash, clean their teeth and get into their pyjamas while she rang Brian. He and Belinda were out to dinner at Vincenzo and Lucia’s house, but he answered promptly, and the money transfer was arranged for the morning without Brian saying much more than, “I take it that this is to fund a new scheme.” “Absolutely,” replied Jinnie. “We are setting up a new company, and it needs a float. I expect Monica will ring you tomorrow to organise a meeting with you and Belinda. She will explain what is going on.”
Jinnie then rang Nigel’s mobile, and glancing at her watch, she saw it showed 19:45 hrs. Adding four hours for UK time, she hoped he wasn’t asleep yet. He answered on the third ring, saying, “Hi, Jinnie, I thought you were on a cruise.” “I am,” said Jinnie, “but I need to ask you to do something. I hope I didn’t wake you. I know it’s late there.” “No,” answered Nigel. “I was lying in bed reading before going to sleep. What can I do for you?”
“Well, how would you like to spend the New Year in Barbados? We are setting up a new company, and it needs its own network, PCs, printers and servers set up before the New Year. If you and Camilla can fly out after Christmas, you can stay in my villa, and I will make sure you can eat in the Continental on New Year’s Eve. It’s not a lot of work initially, but the new network will need to be easily expandable, have Office installed on all the nodes and be linked into SAP. “I doubt you will get a business-class flight at this time, so you and Camilla can book First on BA or Upper Class on Virgin. I suspect Virgin will be a better bet—they have a lot more Upper Class seats available. Monica is running everything in Bridgetown, so talk to her. She can tell you exactly what she wants locally, but strategically, we need to make sure the setup works with SAP and that it is scalable. “Message me your flight details, and I will ensure the housekeepers have everything ready for you and food in the fridge. Don’t forget, it’s warm in Barbados at this time of year. Tell Camilla the house has a pool and is just five minutes’ walk from the beach.” “You make it sound more like a holiday than work,” replied Nigel. “It will be a holiday for Camilla,” replied Jinnie. “But you haven’t said you will go yet.” Nigel answered, “Camilla has been listening and says we are going.”
The twins had crept into bed while Jinnie was on the phone and, having given up on waiting for Jinnie to read to them, were reading to each other. Jinnie said, “I have one more call I should make, to Uncle Alberto. Do you mind?” Willie replied, “Say hello to him for us, Mummy.” Jinnie didn’t hesitate in phoning Alberto so late in England; he was always up late at his beloved Trattoria Trevi in Potters Bar. Alberto answered his mobile on its second ring, saying, “Hello, Jinnie. What do you want me to do this time? When you phone me from your holiday, you are always up to something.” Jinnie chuckled and replied, “You know me too well. But for a change, I don’t need you to do anything. I think I have got everything organised. I just want to tell you what is going on.”
“You know that for ages I have wanted to set up a commercial catering division,” Jinnie continued. “Well, the chance to bid for a big catering contract has come up in Barbados, and I have been trying to set up a bidding operation.” “So, we are going to spend more money!” said Alberto. “I suppose so,” replied Jinnie, “but not a huge amount. And when have I ever set up a new business that has not made us money in the long run?” “True,” replied Alberto, “but some, like the hotel business, have rather stretched group funds. Tell me about this opportunity.”
“Well, I mentioned what I had been thinking about to Monica and Trevor,” said Jinnie. “They rather liked the idea and said they would keep an eye out for opportunities. Well, Monica has discovered that the catering contract for the Kensington Oval is up for renewal, and we are setting up a bidding company. She is going to run it and hand over her Aunty JoJo’s responsibilities to her deputy, Jorja. Michael is setting up Bearcat (Caribbean), and Monica will be MD. There is space in the new corporate offices for a bidding team, and if it flies, we could take another floor in the building. “Belinda and Brian are in Bridgetown on holiday, and he is sorting out money and a bank account. Monica and Trevor are hiring a bidding team. I have authorised the movement of £250,000 into the Aunty JoJo’s account as a temporary home for funds until the Bearcat account is set up.”
“I have also asked Nigel to fly out after Christmas and set up the IT,” explained Jinnie. “I have offered him and Camilla the use of my villa and first-class travel. “We will use all our companies in the bid. I want to cover all the bases—Aunty JoJo’s, SuperBurger and Continental for conferences and upmarket catering. I have told Monica to talk to Anderson—fish stalls should work. But while we have been talking, I have been wondering about some of the other DKL outlets. What do you think? Should we talk to the roti company?” “I don’t see why not,” answered Alberto. “The more variety, the better. What about ice cream? Does it come in this tender?” “I don’t know,” answered Jinnie, “but I will message Monica. She has the bid package.”
“Well, it sounds like everything is in hand,” said Alberto, “and there is nothing I can do to help. But tell me this—how do you see the company going forward?” “I think I want to grow it in the Caribbean until we have momentum, then maybe expand it to some of our other markets so that when we try to crack the British market, we have some weight behind us. I think the British catering companies will fight hard to keep us out of the market—there is just too much money at risk for them.” “Well, I don’t think I need to know anything else, so as it’s late, I’m going home,” said Alberto. “Before you go, the twins wanted to say hello,” replied Jinnie, “but I am afraid while we have been talking, they have dropped off to sleep.” While she thought about it, Jinnie messaged Monica about the ice cream and to tell her that Nigel would be out straight after Christmas to sort out the IT. She then used the communicating door to go into her and Paolo’s cabin and fetch her Kindle and a cold Pepsi Max from the fridge.
***
The next day, it was St Lucia, the first island of the cruise. Before the cruise, Jinnie and Izzy had spent one wet Saturday afternoon showing the twins the excursions they could go on from the ship, and on St Lucia, they had picked out a trip into the rainforest that included a ride on an aerial tramway high in the treetops, where they could see the tropical birds. The twins thought that if they managed to get pictures of highly coloured birds, they could take them to school and show the class, as their teacher was bound to ask the class, “What did you do in the holidays?” They knew of one girl who was going skiing with her parents and big brother and wanted to be able to beat any tales she could come up with. So, they had begged Mummy to book the rainforest trip and demanded that the adults should all take their camera phones.
After the usual Epicurean breakfast, the twins, their parents, grandparents, and Izzy joined one of the many queues on the dockside for the coach that would take them on the excursion. Penny and Dan had done this particular excursion on the previous Christmas cruise and were in a different queue, as they were on an excursion to a beach. The twins insisted that every step of the excursion was documented for the possible school report, and Izzy already had pictures of them coming down the gangway with Mummy and Daddy and of the ship, which looked enormous. On the coach, they had their picture taken sitting side by side, looking out of the window, and Daddy had sneaked a picture of them in the queue for the coach, looking grumpy because they were having to wait to be counted into groups for the three coachloads who were on this excursion.
They arrived at the rainforest, and the coach stopped at what the courier told them was the visitor experience centre. The passengers from the three coaches would each be able to do one of three activities in turn. They would ride on the aerial tramway, go around the visitor centre, or walk on a rope walk high in the tree canopy. Their group, from coach number 17, was to climb the steps up to the canopy first and experience the rope walkway.
Of course, the twins bounded up the stairs and were waiting impatiently at the top when their party arrived, happily posing for more photos. As they headed off through the treetops on what turned out to be a wooden walkway slung on ropes with rope handrails, the twins started to see tropical birds, and the cameras were soon clicking, taking pictures of the parrots that seemed to be everywhere. There were also birds that the twins first thought were blackbirds, but the courier told them were the St Lucia Black Finch, and they had black eyes and beaks, unlike the common blackbird.
Then it was time for the tram ride. The open-sided metal gondolas were like cages hung from cables and ascended high into the treetops. The gondolas could carry eight passengers and a local guide, so the family had one to themselves. The guide was soon pointing out the various trees, plants, birds, and their nests. They soon had pictures of what they were told was the St Lucia Pewee (bright orange with a black head) and the St Lucia Oriole, which was similarly coloured to the Pewee but had black on its tail, upper back, and chest. But Millie said the prettiest bird was the St Lucia Warbler, which was much smaller and had a bright yellow body with a black head and wings.
Jinnie was happy to be in the last party at the visitor centre, as there wasn’t a lot there, although there were illustrations of Semper’s Warbler, which the notice said was thought to be extinct, with the last confirmed sightings being made in 1961. Of course, Willie wanted to know what ‘extinct’ meant, and once it was explained, he said, “Oh, like dinosaurs,” which made everyone laugh. It was very humid in the rainforest, and the family were delighted to get a cold drink in the café before it was time to return to the ship in time for lunch. Today, it was pizza by the pool before the twins headed off to the Reef for the afternoon session at Splashers, and everyone else could take it easy.
In Chapter 6 – Christmas
© WorthingGooner 2025
