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The next morning was Saturday and Izzy woke early with her head in a whirl; she could hardly believe everything that had happened in the past week, had it all been a dream? Feeling the engagement ring on her left hand, she told herself it had actually happened, and George had proposed, and she was to be married in about six months. It was dark outside, and Izzy thought what a contrast with the Caribbean last Saturday. Her bedside radio alarm said 06:35 and that was too early to get up; she could have another hour in bed before having to get the twins moving.
When she eventually got up, the first thing Izzy did was look out of the window, and the first thing she saw was the frost glinting off the asphalt drive, and shivered; it looked cold. Thankfully, the central heating was on, and the house was warm. On reaching Willie’s bedroom, he was sat up in bed talking in Italian on his Christmas walkie-talkie with his sister, who he said was also in bed. Izzy told them she was on her way downstairs to make breakfast, and if they wanted any, they better get up now.
Izzy got the Rice Krispies and milk out and realised that Larry wasn’t worrying her for his Felix. Looking around, she realised he was missing, but it was then that he came in the cat flap and headed straight to his favourite corner, where he flopped down so he could watch what was going on and benefit from the under-floor heating. Izzy laughed at him and said, “Just let me get the twins’ special cereal bowls out and I’ll get your breakfast ready. I think there is some roast chicken left from last night, so it better be Chicken Felix with extra roast chicken.” Larry answered with a big meow of approval.
Larry had his head down in his bowl, tucking into his breakfast, and the twins were halfway through their cereal when Jinnie arrived and said, “Good morning,” before ruffling the twins’ hair and heading to the coffee machine. She filled her new mug, a Christmas present from the twins, with the fresh brew and added a dash of milk. The mug was printed with the message ‘The Cat’s Mother’ and below that a picture of a woman and a cat with the names ‘Jinnie’ and ‘Larry’. Izzy said, “I rather like that mug, the woman looks like you and the cat like Larry.” With a mouth full of cereal, Willie said, “When we got it on the website, we chose all the pictures. You had to pick things like hair colour and length and the type of cat. It was fun and the mug came from France.” “Oh, that’s what that parcel for Paolo from France was,” said Izzy.
Millie said, “Mummy, what time is Melissa coming?” “About 10:30, I think,” answered Jinnie. “Will she be bringing her children?” asked Willie. “I don’t think so,” replied Jinnie, “why do you ask?” “Last time we saw them, they were learning Italian, and we wanted to talk to them,” answered Millie. “If I’d known, I would have invited them,” said Jinnie, “maybe next time. I expect Melissa and Miranda will be here a lot, sorting things out.”
Miranda was a few minutes early when she drove into the drive, and the twins, who had been in the sitting room looking out for her with Larry, called out, “They are here,” and ran to open the front door. Miranda and Melissa climbed out of the front of the car, Elspeth and Andrew got out of the back and fetched three big bags from the boot. The twins showed them all into the sitting room, where they were joined by Jinnie and Izzy.
Realising that some of the people had never met, Jinnie introduced everyone to each other. Melissa then said, “There is still someone you haven’t introduced, your fine cat.” Jinnie chuckled and said, “I’m sorry, everyone, this is the famous Larry the Cat, who was employed for many years as Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office and resided at Number 10 Downing Street until he retired and came to live with me. Larry, meet Belinda’s daughter Melissa and Elspeth, the best measurer of bodies for dresses in the business.” Melissa stroked Larry and said, “Hello, Larry, I have heard about you from my mother and sister, and they told me you were a magnificent cat, but now I’ve met you I can see for myself just how wonderful a cat you are. I have two Ragdoll cats, and they are very ladylike, nothing like you.” Larry purred loudly and gently butted Melissa, who said, “Yes, and I like you too, Larry.”
The morning went very well, with Miranda talking to Izzy and teasing out just what she wanted from the wedding and how she saw it going, and suggesting little refinements and subtle changes. At the same time, Elspeth was measuring everyone so that whatever style of wedding dress was eventually decided on, and the complementary Maid of Honour and Bridesmaids’ dresses could be produced. Then, while Elspeth measured Izzy, Andrew and Melissa started talking dress design and material. Using iPad pencils, slowly the wedding dress sketch emerged on Melissa’s iPad, while the bridesmaid/matron of honour dresses appeared on Andrew’s iPad. Samples of material, trim and lining were selected, even the tiny buttons and position of concealed zips. Finally, Melissa announced that she was satisfied with the designs and showed them to everyone, and it was agreed that if the finished dresses were half as good as the sketches, the wedding was going to be a triumph.
Miranda had a long list of actions, from major ones like booking the church to minor ones like sorting out alternative menus for vegans and vegetarians. Finally, Willie was measured, and Melissa said, “I guess you will want the page to be dressed in traditional page boy style.” Seeing the look of disgust on Willie’s face made Izzy laugh, and she replied, “I really can’t see Willie in velvet knickerbockers and a frilly shirt, I suggest he would be much happier in a customised version of whatever the Groom and Best Man choose to wear.” Melissa said, “OK, I understand your fiancé is a policeman and is on duty this morning, when can we meet him to sort out his suit?”
“Well, George is off duty in about twenty minutes, so I would say he will be here in twenty-five minutes,” said Izzy, who giggled when Melissa said, “Oh, he is stationed locally then.” Jinnie said, “Well yes, you could say that, you might have met him on your way here, he is one of the Special Protection Group officers guarding the road.” “Gosh,” exclaimed Melissa, “then I suppose we better put all the dress stuff away before he gets here.”
While the dress-related things were packed away, Jinnie suggested she order a delivery from SuperBurger for lunch, and soon she had a long list of various burgers, fries, milkshakes and soft drinks to phone to the DKL order line, but as she went to make the call, she said, “Izzy, we have forgotten George.” “Oh, he is easy,” she replied, “he always has the same, a double cheeseburger, large fries, large Pepsi Max and an apple pie.”
***
After lunch, Elspeth measured up George for his wedding suit and, with Andrew’s advice, chose a style, cloth, waistcoat, cummerbund and tie. Willie was impressed and asked if he was really going to get a suit like George. Elspeth said yes, even the same tie, but she was only going to have it made roughly because he was still growing fast and would probably be an inch or two taller by June and need it letting out. Willie made them laugh when he said, “I will also be a year older in June.”
With everyone back together and enjoying a mug of tea and Hobnobs just before Miranda set off back to West Sussex, she suddenly said, “I’ve just had a thought. I had been reckoning on hiring a DJ and having dancing after the meal into the evening with more food just before closing down. But I suspect that the Trattoria Trevi won’t want us in the evening, they will want us out mid to late afternoon and their regular customers in for the evening.” “You’re right,” replied Jinnie, “but that’s easily fixed, let’s do what Ro did for her wedding. A reception with a sit-down meal for the important guests and close relatives, and then a party in the evening for younger people and friends.”
“I like the idea,” said Izzy, “we should start looking for a hall.” “Why?” asked Jinnie, “it’s late June, early July when you’re getting married. The weather should be good, so let’s have it here. We can have a marquee in the garden and lay a wooden dance floor and serve a buffet tea. I’m sure Artisan Sandwiches can do that.” Miranda chipped in, saying, “That’s easy to arrange, I have a marquee company I often use. And I have a suggestion, last year we did a wedding where they had a sucking pig roast for the evening snack. The hot pork rolls and salad were fantastic, and it was fascinating watching the pork roast over a wood fire. The crackling was fantastic.” The twins looked at each other and said, “We like crackling, Granny did it.”
“Gosh, that sounds good,” said George, “I could invite a load of people from work for the evening and some from the rugby club who I wouldn’t invite to the reception.” “Me too,” said Izzy, “I could have my French evening class over, and some of the Norland Nannies I trained with.” Andrew laughed and said, “It sounds like a dating event.”
***
With the family alone again, Jinnie asked George, “Do you want to stay to dinner this evening? Izzy is cooking, so you can find out what you are in for.” “Yes please,” said George, “What is for dinner?” Izzy replied, “On the cruise the twins just loved the evening we had rack of lamb; I think it was being able to pick up the bones and chew all the meat off. Well, we had a lot of lamb cutlets in the freezer, so it’s them tonight, with sauté potatoes, peas and carrots. You will find we tend to lean to things the twins like, but they are really pretty good, there is not really much they don’t like.”
Over dinner, George told them he had told his sergeant that he was getting married and that he would need a gun/ammunition store at his new home. The sergeant had said that as he was in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Group, he would need to have at least a five-gun safe installed which also had space for pistols and ammunition. He had to purchase the equipment himself, from a recommended list, and have it installed, which meant bolted to a solid wall. Once it had been inspected and approved, he could reclaim the cost. Willie said, “So you won’t have your gun in your bed then.” “No,” replied George, “But it will probably be in the bedroom.”
“Why does it have to be a five-gun safe?” asked Paolo, “Surely you only have your rifle and a pistol.” “I have my everyday automatic rifle and Glock pistol, but I also shoot on the police team and have competition pistols and an Accuracy International AWS, all of which have to be stored,” answered George. Jinnie said, “I rather like the AWS, it’s an excellent rifle.” George’s mouth fell open and he asked, “How do you know about the AWS? It’s really a sniper rifle and not very common.” Thinking quickly because she worried she had said a little too much, she replied, “Well, when I was at uni, I was in the cadets and shot for the unit. I was placed in the Army Reserve and as an officer I still have to go on regular camps. My regiment decided I was a decent shot, and I have been on a number of courses and shot the army version of the AWS.” “Oh,” said George, “I’m not a fantastic shot, but I enjoy shooting. Perhaps you would like to be my guest at the police range at Hendon one day.” “I’d like that,” said Jinnie, hoping her cover story would hold.
Fortunately, the conversation was interrupted by Jinnie’s mobile ringing, and glancing at the display, it read ‘Monica calling’. Jinnie said, “Please excuse me, it’s a business call and I need to take it.” Getting up from the table and heading into the sitting room, she pressed the button to answer the call and said, “Hello, Monica.” A very excited Monica replied, “I hope I’m not interrupting anything; I really don’t know what time it is in England, but we had to tell someone. We have just shaken hands on Bearcat Catering’s first contract.” “Really?” said Jinnie, “Tell me about it.” “You remember Trevor and I had a meeting arranged with the Bay View Hospital superintendent. Well, we have just come from seeing him and it turns out that the hospital had decided to outsource all their catering. Apparently, they want to concentrate on medical things and see catering as ‘not a core’ department in the new enlarged hospital when the expansion is finished next month.”
A breathless Monica raced on, saying, “The hospital board voted to outsource catering lock, stock and barrel, and the super was told to find someone to take over the existing patient kitchens and staff and to run the new doctors/visitors/ambulant patients’ restaurant and a new coffee bar in the main reception. We gave him the story of how we are just starting a commercial catering company, but we are a big international company that also owns The Continental, Aunty JoJo’s and the DKL delivery service on the island. Well, he said he knew both The Continental and Aunty JoJo’s but didn’t see either being right for hospital food.”
“I said I quite agreed and that we would aim to take over the existing inpatient catering seamlessly, initially offering the same menus and employing the same staff. After a settling-in period, we would do a user and a staff survey to find out what people liked and what they didn’t like. Would inpatients like to be able to pay a little more for an enhanced dinner, say a steak if doctors agreed? You know, all the things that you complained about in hospital. We were soon in agreement on inpatient catering, and I asked how they wanted the restaurant to be run.”
“Well, they hadn’t really thought about it,” gushed Monica, “So Trevor started asking questions and I wrote down ideas. They said they wanted hot food for doctors and workers 24 hours a day, so I asked how many doctors were on duty overnight and it turns out there are only three, as it’s only a small hospital with three inpatient wards and two day-patient wards. I pointed out even if all the doctors and nurses running those wards were to eat in the restaurant every night, it wouldn’t be financially viable. Trevor suggested that we could serve breakfast, lunch and dinner with snacks in between from, say, seven in the morning to ten at night. Overnight, the restaurant would be open with a selection of chilled meals and snacks in a vending machine that could be heated in a nearby microwave and/or eaten cold, like a salad.”
Trevor took over the tale, saying, “Well, the super understood and we promised we would sort out a selection of prepared meals and snacks that could be chilled and make a proper proposal. Then we discussed costs. The way it works at the moment is that the hospital allows a cost per day for breakfast, lunch and dinner and another small sum for hot drinks and biscuits a few times a day for inpatients. The kitchen is supposed to buy the food, cook it, and pay wages for the kitchen staff from that sum and be a profit centre. Oh, the utilities and kitchen machinery are supplied. After looking at a few menus, I did a back-of-the-envelope calculation, and I reckon we can make a decent profit if we integrate buying into our procurement system. The snack bar is easy, it’s like the airport branch of Artisan Sandwiches. We do sandwiches, cutters, microwaved hot snacks and good coffee. The food can be prepared in the new restaurant kitchen.”
The conversation switched back to Monica, who said, “Then we asked about the new restaurant and how that would be charged for. They had no idea except that it should be free or subsidised for staff, but visitors would have to pay. So, we started talking about how it could be done, maybe issuing vouchers or tokens, and then I remembered what you were doing at your offices with a staff ID swipe card. Well, we decided that could work, as we could easily record electronically who had received a discount and how much to claim back from the hospital. The super loved the idea. Anyway, he asked us to make up some priced menus, including one or two ‘posh’ dishes for consultants. He gave us all the staff and patient numbers and said he was not going to talk to anyone else, as he just loved our ideas.”
“Well,” continued Trevor, “we shook hands on things, and we agreed to meet again in a week with the lawyers in tow. We will present our ideas in written form that can be turned into a five-year contract. We have a lot to do in a week, and I need to talk to Nigel about the software and IT costs. Do you have his home number? I’d like to talk to him as soon as possible.”
***
Jinnie rejoined the dinner party and Paolo asked, “Trouble?” and Jinnie smiled and said, “No, exactly the opposite, it was some excellent news, it looks like our new venture is about to land its first contract. Breaking into a new market isn’t easy, but once you make that breakthrough, the subsequent contracts come more easily because you can show potential customers a working example. It happened with the Ennios Hotels and with Artisan Sandwiches. With one up and running, the next one is much easier.”
“It sounds like congratulations are in order,” replied Paolo. “Not yet,” replied Jinnie, “They have shaken hands on the deal, but it’s not signed yet. It should be by next Saturday and I’ll happily get the champagne out then.” “I’ll put the date in my diary,” replied Izzy, while a puzzled Willie said, “Mummy, please can you explain what is so good.”
Jinnie changed the subject and asked, “Have you made any wedding decisions while I was busy?” Izzy replied, “Not really. We have agreed that we need to make up the invites and sort out the number we want to invite. But there is one thing we talked about, and the twins are particularly in favour of. We thought we might try to get a soft ice cream van for the afternoon and evening so everyone could have free ice cream.” “I only hope it is a lovely warm sunny day,” said Jinnie.
***
Sunday was dinner at Granny and Granddad Walsh’s house and the twins were particularly happy because she had told them she was making jam roly-poly and custard for dessert. Also, for the first time, George was invited as he wasn’t on shift and they wanted to show him the horses in the field at the bottom of their grandparents’ garden. The only trouble was that it was raining and when they ventured to the barbed wire fence at the bottom of the garden, the horses were in their shelter on the other side of their field near the stream and what their mother called ‘the wood’.
George was more interested in James’ big greenhouse but the twins soon got bored and hurried back indoors to their iPads, while Jinnie, James and George stood in the greenhouse and James explained all the things he was going to grow in the greenhouse, his large vegetable plot, and the two new cold frames he had seen and ordered when going through the seed catalogue with Bill from next door. James explained that usually a packet of seeds contained far more seeds than either he or Bill needed so they got together one winter’s evening and, over several G&Ts, planned what to grow for the next year and pooled their seed purchase. James said there were plenty of regular purchases like onion sets, peppers, runner beans, carrots, parsnips, cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, peas and seed potatoes, but this year he was going to try growing melons and Bill wanted to grow kohlrabi and he was going to try melons in the greenhouse.
George explained he had always wanted a garden with a vegetable patch, as a child he had spent summers at his grandparents’ and his grandpa had grown things and he said he had loved helping him. Jinnie said, “Well when you move in with Izzy there is an old overgrown vegetable patch at the bottom of the garden you are more than welcome taking it over.” James joined in saying, “And I will be able to let you have loads of seedlings, Bill and I always raise far too many for us to use and end up throwing them out.” “I think I would like that,” replied George.
Over the roast ham dinner George said to Jinnie, “I can’t help asking why you call that patch down by the stream the wood.” Penny said, “It’s because it used to be a wood and will be again someday. It is owned by the Royal Veterinary College, who own the field and the horses, and they are letting it recover from when it was destroyed.” George looked puzzled and asked, “How come it was destroyed?” Jinnie answered, “It happened during the War of Liberation. The Germans moved a headquarters unit into the cover of the wood. It’s a long story, but to cut it short, we got all the horses out and a section of SAS took up residence in our attic and number 52’s and called in an air strike. The Germans never knew what hit them. Then the SAS snipers picked off the survivors. A few hours later the leading Allied tanks rolled unopposed through Potters Bar, chasing the retreating Germans down through Barnet and Finchley. The war was over a few days later.”
“I was brought up in Finchley,” said George, “But I was only at junior school, so I don’t remember a lot from that time, more like impressions. How happy everyone was that the Allies were coming. Dad had a secret radio, and we listened to the BBC broadcast of their advances. I think my Uncle Ken was in the Resistance, he brought Dad a rifle and ammunition and he and some of the neighbours were planning to help the Allies when they got near. But they didn’t have to. When the retreating German army came they just rolled straight through, Dad said they had declared London an open city. Back then I had no idea what that meant, but my, did we cheer and wave when those British tanks and lorry loads of soldiers drove down Ballards Lane just a few hours behind the Germans.”
The twins were listening mesmerised. They had been born well after the Germans had been allowed to withdraw back across the Channel under the ceasefire agreement and had never heard the story of the wood before but were beginning to pick up on the various stories that they were hearing that their mother had been in the Resistance. This latest story made them more curious, but they still only listened and didn’t ask questions. But they discussed what they learnt and had concluded that their mother and probably their father were more deeply involved in fighting the Germans than they were letting on.
***
Jinnie went into the Potters Bar HQ of TT SuperBurger Group the next morning. Having been away for just over two weeks, she had a lot to catch up on. She was anxious to discover how trading had gone over Christmas and the New Year. She knew that the Trattoria Trevi restaurants had been 99.9% booked well beforehand, so she had no worries about them. She was right, the SAP reports showed they had been even more profitable than the previous year, mainly because bar sales were up.
Jinnie went through group after group and the sales were all up on last year, but in some places it was hard to work out just how much as they had expanded so fast with new hotels, branches and ventures. Jinnie became aware that while she had been interrogating the computer, Brian had arrived in his office, so she called him in and, after complimenting him on his tan, she asked how to bring up like-for-like financial results. Brian showed her how to do what she asked using SuperBurger as an example. He showed how to exclude the newly opened branches, how to just look at refurbished branches or un-refurbished branches, even to pick out the sales of specific products like cheeseburgers.
Brian was a good teacher and soon Jinnie had moved on to Artisan Sandwiches and was checking like-for-like sales on her own while Brian watched. The more Jinnie learnt, the more she was impressed by the new system, and Brian said he was still learning just what information he could get out of the database. Jinnie was intrigued to see that sales at the worst trading combined Artisan Sandwich/Sybaritic outlets outsold the two separate best trading individual outlets. Jinnie had just tucked that nugget into the back of her mind when her mobile rang, and she saw it was Brooke.
Jinnie said, “Hello Brooke, Happy New Year. Where are you today?” “I’m actually in the Manor Royal office for a change,” replied Brooke. “I’m in the U.K. this week, and next week I’m popping over to Slovenia for a few days to check on the new Aunty JoJo’s outlets. Clive is meeting me out there and we are going to look at several new possible joint locations. The strategy of co-locating the outlets with SuperBurgers has been a big success, with excellent sales numbers. I want to have a word with you as to whether we should try a Sybaritic in the same location.”
“Now that’s a thought,” said Jinnie. “Will you be at this month’s Main Board meeting; I would like you to suggest it to the Board.” “I will be there,” replied Brooke, “but I am flying out to Canada the next morning, our first Toronto outlets are due to open, and I want to be there. Besides, the Continental Ottawa opens the following Friday and I have been invited, I expect I’ll see you there.” “I haven’t seen an invite yet,” said Jinnie. “Have you checked your business email since coming home from holiday?” asked Brooke. “No,” replied Jinnie, “I suppose I better, there is a lot going on in Canada and I would like to keep an eye on things.” “I’m on top of things, Boss,” said Brooke, “the pictures of the work at the chicken processing plant are incredible, I’ve never seen such a huge mezzanine and it is only 2/3rd its finished size.”
“I really wanted to talk about the developments on Antigua,” said Brooke. “You know I stayed at the Ennios over the holidays. Well, all I can say is it was absolutely fabulous. Everything was top notch, Rick has really stamped the Ennios ethos on to the hotel, and I understand from the new manager that the hotel’s two restaurants have never been as busy. Even the American guests were asking if it was a chain, I think we need to look at expanding it quickly. As for the Continental, well, what can I say, I was there for the New Year’s Eve opening and it was amazing. Better than when we opened Barbados. It was packed with celebrities and the food was wonderful, Trevor has really learnt from the other openings.”
“It was the Antigua place to be on New Year’s Eve and got loads of media coverage,” continued Brooke. “I understand it is now pretty full every night and your chat with that taxi driver has really paid off, they are bringing in a dozen customers every night. We ate there again before we flew home and if anything, it was even better that time. I think they had tidied up on one or two of the tiny rough edges from opening night and of course it wasn’t a fixed menu.” “That’s good to hear,” said Jinnie. “But how about Heritage Quay, how’s the new Continental affected business there?” “Well, now Carnival has the whole restaurant to sell twice a night, it has been a regular sell-out. Trevor is delighted.”
Jinnie had been given a few things to think about by the call and checked her emails for the invite to the opening of the Continental Ottawa. It was there just as Brooke had speculated and Jinnie immediately called Paolo to see if he wanted to join her. He said he wished he could but while they had been away the situation between Germany and Russia had got worse, although recent heavy snow had put a stop to most things at the moment. But he had still returned to a pile of work on his desk. Next, Jinnie phoned ‘Travel’ to book her Canadian flights and hotel accommodation.
In Chapter 11 – Another Trip to Canada
© WorthingGooner 2025
