Jinnie woke from a deep sleep and thought, ‘It must be nearly breakfast; I better go to the loo before the nurses bring it in.’ It was only when she started to get out of bed that she realised she wasn’t in hospital, and she remembered she has on a cruise ship at the Bridgetown cruise terminal. Looking round she could see Paolo, wearing his P&O robe, sitting in the sun on the Balcony watching a container ship being readied to sail from astern of them.
Jinnie slipped on her robe, switched on the coffee machine and joined Paolo on the balcony. She asked, “Have you been here long?” “No, only about 10 minutes,” he replied. “I hope I didn’t wake you.” “Not at all,” replied Jinnie, “I’ve put the coffee on, it should be ready in a minute or two. I’m going to wash and dress, then sit in the sun and enjoy a mug of coffee before breakfast.” “That sounds like a plan,” said Paolo.
***
The trans receptionist in the Epicurean welcomed them back to Britannia and said, “Are you on your own? Where are the twins?” Jinnie thought, ‘People only remember us because of the twins,’ but went through her tale once again. They were then asked if they would like to breakfast on the terrace under the sailcloth awning and Jinnie answered, “Oh, yes please, but before you show us to the table could you do something for us? We have a booking for here tonight, but could you combine it with the booking for our friends in D729?” “Of course, Dame Jinnie and would you like to eat on the terrace again tonight?” “Definitely,” said Paolo.
Eating breakfast on the terrace was a delight. It was pleasantly warm under the awning and, as always, the service was perfect. Jinnie had eggs benedict and the poached eggs were perfect, a solid white and a runny yoke. Jinnie wondered how they could get it so right, as when she tried it was either a runny white or a hard yoke. Paolo went for the P&O Breakfast and, pushing away his empty plate, said, “I just love a big fried breakfast when someone else cooks it.” Jinnie hit him and said, “When was the last time you cooked one?”
As they got up to leave, Paolo asked, “What do you want to do this morning? Sit in the sun while we still can?” “Well,” answered Jinnie, “would you mind if I popped into town and said ‘hello’ to Anderson and then Patricia and Monica? At the moment I feel up to it. I don’t want to be long. I will be back by late morning, definitely by lunchtime and then we can laze by the pool or on the balcony.” “OK,” answered Paolo, “but I’m coming with you, I want to make sure you are safe. I know the police have agreed not to announce you have been released from hospital until we are in mid-Atlantic, but you just can’t be too sure.” “Right oh,” said Jinnie. “Let’s go, I need to nip back to the suite for my hat and to put on the sun protection before I change my mind.”
The taxi dropped them outside the DKL call centre and offices and as Jinnie went to press the entrance buzzer, she was stopped by a crew cab pick-up truck hooting them. Keith jumped out of the vehicle and ran over and hugged Jinnie saying, “I thought you were still in hospital, when did you get out?” “A couple of days ago,” replied Jinnie, “but it’s not public knowledge.” “Just a moment while I get the paperwork out of the pickup, and I will let you in. Does anyone know you are coming?”
Keith came back with a folder of papers and said, “We are so busy; I have had to order some new pickups and I have just been to collect this one. It’s off to the sign shop later to get the company name on it.” Keith stared into what Jinnie had thought was a video entry phone and the door clicked open. Seeing her surprise Kieth said, “Face recognition, just like your iPhone, it’s brilliant.” As they climbed the stairs Jinnie asked, “Is the second DKL kitchen finished yet?” “Just,” answered Keith, “it opens on Monday. And just in time so I can move the last of the crew onto the office block fit-out you know about.”
“But while you have been in hospital,” he continued, “we have won another big fit-out. It’s officially a Cat A fit-out for the owner, you know basic decorating, carpets, ceiling and lighting and toilet blocks on two six-storey office buildings. But the client has been recommending us to anyone who leases space and we have been awarded a load of their Cat B jobs, office partitions, power, data and furniture. Belinda’s new girl, Willow, has done some amazing designs. Thankfully the main contractor is running a bit late, so I have time to get ahead on my other jobs. And I nearly forgot Peter has agreed to stay on for a couple of months to help us get the jobs moving.”
Keith took Jinnie and Paolo to Anderson’s office where he was busy working at his PC. Seeing Jinnie enter the office, he jumped up and welcomed her, once again she had to explain it was only a flying visit as her ship was sailing at eight that evening. Jinnie asked how things were going, and Anderson beamed. “Fantastic,” he replied, “I think everyone is happy, of course I get to see the numbers from all six kitchens, and they should be, I did worry that SuperBurger might not be popular, but they seem to be doing well. Personally, I couldn’t have asked for better business from my kitchen, the delivery business has even brought more customers to the beach restaurant. Everyone is itching for the Speightstown kitchen to open as they have all been turning business away.
Anderson took Jinnie and Paolo into the call centre explaining that as it was 10:30 things were fairly quiet. Only Aunty JoJo’s and SuperBurger were open in the morning, and it was currently between the breakfast and lunch rushes. However, the call centre was buzzing with perhaps a quarter of the workstations occupied. Anderson said, “I only hope we can cope when Speightstown opens on Monday. I have been talking with Jed and he says if we are overwhelmed, he can rapidly expand the call centre.”
Keith gave them a lift to Aunty JoJo’s in his new crew cab and, as usual, Gloria was on the door, but she now had a little lectern and was seated behind it on a high stool. Gloria saw Jinnie and Paolo climb out of Keith’s pick-up and waved them over to her, and said, “Hello boss, I didn’t know you were out of hospital. Are you here to eat or to see Monica?” Jinnie smiled and said, “Hi Gloria, they let me out to go home, we leave tonight. I thought I would pop in and see how things are going, so yes, I’m here to see Patricia and Monica.” Gloria replied, “Patricia isn’t in today, she only tends to pop in once or twice a week, says she is semi-retired and works from her garden office, whatever that is. But Monica is.” She picked up the phone on her lectern and pressed a button, and after a pause said, “Sorry to bother you, Monica, but Dame Jinnie is here, can I send her up.”
Monica was in her office, at her PC, and stood up to greet Jinnie and Paolo when they entered. Monica said, “Well you are the last person I expected to see today, and my you are looking so much better than the last time I saw you.” “I certainly feel better,” said Jinnie. “We are sailing for Southampton this evening and I just wanted to pop in, I wanted to see you and Patricia before the ship sails. But I understand Patricia is working from home.” “Not so much working from home,” said Monica, “as keeping an eye on things from home. She’s now got a home office like yours and logs into the system to keep a watch on things. She mostly leaves me alone to run things these days and I can always consult her.” “As long as it works, I’m happy,” said Jinnie.
Monica continued, “I was just checking yesterday’s business. We are selling more and more every day. The Dark Kitchen has been a revelation for trade. As I told you, we have had to turn business away because we couldn’t deliver to the north of the Island, but the Speightstown kitchen opens on Monday, and then we will be able to deliver everywhere. I have been looking at a couple more restaurants on the island. The guys tell me there is room for another branch in Bridgetown and I think we should be looking at another somewhere up north. I have been thinking about a restaurant with a drive-thru up near the junction of Highway 2 and Highway 2A. There is a Chefette there but it’s not a drive-thru. There is a lot of traffic there and homes.”
“Then the branches in Trinidad are flying,” Monica continued, “we are opening up quickly and every one we have opened is trading profitably, although only one has paid back its investment so far. I want to go and look for more outlets which we can bank for the future. I wanted to ask you where we go next when I visited you in hospital, but you looked so bad I didn’t want to worry you. We’ve looked at St Lucia, but I don’t think it will support more than a couple more shops, we have got a restaurant at the airport and one in Castries, but I think the only other place would be Soufriere. Next, we have been to Granada again, I reckon one at the airport and one, possibly two, in Saint George’s, but these are small islands, if we want to grow big, we need to look at places with a bigger population.”
“That pretty much matches my thinking,” replied Jinnie. “We need to jump to bigger English-speaking islands. What do you think of Jamaica?” “It’s not a big island like Cuba or Hispaniola, but it’s got some big towns and lots of people and visitors,” replied Monica, “but I like the idea. I had a look at the population centres and there are several that could support 2, 3, 4 or more restaurants.” “My thoughts entirely,” said Jinnie. “Now, I shouldn’t really tell you this, but I want DKL to look there for our next kitchens and that will mesh nicely with Aunty JoJo’s plans. Now can I suggest you have a chat with Patricia and let her in on the master plan? See if she has any objections. I don’t think she will. Then you, Keith and Brooke meet on Jamaica and find us some places, I suggest we start in Kingston and its surrounding area. When I had a quick look, I thought there was room for at least 12 branches in the area. Then it’s west to Montego Bay and Negril and north to Ocho Rios. I want to see at least 24 branches in the first year.”
“My that’s ambition,” said Monica, “can we afford it?” “Yes,” answered Jinnie. “Not only do we have a new director who has put in several millions of pounds, but I think I will be in a position to more than match that very soon. But first, I need to talk to Brian and get some cash flow predictions, you never know, it might be self-sustaining. Just think of all those Aunty JoJo’s contributing cash to the coffers.”
***
Jinnie was back on board and laying in the sun on a lounger by the pool well before lunch. This was a quiet time on board as the passengers going home had left on the coaches to the airport and, of course, the day’s incoming passengers hadn’t yet arrived. Many of those who, like Jinnie and Paolo, had joined Britannia yesterday were ashore either on excursions or just visiting Bridgetown. Jinnie lay there thinking, ‘I better make the most of this, it’s going to get busier as soon as today’s planes arrive and then we have a few islands to visit before a load of days at sea and after a couple more days it won’t be warm enough to be out here.’ Paolo brought her back to the present by saying, “Are you hungry, I fancy a cheeseburger and chips.” “Can you get me a hot dog with fried onions please?” replied Jinnie. “No chips. Do you want a drink?” “A bottle of Doom Bar, please,” said Paolo. By the time he was back with the food, Jinnie had called over a passing waiter and ordered the beer and a Pepsi Max with no ice. On her previous cruise, she had learnt that you got more Pepsi if you didn’t have ice and it was always cold anyway.
At one thirty Jinnie found her iPhone and FaceTimed home, knowing Izzy would pick up the call on her iPad and that the twins would be waiting for the call before bath-time. Izzy was obviously waiting as the call was answered almost immediately and before talking to the twins Jinnie confirmed that they had reservations at the slightly enlarged TT Ennios. They had three double rooms, with intercommunicating doors (so the twins could sleep in the middle room) booked for the Saturday night the ship arrived in Southampton. Jinnie explained as they only had a medium-sized wheeled suitcase each, they would be allowed to disembark from 08:30 if they wheeled it off themselves. But this was a bit early so they thought it better they have breakfast first and disembark about 09:30, when their luggage would be handled for them. Jinnie then heard Izzy telling the twins they would have to be up early that morning.
Then the twins appeared for their nightly chat, as it was Friday they had been ‘swimming’ and Miss Evans had raced them and they beat her. In the morning the class had a lesson in telling the time, but it was ‘babyish’ and Miss Evans had told them and another boy to go and read a book as they could already tell the time. Willie suddenly said, “I know where you are, you’re by the pool and the burger place is behind you.” Millie joined in asking,“Are you having a burger for dinner?” Jinnie suddenly realised the twins had no concept of time zones and she wasn’t going to try to explain over FaceTime and instead said, “No we were just passing by when it was time to talk to you, we are going to get ready for dinner soon.”
By four o’clock it was getting noticeably busy by the pool and Jinnie nudged Paolo and said, “I fancy a cup of tea, let’s go back to the cabin, make a cup and sit in the sun on the balcony. Beside, I think that excursion this morning took more out of me than I realised, I might have a snooze before dinner.” “Right oh,” said Paolo, “If I stay here any longer, I will need another beer, so let’s go.”
Jinnie and Paolo sat on their sunny balcony, mugs of tea in hand and watched as a dozen containers on the dockside were disgorging pallets of food and drink that was being forklifted onto the ship. Further down the dockside, coaches were arriving at the cruise terminal. Some were bringing passengers back from trips, they were easily recognised as the occupants were quickly through security and were invariably dressed in shorts and Caribbean shirts. The passengers on coaches from the airport took longer to appear out of security because they had first to check in, but they were often wearing long trousers and carrying jackets and carry-on bags. Paolo said, “I think I will be glad when we sail and that steel band finally stop playing the Banana Boat Song.” “Hopefully they will stop when we sail,” replied Jinnie.
***
Jinnie and Paolo met Graham and Elizabeth in the Crows Nest as it was the closest bar to the Epicurean restaurant and enjoyed a pre-dinner drink. Jinnie decided to try the gin distilled on board in a gin and tonic and declared it fabulous. At seven thirty they arrived at the Epicurean restaurant, where the girl on duty recognised them and said, “Good evening, Dame Jinnie, your table is ready.” Jinnie saw Graham do a double take and a look passed between him and Elizabeth. A waiter led them to their terrace table, and they were descended on by four waiters and waitresses who pulled back chairs, shook out linen napkins and placed them in their laps, poured iced water and delivered a choice of rolls or bread. Then the menus appeared, and Elizabeth said, “I thought service in the main restaurant was good but this is amazing.” Jinnie said, “It is reminiscent of a Michelin Star restaurant, now wait until you taste the food, it is fabulous.”
Graham said, “Now I know why I recognised your name when the receptionist called you Dame Jinnie, you are the restaurateur. We have eaten in the Trattoria Trevi Turner Hill several times and it has always been fantastic. If you say it’s good here, then I believe you Dame Jinnie.” “Please call me Jinnie, Dame Jinnie is for strangers and officials,” replied Jinnie.
Paolo explained that the menu changed weekly, and this was Menu A. When they had eaten here before it had been on the second week of a cruise and had been Menu B.
Jinnie chose the seafood cocktail as a starter and Indonesian tiger prawns with French fries, green beans and asparagus for her main course, while the others went for the same starter. The men had Aberdeen Angus sirloin steaks and Elizabeth picked crown of lamb rump. Before their starters, the diners were presented with a Mandarin frozen lolly pop with a liquid dark chocolate centre for an amuse bouche. Jinnie thought it wonderful and wondered if she could borrow the idea for the Trattoria Trevi. The seafood cocktail had prawns, lobster, and crab with a piquant sauce, and everyone agreed was excellent.
Before the mains arrived. they were served a gin and tonic sorbet palate cleanser, which Jinnie and Paolo were familiar with and were delighted to be served again. Jinnie gasped when her Indonesian prawns arrived. There were only two, but they were enormous and had been butterflied. The vegetables were served in separate dishes placed in the centre of the table so they could help themselves. Jinnie alone got a little jug of garlic butter sauce for her prawns which she said were almost as big a lobster, and just as tasty.
Elizabeth put her knife and fork down on her empty plate and said, “Well you were right, that was absolutely fantastic.” With the plates and dishes cleared away, the party were presented with the dessert menu and Jinnie immediately said, “Well, I need read no further than the first item, crepe Suzette and vanilla ice cream sounds wonderful.” When the waitress came to take the order, it was four crepe Suzette. They weren’t disappointed. The trans head waiter prepared them at the table, and they looked, smelled and tasted wonderful. Jinnie, who had been served first, finished first and said, “Now all I need is a decent cup of coffee.”
The waitress poured the coffee and Jinnie quickly tasted it as Elizabeth was being served and said to the waiter, “You have changed your coffee blend.” “Yes, madam, we had a number of comments about the old blend, this one is rated much higher by diners but is only served at dinner.” “Well,” said Jinnie, “as someone who runs a Michelin-starred restaurant and is fussy about coffee, I approve.” Paolo suddenly said, “Has anybody noticed, we have sailed. That’s the lights of Bridgetown behind us.”
In Chapter 5 – At sea
© WorthingGooner 2024
