Busy, Busy, Busy

You don’t realise how much you miss your annoying best friends until they’re not there, well, annoying you.

The only thing I’ve been able to do is focus on the business, which I suppose is just as well.

Bookings have continued to flow in and cruise companies are now giving us fabulous discounts to hand on to people. We’re still working bloody hard to get people on holiday but at least now we have something extra to offer them.

Charlie returns to us in one piece with no injuries or major catastrophes to report.

‘That’s a bit dull,’ I laugh. ‘How will we keep up our notoriety without a disaster or two?’

‘Well, this is doing the rounds of social media,’ he says.

He flicks up a beautiful picture of a very handsome couple enjoying themselves against a backdrop of lovely acacia trees, or it would have been a beautiful picture if a huge baboon hadn’t photobombed them with his big blue bottom.

‘That’s ace,’ shrieks Josie, ‘it has to go on our end-of-year round-up.’

We’ve been working on that end-of-year booklet together, gathering photographs of all the things we’ve done this year. I’d planned it as publicity for next year’s holidays, but I imagine that when we sit down and look through it, we’ll be astonished at just how much we’ve done, and it’s obviously not over yet.

We’ll also be surprised by how much we’ve moved on. I mean to say, Patty is an entertainer on a cruise ship, Josie has been happily dating Matt since the wine tasting and Charlie? Hmm, I wonder why he hasn’t mentioned the Peter aspect of his trip at all. I’ll ask him when we close up.

‘This is the draft itinerary for next year’s travel club,’ I show him.

I’ve added a few more adventurous activities like hot-air ballooning and by popular request have extended the musical cruise trips through the decades.

‘The January and February trips are selling well already,’ I say.

‘I’m not going on that rock and roll trip,’ warns Charlie. ‘All that jitterbugging and jiving is another heart attack waiting to happen.’

‘No, I didn’t think that would be you,’ I say. ‘I had you down either for a bit of Rat Pack or The Divas of Vegas.’

‘A fortnight of Bette and Mariah?’ he says. ‘Pack my linen suit now, I’m already on the boulevard.’

‘We need some longer long-haul trips in this. Our customers have the time now,’ suggests Charlie.

‘And road trips too – like driving Route 66 or Highway 101. We’ll organise everything and all you have to do is turn up and drive away in your Cadillac.’

‘Brilliant idea, very Thelma and Louise,’ I say jotting it down. I’d love to do that.

‘I met so many people ticking off bucket lists,’ he continues, ‘sad in a way but inspiring too; at least they’re going for it while they can.’

‘Talking of which,’ I say jumping on the opportunity, ‘did you go for it? With Peter?’

‘We had a wonderful time,’ he replies, ‘glorious.’

That doesn’t answer my question and I have to probe further.

‘But what happened to “he’s the one”?’ I ask. ‘I half-expected you to come back sporting matching ethically-sourced diamond rings.’

‘I crumbled,’ he sighs. ‘I just couldn’t do it. There we were in the most glorious setting overlooking the sea, waves crashing into the cliffs, the night air filled with the scent of jasmine and I looked across at him and thought to myself, this is just perfect.’

‘And?’

‘What if he’d said no and I managed to ruin the most wonderful moment of my life? No it was safest to keep schtum,’ he replies.

‘Oh you big soft coward,’ I tease.

‘I know, but if it’s meant to be, there’ll be another moment,’ he laments.

I consider myself their fairy godmother as I got them together through the book-club weekend and I wonder if there’s anything I can do to create that moment for them.

‘Whatever you’re plotting, stop it,’ says Charlie, spotting the cogs whirring.

I exclaim innocence.

‘I want the moment to happen naturally,’ he says.

I promise not to interfere; after all, if I were any good at romance, wouldn’t I have created a successful love life for myself?

* * *

The whole country is now well settled into post-holiday work mode, getting on with the routine until the next big event, which is only ten weeks away: Christmas. Like everyone else, every day I battle the weather to get into the shop, I do as much business as I possibly can and then do battle again to prepare a warming ready meal for me and a delicious tin of cat food for Socks. Autumn brings its own sense of peace I always think; because it gets dark earlier, you don’t feel obliged to live outdoors for hours on end. You’re expected to curl up at home and who am I to disappoint?

The scare of the hot summer is a constant reminder of the need to get next year’s bookings under the belt. I was terrified that the business would go under and having survived one storm, I’m not about to let this ship sink now.

We produce a mid-year review with photographs and quotes reminding people what a fabulous time they had. I also use this to design an advert for the paper with the free space they gave us. We send calendars to our best customers printed with a Mercury Travel Club suggestion each month and we get a radio station talking to us about the bucket list trips that people take; Charlie’s doing that interview.

All in all we’re giving it everything we have and customers are calling in. Charlie was right about people wanting to get away for longer. Snowbird trips, where customers go away for the whole of the winter, are our top sellers. Our first Mercury Club adventure is a dog-sled holiday to Lapland. Josie has been nominated to go on that one and is taking Matt; as much as I’d love to see the Northern Lights, I’d like it to happen somewhere warmer. Being Aussie she’s curious to try minus twenty-five-degree weather and three feet of snow. Glad someone is.

In the midst of all this activity, I get a call from the Entrepreneur of the Year awards telling us that we’ve been shortlisted.

‘That’s brilliant news,’ I say. ‘What do we have to do now?’

‘Customer feedback is important to any business, so for the next stage,’ says the caller, ‘we’d like to hear what your customers think of you. Can you arrange that?’

I tell her that I can, I know lots of people who’ll endorse us. I put down the phone and tell the others the news.

We dance around the shop and start singing ‘We Are the Champions’ at the top of our voices. I hope we’re singing it again for real in a few weeks’ time.