A surprise

So now it was going to be a battle to see if I could stay in business.
Well my Accountant arranged for the Solicitor to visit me. He was a young guy and informed me that almost certainly I would be successful.
A meeting was arranged for all concerned to meeet at the Landlord's Solicitors office. To my surprise he suggested to the landlord that there was no case and suggested that a new lease should be agreed. After several meetings it was finally agreed and at last I had some sort of security. A lease. Details were to be negotiated but at least I could plan ahead for the coming few seasons. Eventually it was agreed that a new lease would be granted and that it would start from February 1st 1975 to January 31st 1980. I agreed to this and a rental of £900 p..a was also agreed upon.
In May time a young lad who worked across the road at a corner shop came to see me and asked if I wanted anybody for a season. I said I might be. He bought a young boy, I offered him a job and money was talked. Later that day he came and asked if there was any other jobs going as I had offered this boy more than he was getting. I told him I could not offer him a job as it was not right to take staff from a fellow businessman. I suggesteed though that when he was not needed at the corner shop, he could help me. This he did .
It worked out well for me. My father suddenly passed away and I had to go to Grantham to see to things with my invalid Mother. The lad who I called Freddie came and looked after my dog. I had a Jack Russell. I was not a dog lover but when I first went there, rats were a problem. It go rid of the cats. The dog lived almost 21 years but had a mind of it's own.
Well in 1976 Freddie came and worked for me in the kitchen. He was going to college in Boston so it suited everyone. Unfortunately, his home life was not perfect and seemed to spend more time at mine than at his own home. I think he called every day, he would come in and ask what I had to eat that day. I just told him to get what he wanted, he would take the dog for a walk then watch TV. I would say about 10.00pm that it was time for him to go home. This was a daily routine.
1976 season was certainly a decent year. For the first time I had some money. I bought a Datsun 120Y Called Nissan now. It was an estate car. In those days, there were no rear wipers so that after a few miles in wet weather, visibility through the rear window was impossible. I was not happy.
I was beginning to get a few fellow businessmen call and we started to have morning meetings, what you would call, putting the world to rights. It seemed to be that once you was in business for about 10 years you were accepted. I was not accepted yet but was well on my way. With the prices gradually increasing, I was beginning to make a little money. I bought a small terraced house in Grantham and rented it out. That was fine until I let it out to someone who would not pay, would not get out and let the place go to ruin. Such is the case for not really trusting your fellow man. I did get him out in 1982. A lesson learned in deed. However before that there were a few more things happening.
In 1977 it was consolidation so I saved a little money and bought more machinery. Mainly Hobart, I considered this to be the best. Work in the kitchen was beginning to seem easy. I guess that was because I was planning ahead and in general, the staff were constant. New staff always seemed to make it harder as they had to fit in with the others. I bought a dishwasher, that made things easier, I also bought an automatic washing machine. I thought that was great, taking money while the washing machine was doing the tea towels and hand towels. I then started to form a plan, I wanted to f get a long lease so that I could plan for my eventual retirement. I had to tread carefully, the Landlord was a funny person. I thought that eventually I would suggest that if a further 10 years lease was given. I would at my expense replace the old sash windows with a modern design. Put central Heating in and knock 2 rooms upstairs into a modern flat. This I had to go to work on. It would take some time I knew that.
So to 1978. As I told you the Datsun was not good so I bought a Toyota Celica. This was in August. In September, my sister contacted me and told me that there was a good terraced house in Grantham on sale for £3400. I told her that I had just bought another car so I could not afford it. She told me she would take the keys back to the Estate Agents. This was the norm years ago.
After due consideration I contacted Rod the Estates owner and informed him that my sister was bringing in ht ekeys to the property. Could he inform her that I would be over later that evening abd she should hold on to the key. He readily agreed. I saw the propery made an offer of £3250. which was agreed. I now had to go to see the Bank Manager.
I went to see him and asked him if I could have an overdraft facility. I informed him that I may not need the facility but wanted to be sure as I had just purchased a new car. What an idiot he was. He suggested to me that I take a personal loan on the car. I asked him if he was working for my benefit or the Bank's benefit. That didn't please him I pointed out that I may not need to borrow any money. With that he said to me. "What would you do if I refused you" I just said I would go elsewhere. He did however get me to take out a personal Pension. But I got what I wanted. So now I had to decide what was going to happen to this property. It wanted upgrading and modernising. The cost was £6600 and my Mother informed me that she wished to live there. So that was it and work was to commence as soon as was practible. That was the winter and spring project of 1979. More to follow.