George woke up. Never needed the alarm since he had taken early retirement - 8.00am every morning he woke, went downstairs, ate some breakfast, waved his wife off to work, did the crossword in the paper, then planned his day.
Not that it needed a lot of planning. Go to the shops. Visit elderly mother. Go to the shops for her. Answer post. Cook tea. Greet wife................
George didn't regret taking early retirement, but somehow early retirement should be something different from this. Surely there was more to it?
Seven across - "between the mango chutney?" Chutney, mixture of something? Anagram of mango? Means between. Among...................... He was just writing the answer in when the phone rang.
"Hi George, it's Max here." George recognised the voice of his former business partner, still a good friend he enjoyed a drink with. "Have a problem. Are you free this lunchtime?"
George thought for a moment. He had said when he retired he would be available, and over a pint with Max had told him he wanted to try everything. And do everything. Retirement was a chance to do....... He ended the conversation with a wink. Max had picked up quickly what George meant. He'd laughed before replying: "Well, you are not going to do everything with me........" They had laughed, the conversation had moved on.
"What's the problem?"
Max continued. "Well, Tony was due to see a couple of blokes at lunchtime to sell them the electronic G8 monitor which you and him developed. Tony's rushed into hospital overnight with appendicitis. Can you come and see them instead - you know the monitor better than the rest of us. There'll be a few quid in it if you do sell it."
George thought for a moment. It was the first time he had touched anything to do with work since leaving, but would quite enjoy it, and would quite like the money. "Okay. Where am I seeing them? Who is it?"
Max gave him the address of a hotel, then told him who it was: "It's those two blokes - Ken and Brian - at Davis's."
George paused. It wasn't such good news. They were good blokes and he respected them. He liked them. They worked hard. But they had a strange reputation. They could be bullying. They could demand odd things. There were odd work relationships in their company. Or at least so everyone said - no-one ever said what the problems and demands were. And on top of that they drove a hard bargain. He had never had problems with them, but ...................
At last George agreed - he had nothing to lose - if he didn't like what was happening he would just walk out.
George did his shopping, visited his mother and left a note for his wife apologising that he couldn't get the tea in case he got back after her - you never knew with these sorts of meetings. At one o-clock he pulled up at the hotel, parked the car, and entered the lobby. Ken was sat waiting and noticed him first. Ken strode over, held out his hand, shook George by the hand and said it was good to see him again. Ken was just over six foot, in his mid forties and pretty muscular build - probably worked out a bit. Brian was a bit shorter and slimmer, and followed Ken over to where he was shaking George's hand. Both dwarfed George by at least three inches.
For a few moments they chatted, talking about retirement, then agreed they should go somewhere more private for their business discussions. Ken and Brian led the way to the room they had reserved for the discussions, for the afternoon.
The three of them went to the room on the 4th floor of the hotel - a bed room with four easy chairs and coffee table. They fixed drinks - Ken and Brian had whisky's, George was sharp enough to stick with fruit juice - you needed a clear head to deal with as tough negotiators as these were.
George outlined what the G8 monitor could do, as well as its limitations. He outlined the key internal components they had used. He talked about price and bulk orders. Ken and Brian both asked a lot of questions. They haggled on price, particularly as they needed 200 of the monitors initially, with a possible further 800 for the project they might use them for.
