Page 44 of Fred and Breakfast

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I’m just taking down Fred’s tatty curtains and piling them on a chair for the house clearance people when the bell rings to let me know that Mick has arrived. I press the buzzer to let him into the building, and then open the front door and step onto the landing to meet him.

‘Hello, Daisy. You’re looking well. I haven’t seen you in ages.’

‘Hi, Mick. Thanks for coming.’ I step back to let him into the flat. ‘I’d offer you a cup of tea, but I don’t have a kettle or anything up here. Would you like something from the café?’

‘I’m fine, thanks. So, what are we looking at?’ he asks.

‘I’ve got the house clearance people coming next week to empty the place. After that, I think it needs a new kitchen, new bathroom, double glazing, and redecorating all the way through. Have a look and tell me what you think.’

I sit in one of Fred’s old armchairs while Mick takes a look around. I know I should get lots of quotes for the work, but I’ve known Mick since I moved in with Nan and Grandad. I trust him to give me a good price, and Grandad will be furious if I don’t use him. I watch him as he wanders around, whistling tunelessly and writing in his notebook as he goes. I have no idea how he and Grandad met, or even how old he is. All I know is that they’ve been mates forever. He sticks his head in the cupboard where the boiler lives, as well as the loft. I have no idea what he’s expecting to find up there.

Eventually, he declares that he’s ready to walk round with me. We start in the kitchen.

‘I know it looks shabby, but the underlying units are solid,’ he tells me. ‘If you were planning to keep the same layout, you could save some money there, as we’ll just replace the fronts. I think we could do a better layout, though. I’ve made a couple of drawings.’

He shows me what he has in mind, and it does look like a huge improvement. He’s replaced the standalone cooker with space for a hob built into the work surface and reconfigured the cupboards to give space for a double oven, dishwasher, and microwave. He’s also added an island in the middle with extra cupboards underneath. I love it. He brings a catalogue out of his bag, and I choose white shaker-style fronts for the cupboards and drawers, and a wood-look countertop. I liked the look of the real wood ones, but Mick advised me that they’re much harder to look after, as well as being considerably more expensive. He also talks me out of a tiled floor, on the basis that everything I drop on it will either break, or break a tile. We do manage to agree on LED lighting so I can see what I’m doing.

In the bathroom, I choose fairly standard white units, a glass screen to replace the shower curtain, more LED lighting, and a large illuminated mirror.

‘You’ve got a dilemma here, Daisy,’ he explains, indicating the shower. ‘These showers are dreadful. They heat the water inside the unit here, so you never get more than a dribble. I’d like to put in a power shower, ideally. If I do that, though, you’re going to need a new boiler, because the boiler you’ve got will never cope with it.’

‘I can’t live with a pathetic shower,’ I reply. ‘Let’s go with the power shower. The boiler probably needs replacing anyway.’

‘Good choice. I can’t do the boiler myself, but I’ve got a mate who will do it. I’ll get a sparky on the electrics, too.’

We continue our tour of the flat. Mick agrees to do everything, including replastering to get rid of the awful Artex, upgrading the loft insulation, and organising floor coverings. ‘By the time I’m done in here, you’ll be able to move straight in.’

‘Any idea what all this is going to cost?’ I ask him.

‘It’s not going to be cheap, Daisy. I’ll have to work it out exactly, and obviously I’ll do the best price I can for you, but I’m not sure you’ll have a lot of change from fifteen grand.’

Shit, that’s going to make a big hole in my reserves. Still, there’s no point in cutting corners.

‘How long do you think it’ll take?’

‘When are the house clearance people coming?’

‘Monday.’

‘Give me a key, I’ll get my guys started as soon as I can. You should be in within a month.’

I don’t have a spare, so I agree to get new ones cut and post them through his door. He only lives a few roads away from Nan and Grandad, so it’s not far out of my way.

‘One final thing. I might need you to do the same again for the other flat. Just in case you can get any discounts.’

He smiles. ‘I’ll bear that in mind.’

As I drive home, another thought occurs to me. Although Mick’s work will take care of the basics, I don’t own any furniture, curtains, or anything beyond what’s in my bedroom at home. I’m going to have to buy everything from scratch, even kitchen utensils. Suddenly, this all seems like a very bad idea. Maybe I’ll let it, like I originally planned, and stay with Nan and Grandad instead.

23

I’m still tired, but I’m loving my new life. For the last month, I’ve been getting up at 6 a.m., having a quick shower, and throwing on some comfortable clothes, before leaving the house at 6.30 to get to the café for 7. Matt is always there before me, but I make us a coffee and we have what we’ve come to call our ‘morning meeting’. It’s basically a quick chat about what cakes I’m going to make for the afternoon customers and what the lunchtime special is. I’ve managed to prise Nora’s recipe folder off Nan, with a bit of difficulty, and it now lives in the café kitchen. It’s become my bible as I’ve tried to breathe new life into the place. The early signs are that my efforts are paying off, as trade is definitely picking up and we’re starting to make a small profit.

Rita generally shuffles in just before 7.30 on the days she’s working. She barely speaks to me, but I’m fine with that. She’s been keeping her head down; I think she’s worked out that I want her gone and is determined not to give me any excuse to fire her. What she hasn’t worked out is that I probably wouldn’t want to fire her if she wasn’t such a surly, lazy old cow. Even now, she does the bare minimum. When Rita’s working, I find myself counting the days until Bronwyn’s next shift, because the place just comes alive when she’s around.

Mick tells me he’s made good progress upstairs. The new kitchen and bathroom are in, as is the double glazing and the new boiler. He’s just finished the decorating and the carpets are being laid today. I’ve pretty much let him get on with it; he did come down fairly early on to ask me to choose tiles for the kitchen and bathroom, but I was in the middle of making a broccoli and stilton soup, so just told him what colours I thought would look nice and left him to choose the actual tiles. I did tell him that I might be letting the flat out rather than moving in, but he just laughed and said I wouldn’t be able to resist it by the time he’d finished. In terms of the general décor, I’ve asked him to go for fairly neutral colours. I read online that neutral colours are best when it comes to attracting tenants. I’m looking forward to seeing it later, when it’s finished.

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