Hello,
Christmas is coming and I am waiting outside the Totnes supermarket.
Despite my disguise of looking old, grumpy and wearing a hat, festive folk surprisingly want to talk to me…
“How’s LandWorks going?”, said a man with a beard.
Very busy I reply, hoping to look suitably exhausted.
He peered at me and said, “Well good, you should be busy!”
I stood there thinking he had a point, and I should be more constructive in my replies, when I heard, “You guys have won a top award this year, well done. Has it changed anything?”
“Why yes, thank you, it has… The judges gave us a clear instruction to tell people that LandWorks could be replicated.”
Oh, he’s gone.
Then, someone else turned up.
“Chris, how are all these early release prisoners affecting you?”
I wasn’t going to talk about being busy again, so said, “Well the real problem is the system is broken and despite the recent 1,800 early releases, at one stage there were up to 100 daily recalls to prison.”
That answer seemed to satisfy her, and she tottered off muttering about not wanting Wham to be the Christmas number one.
“Hello you.” Tom was smiling up at me (I’d always suspected he didn’t really remember me). “I saw one of your guys here the other night.”
“Ah that was Pete”, I said. “He’s been homeless and slept outside the store. He’s got accommodation now.”
“Oh, what had he done?”
“Well Pete, well he, err well he…” (best tell it how it is), “trying in desperation to get help for his mental health he’d threatened to set himself alight, no service responded, so he did. He was arrested and charged with arson and got 7 years.”
He stared at me in disbelief, cleared his throat, patted me on the arm, and said “Keep up the good work, Charles.”
I was starting to hope that Julie would appear soon and whisk me away.
“CHRIS, CHRIS” … Somebody was shouting, quite loudly, from the carpark!
I waved, awkwardly.
“CHRIS, I WANT TO GIVE THE LANDWORKS BOOK AS CHRITMAS PRESENTS, HAVE YOU GOT ANY LEFT?”
“Yes, we have as it happens, available in the shop or to order online at Acceptance”
“BEST PRESENT EVER”, she yelled striding past.
Then Julie appeared, accompanied by someone who wanted to help LandWorks.
“What do you need at the moment, something practical?”, she asked.
“A sewing machine” I replied.
And before we got into any jokes about mailbags, I explained that as part of our artistic endeavours we were developing sewing skills.
So, if you would like a book(s) or have a spare sewing machine, please do get in touch or even catch me down the supermarket next week.
Thanks
Chris
5th December 2024