I WANT NEVER GETS

I WANT NEVER GETS

1. William can we get the dining room suite on Saturday?


2. What dining room suite?


3. You know the one I showed you in Cole’s window; a Welsh dresser and a refectory table and the chairs were covered in a lovely Jacobean print.  Oh and one of them was a carver.  Remember?


4. Oh yes!  Well we certainly can’t get it now.


5. Why not?

W. Because we’re going back to Manchester – we haven’t got anywhere to live and the chances are we’ll have to settle for another furnished flat – and then what will we do with all that  furniture.  You have to think these things through.
P.  But William I have thought it through.  For a start I am not going to settle for a furnished flat and the store have said once we’ve bought it they’ll keep it for us until we’re ready for it.
W.  We can do all these things in good time.  You may find something you like better when we get to Manchester.  There’s no rush.
P.  You don’t understand.  I know I won’t see anything I like better.  This is exactly what I want.  You aren’t interested in décor but it’s really important to me.  I don’t mind leaving the practical things to you – you’re so much better at it but please let me get on with the home-making.  We’ve got the money.  Honestly William I really don’t want to lose it.
W.  Well I can’t talk about it now – I’ll be late for work.

Frustration!  Our time in Sheffield was coming to an end and I had to face up to an uncertain future and uncertainty was a state I found most difficult to cope with.  I needed to count our blessings.  William was near the end of his apprenticeship, had a secure job and excellent prospects.  We both had reasonable health and I should be able to get a job in the Manchester area but we had nowhere to live.  And some of the areas round Manchester were really dismal and depressing.

That night William came bounding up the stairs with a big grin on his face.
‘We can’t get that dining room suite this week-end…’
‘Well don’t think I’m giving up on it because…’
‘Just listen for a minute!’

William had had a phone call at work from a Mr Cooper he had worked for at the Manchester branch.  It seemed his mother-in-law had a hat shop in Altrincham and over it was a two-bed-roomed flat.  This had been occupied by his daughter and her husband but now they had bought a house and the flat was empty.  The thing was that to get to the flat you had to go through the shop so it was vital that the old lady (she was 90) had someone she felt she could trust.  Mr Cooper had obviously put in a good word for William but he didn’t know me and Mrs Barber (his M in L) wanted to meet both of us.

I knew Altrincham – it was a pleasant leafy town with good shops and the flat. which was on one of the shopping streets was unfurnished.  We just had to make a good impression.  The week-end couldn’t come quickly enough and then we put on our best bibs and tuckers and set of to be interviewed.