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David Burt -Short Surprises

Aug 07, 2018

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    About the Author

    David Burt was evacuated from London to Yorkshire at the

    outbreak of the 2nd WW and his education sufferedaccordingly. He started work on a building site at fifteen and ahalf and had a variety of ob roles before becoming the !"#of a $% manufacturing com&any making com&onents for Aeros&ace' and electrical connectors for (ormula ) *ace cars.During his career he was !ounty !hairman for the !B+ and onthe Advisory !ouncil for the BB!' before becoming the!hairman of the *egulatory !ouncil for $% #&tical services'

    he remains !hairman of the !onsumer !om&laints ,ervice.He is a lifelong scul&tor and has e-hibited at the *A ,ummer "-hibition' he also rallies !lassic !ars.

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    o my )/ 0randchildren

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    avid Burt

    S H O RT S U RPRISES

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    !o&yright © David Burt 12/) 3

    he right of David Burt to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 44 and 45of the !o&yright' Designs and 6atents Act )755.

    All rights reserved. 8o &art of this &ublication may bere&roduced' stored in a retrieval system' or transmitted in anyform or by any means' electronic' mechanical' &hotoco&ying'recording' or otherwise' without the &rior &ermission of the

    &ublishers.

    Any &erson who commits any unauthori9ed act in relation tothis &ublication may be liable to criminal &rosecution and civilclaims for damages.

    A !+6 catalogue record for this title is available from theBritish Library.

    +,B8 745)45 :52/5 16a&erback3+,B8 745)45 :52) 1Hardback3

    www.austinmacauley.com

    (irst 6ublished 12/) 3

    Austin ;acauley 6ublishers Ltd.2 !anada ,

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    Acknowledgments

    o my daughter ,ally>Anne for getting me started and my 6A'?anet Hodge' for su&&ort with ty&ing this manuscri&t.

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    Contents

    A B#YH##D 6*#?"! )

    A !A*""* ;#@" )2!#;;$8+!A +80 W+ H H" "8";Y 27

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    WHA C, + ALL AB#$ )42

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    A BOYHOO PROJECT

    Harold looked out of his bedroom window as he &ut on hisdressing gown' looking from his vantage &oint u& !lovellyAvenue' &leased as he always was that his house at the endof the row was the only one with a garage tacked on to theside. he garage that he and ;uriel had always felt madethem a cut above the other householders in the neat littlerow of houses.

    Harold continued to stare u& the Avenue with thereturned sense of loss that ;uriel was no longer with him.His senses were suddenly flooded with memories fromtheir last &eaceful days together in the hos&ice' where thestaff had been so marvellous in making ;urielCs &assing so

    &eaceful and calm.Harold s

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    stage of his life Harold reminded himself' without ;uriel'would inevitably be rather lonely.

    All these thoughts crowded in on him as he

    reconsidered the dramatic change he had committedhimself to face a cou&le of hours from now.o steady his nerves Harold took out a writing &ad

    from the to& drawer of the china cu&board' moving asidethe memo board that ;uriel had always used tomethodically list her items to be &urchased before they bothvisited the su&ermarket each week' and he then wrote thewords Birthday ListC on the to& of the &age.

    Harold smiled sadly to himself' knowing there wouldnot be a birthday day outC as there had always been with;uriel. His thoughts went back to the grand day they hadvisiting the !lassic !ar ,how on his birthday of last year and' sighing' he concentrated on the list and wrote ,ell theHondaC. He did not feel he was letting ;uriel down as sheliked the neat little silver car that was easy to &ark but hewas sure she would be su&&orting his idea.

    Harold reconsidered his Birthday ListC that had beentriggered by the une-&ected &hone call yesterday from the;aintenance ;anager at the garage where he had worked.!oming out of the blue' Harold ran through the call in hismind.

    Hi' Harold' look ust a call which ;r (arnworththought you might be interested in. You know that &ro ectyou were always going to take on one dayC Well' theo&&ortunity has turned u& today. !ould you come down tothe works E

    Harold went back to concentrating on his list' thoughtfor a minute' and then wrote he miles + need to drive eachyearC. He struggled a bit as he listed the bank' su&ermarket'

    library' and garden centre and after some further thoughtdays outC I say :'/// miles. He then noted ;oneyC andsucked his &encil as he thought about the amount of moneyhe might need to find but stiffened his resolve by reminding

    2

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    himself he had his 6ost #ffice savings account and theholiday money fund. After all'E he thought' +Cm not likelyto go off to Bournemouth for two weeks as ;uriel and +had &lanned in the summer.E

    Harold finished his breakfast and fed the budgerigar'clicking his tongue to encourage the birdCs chir&ing as hedid so' reminding himself he would need to change thesand&a&er liner in the cage the very ne-t morning. hen'telling the budgerigar' +f + donCt do the &ro ect now + never willE' Harold felt sure the birdCs ha&&y chir&ing indicatedher full su&&ort for his &ro ect.

    hus decided' Harold went u&stairs and changed into aclean blue shirt and &ut on his old *A( tie' the tie healways wore on formal occasions. !arefully sliding hisslacks off their hanger' &utting them on and then makingsure his dark blue silk handkerchief was in his bla9er to&

    &ocket' he carefully studied his a&&earance in the longmirror ust outside the bathroom' thinking ;uriel would

    &robably have found something to criticise' &ossibly thestandard of &olish on his shoes or the crease in his slacks.

    8one the less Harold felt satisfied with his a&&earanceand let himself out of his front door and nodded to hisin

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    communications was to nod her head forward' e-&osing her grey bun.

    ;aking his way towards his garage door for his ten

    oCclock a&&ointment this morning' Harold was sufficientlymotivated by events to give ;rs Hilda Barnthor&e aswee&ing hand salute of some forty>five degrees and hewas encouraged to note she gave him something of asur&rised nod of the head. As he o&ened the garage door herealised he was not entirely sure how he had discerned

    sur&riseC but he felt sure he had.Driving the Honda along the road towards his old

    work&lace was' Harold decided' a slightly surreale-&erience. He had s&ent so many years getting to thegarage worksho& for eight every morning that he knewevery corner' curve and traffic island and all the &oints of hold u&' but somehow driving now for his ten oCclock a&&ointment the ourney seemed entirely different.

    Harold recalled the events of his leaving as he drovetowards his a&&ointment. +t was only' he thought' aboutfifteen months ago he had finally retiredC as heremembered ;r (arnworth saying' 8ot because thecom&any had the slightest concern over HaroldCsengineering skills or e-&ertise' and they would miss hise-&erience' but Head #ffice are worried because of his ageand Health and ,afety matters.E

    ;r (arnworth had not elaborated what the Health and,afety mattersC might be but his tone had suggested thematter had been taken out of his hands and been decreed bya higher beingJ

    Driving &ast the 6ost #ffice' Harold recalled he had feltas if life as he knew it had been suddenly and une-&ectedlyterminated' and des&ite the *etirement DinnerC and much

    good willingC from his colleagues' thought Harold as hedrove along the High ,treet' the en oyment of his days inthe motor and mechanical world abru&tly finished' and withit much of the e-citement in his life.

    :

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    Harold turned into the forecourt of the &remises of L;" ;otor ,ervices' noting as he did so that the directionsigns indicating the way to the ,ervice *ece&tion' ,ales#ffice' etc. had not been washed clean by the a&&rentice.#therwise' Harold thought as he &arked the Honda in frontof the showroom window' the &lace looked clean and theshow area was filled with highly &olished' modern motor cars.

    0ladys' the rece&tionist' came round the desk to giveHarold a hug. How lovely to see you'E she cooed. Ho&eyou are going to be ha&&y with your &ro ect.E ,he said thiscons&iratorially' edging close to Harold. + can tell you"@"*Y#8"' even ;r (arnworth' ho&es you will agree so+ ho&e they can sort out a deal. ;r Black' you know' young0iles is going to see you. He has ust been made u& to ,ales;anager. + canCt believe it' it wasnCt ten minutes ago hewas bringing the tea round.E ,he laughed at the thought.

    Almost e-actly on

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    conversation. he )7 : ;organ two>seater 6lus : with a!oventry !lima- four cylinder engine &orts had been takenin to sell as a favour by a relation of the owner of L;";otor ,ervices' as the 7/ year old owner of the ;organ'who had owned the 6lus : for forty years' was no longer able to drive but was most an-ious that the s&orts car wentto someone who would know how to look after it.

    L;" ;otors did not handle classic cars or s&orts cars but when the ;anaging Director had discussed his familycommitment with ;r (arnworth' he recalled he had oftendiscussed with Harold the boyhood dream Harold had of owning a ;organ' ust as his father had. ;r (arnworth had

    been able to assure the ;anaging Director that nobodycould be better suited to look after the old ;organ thanHarold' &roviding an e-change deal could be struck' andthe ;anaging Director' much relieved' had said' ?ust do itat the best &rice you can.E

    he two>seater ;organ' with hood down' stood rather

    inde&endently in the centre of the otherwise em&ty service bay.

    0iles turned on the fluorescent lights and suddenly thedark blue marvel of the old two>seater stood out with its

    black cast wheels' its large chrome se&arate headlights witha central s&otlight between reflecting and s&arkling in thefluorescent lights. Harold noted the fold flat windscreen'

    the two chrome &etrol filter ca&s behind the seats and henodded as he walked around the ;organ. Looking at thetwo hill climb s&are tyres he felt the beautifully &atinated

    blue leather seat backs' and ran his hand over the faded &olish of the wooden dashboard' noting with &leasure the,mithCs instruments for engine revolutions and car s&eed'the oil' &etrol gauges' all in harmony' Harold thought' withthe magnificent )7 /Cs design of a true' blueblood' British

    s&orts car.HaroldCs reverie was abru&tly brought back to the

    service bay by 0ilesC cough. ,orry to have to mention it'Harold'E said 0iles' but the best + can do is to take the

    F

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    Honda in for K ' // and ;r (arnworth says + have to ask you how much you can afford for the ;organ.E Hecoughed again an-iously. his is a s&ecial &ro ect. + meancould you make a contribution of' say' K '/// &lus theHonda E

    0iles started a carefully rehearsed s&eech about a hire &urchase arrangement before Harold cut him short with' +will give you a che

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    Harold took no concern at the boysC comments' far tooagreeably immersed in his fortune at being able to realise alifetimeCs dream' and one he reminded himself for theum&teenth time' for a cost that he would have doubled'

    &erha&s tri&led' even though this would have taken everys&are &ound he had. His thoughts were disturbed by the

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    Harold &ut his &arcels down and went across to thegate. hat really is nice of you' ;rs Blake. + would bedelighted to come to tea on ,aturday. Why this has reallycheered me u&. +Cm so glad you got along with ;uriel as+Cm sure your friendshi& will have hel&ed her enormously.E

    ,aturdayCs tea &arty was a great success with a lovelyhome baked fruit cake and a single candle' that Harold hadto blow out twice so that (red could catch the image

    &ro&erly on his mobile &hone.?oan also &rovided a sur&rise by &roducing a leaflet

    from the hos&ice which was both information about anu&coming !lassic !ar #ne Day *ally to hel& raise funds'and an entry form. Both she and Bill wondered if Haroldwould take the ;organ with (red as navigator to hel& raisethe money that the hos&ice needed to kee& their door o&en

    (red had clearly been told by his &arents not to ask Harold to take him on the rally but his su&&ressede-citement as he sat round the tea table was

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    highlighted by HaroldCs servicing of the ;organCs engineand clutch when (redCs hel& and interest was invaluable.

    ,everal one day rallies for other charities in the area

    followed and on one famous event only three months to theday after ;uriel had &assed on' the 6lus : ;organ withHarold driving and (red navigating' were successful inwinning the rallyCs 6erformance AwardC cu& for the mostsuccess &oints won over the dayCs event.

    he Blakes were' understandably' &roud of their sonand most gracious about HaroldCs driving' so much so thatthe &ub landlord &rovided a round of drinks for everyone inthe &lace by way of congratulations. (red went home withthe cu& as his &roud &ossession and Harold walked back home' ama9ed to find ;rs Hilda Barnthor&e out of doorsCwatering the tub of &ansies by her front door.

    0ood evening' ;rs Barnthor&e. Lovely' itCs still lightat )/ oCclock.E Harold said risking direct communication.

    0ood evening' ;r 6ilgrim' yes and well done todaywith that nice little car of yours and ;rs BlakeCs boy.E Andwith that ;rs Barnthor&e retreated through her front door'with what might have been a smile' although Harold couldnot be light.

    Harold let himself into his own front door and wentstraight to the front room and o&ened the &olished woodendesk' letting down the writing fla&. here we are' ;uriel'Ehe said' getting out the long brown envelo&e with the

    &rinted label Last Will and estament' Harold 6ilgrim'"s

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    together with all my tools and e