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I was already in the workshop when Ivan and Grant arrived next day. They’d brought Louis with them.
Molly, who’d gone on up to the house to stash the latest fruits of her labours in the big freezer, tooted her horn as she passed on the way down again.
‘This is a bit of all right,’ Ivan said, wandering round the big workroom. ‘Needs some putting to rights, but seeing it’s been used for the purpose in the past, it couldn’t be better.’
‘It looks just like a slightly smaller version of Julian’s place inside,’ Grant said, putting a paper carrier bag down on one of the long glazing tables.
‘It’s probably about the same age, and brick-built construction, but they must have stuccoed the front to match the house later. Is that my mail in the bag?’
He upended it and a small pile of envelopes slid out.
‘That’s it, though most of it’s catalogues and other sales stuff.’
‘Well, those might come in handy, because I’m still compiling a list of what I need to buy for the workshop. But I was hoping there might be some replies about those two designs I sent in for competitions last year. I don’t suppose I’ve won either of them, but I’m really keen on the Brisbane one because I worked so hard on the Big Wave idea.’
‘It’s a good design, so it’ll come in handy for something else, even if you don’t win it,’ Grant said. ‘Can you remember the closing dates?’
‘No, but I think they were sometime around now. As soon as we get broadband I’ll check, because we’re on dial-up at the moment and the minute I get anywhere, it disconnects.’
I’d used the address of Julian’s studio and the website email for anything work-related, so I couldn’t now access the latter. But if there was any news, I expect they’d write to me, too.
‘Oh, well, never mind. My main concern at the moment is to get the business up and running. I’m dying to get back to work. I’ve given my new contact details to the Crafts Council, the British Society of Master Glass Painters and a couple of other places, so hopefully I’ll get some commission enquiries before long.’
‘Sure to, lass,’ Ivan assured me.
‘You’ve got that old window to mend for Carey first, haven’t you?’ Grant asked.
‘Yes, and I’m still a bit worried about it because it really should be a job for an expert. I’m going to ask that friend of Julian’s who works in glass restoration in York for advice, but it’ll probably be “don’t touch it!”’
‘Julian mended one or two really old windows when he was first starting out,’ revealed Grant, which I hadn’t known.
‘But there wasn’t so much fuss about it then,’ Ivan put in, coming back from an exploratory circuit of the room. Louis had vanished, presumably to inspect the back premises.
‘If I set myself up repairing glass, I’ll concentrate on the more modern stuff,’ Grant said.
‘Are you still thinking about it?’
‘Unless I get a good offer from a firm within driving distance, because we don’t want to move house. I’ll stay put for the moment, though I’m not doing the job of three people, like Nat seemed to expect when he got rid of the rest of you.’
‘I don’t blame you, but I’m glad Julian’s window went off all right,’ I said. ‘I’ll go and see it when it’s installed. I suppose Nat will continue making windows in his style, but they won’t be the same.’
‘That seems to be the idea, and he’s got all Julian’s designs, cartoons and drawings to mine for ideas.’
I sighed. ‘Oh, well, it often happens. How’s Willow coming along? Has she got a flair for stained-glass design?’
‘I haven’t seen much of her. Nat said she’d had deadlines for those comic book things.’
‘Manga,’ Louis reminded us, coming back. ‘She’s done a graphic novel, too. This place is cool,’ he added. ‘There are loads more rooms – you wouldn’t think it to look at the front.’
‘I know. It’s because it does a left turn and backs on to the courtyard buildings behind. Come on,’ I said to the other two, ‘I’ll give you a guided tour before Carey turns up. He’s supposed to be getting his ladders out of one of the stables, though he might have got distracted by something else and forgotten. We’ll chase him up if he doesn’t come back.’
I turned to survey the room and said, ‘This room’s the biggest and they’ve obviously used it for drawing up cartoons and cutlines as well as leading-up – you can tell from the tables now I’ve brushed the dust off. The nearest one is smooth and well away from the other two.’
‘Plenty of room in here to do both,’ Ivan agreed. ‘That loft over the far end will be handy for storage and there are workbenches and a sink, too.’
‘And they’ve left the shelving for sheet glass and some lead calme storage troughs,’ Grant observed.
‘There’s more storage for lead calme underneath the big central table,’ I told him. ‘The leaded light maker who rented it in the thirties seems to have left a lot of his stuff.’
‘There’s an old lead mill in one of the back rooms, and a melting pot and ladle, too,’ Louis put in. His idea of a high treat had always been to help melt lead and cast it into blocks, ready to mill into new calmes.
‘You’ve got lots of storage drawers and big cupboards, but there’s been a mouse problem at some point and they’ve chewed up any paper they can find into confetti,’ Ivan said, opening doors in the far wall one after the other.
‘Shame, there might have been something interesting, like old cartoons or cutlines,’ Grant said.
‘Better put traps down just in case they try and move back in,’ Ivan suggested, and I shuddered at the thought.
‘I wonder if those electronic repellers work?’
‘I’ll google them,’ offered Louis. ‘See what the reviews are like.’
‘You’re worth your weight in lead calme,’ I told him, and he grinned.
‘It doesn’t need much doing in here, barring a good clean and painting,’ Grant said.
‘I’m going to have the walls white, to keep things light, but I want floor-to-ceiling corkboard on that stretch there, to the right of the door, so I can hang big cartoons up if I want to.’
‘Good idea, and you could do with some more adjustable easels over the windows to try the coloured glass against,’ suggested Ivan.
I led the way into the next room. ‘This is the office/studio/staff room – though I’ve got a big studio space up at the house, too, so I’ll probably do a lot of designing there.’ I opened the door to the chilly toilet. ‘All mod cons … almost. I need a plumber to put a little sink in and some heating everywhere. I mean, I don’t want to be toasty when I’m working, just not frozen.’
‘Those new electric storage heaters are good,’ suggested Ivan.
‘It’s a thought. And I’ll have a gas cylinder for my soldering iron, because I prefer that to an electric one. I’ll have to buy an electric kiln, though, because there’s no mains gas here.’
‘They’re more temperamental,’ Grant said.
‘Maybe, but there’s no alternative. I want you to help me choose one later – open or closed, I can’t decide.’
I explained where I thought I’d do the cementing and cleaning of the panels, with an overhead air filtration system, and use the smaller room off it for acid etching. ‘There’s a door in the room that backs on to the courtyard buildings, but it just leads out to a patch of gravel between that and the workshop. I’ll put a bench there in spring, so I can take my coffee out when I need a break.’
‘You’ve got it all worked out,’ said Ivan.
‘Not quite! I’ve still got a ton of equipment and supplies to get in, and an electrician’s coming on Monday before he starts rewiring the house. That’s going to be a major expense for Carey, but it has to be done and even he can’t persuade someone to carry out a job that size for free … though maybe he’ll get a discount if the electrician gets a plug in the new TV series!’<
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‘Grant told us about the new series – sick!’ Louis said, though this seemed to be a term of approbation. ‘I didn’t know who Carey Revell was when I met him the day he came to Julian’s workshop, but I’ve looked him up. He knows how to do stuff like fell trees and carve stone.’
‘Yes, he does tend to go around soaking up practical skills like a human sponge.’
‘He hasn’t updated his website for months,’ Louis said, ‘but I saw online he’d had a bad bike smash.’
‘That was a few months ago, but his right leg was really badly broken and he was in hospital and rehab for a long time. Then they dropped him from his Complete Country Cottage TV series and hired an actor to present it instead.’
‘Molly and I watched it,’ Grant said, ‘but it’s just turned into another of those shows where they do up houses with cheap tacky stuff that will look even shoddier inside a week.’
‘Yeah, the ratings for the first show were crap,’ agreed Louis, who seemed to have developed a sudden interest in Carey to near-stalking point.
He and Grant went out of the side door to see if there was any sign of Carey and, once we were alone, Ivan said he was glad to see Louis taking an interest in something again, because he’d been so down after Julian’s death.
‘You know he’d been counting on Julian taking him as his apprentice when he left college this summer.’
‘Yes, but didn’t Julian persuade him to apply to art college first? It’s a good idea to learn about designing and new techniques.’
‘He applied, but he was really keen to get down to work. It’s all he’s wanted to do since I first took him to see the workshop years ago, when he was a little lad. He’s been really depressed since Nat told him he wasn’t wanted and my daughter’s really worried about him.’
He shook his head, but then brightened. ‘Still, Julian would be that proud of you, setting yourself up on your own like this, and who knows what will come of it?’
I blinked away a sudden tear. ‘I think he would be pleased, don’t you? And it’s thanks to Carey I’ve got this chance.’
‘Did I hear my name?’
Carey stuck his head in, his hair adorned by a large cobweb, which I brushed off for him. I was glad it didn’t still have an occupant.
‘I was just telling Ivan what a slave driver you were, making me trudge all over the house, taking notes and holding your camera and tape measure.’
‘I’ve got another slave at the moment: Louis is coming round to the stables with me to help carry the ladders.’
‘Great, then we can finally get going!’
‘So, what do you want us to start with?’ asked Grant, who had followed Carey in.
‘A big clean down, ready to begin painting the walls, doors and window frames,’ I said. ‘But first, there’s a box of cups and two big Thermoses of coffee in the studio. Let’s start with that.’
After the coffee, Carey and Louis went for the ladders and were gone for so long that I assumed they’d got distracted by something, but we began the great clean up without them. When finally they did return, though, they started cleaning out the gutters and washing down the outside paintwork, a cold and messy job.
Louis came back in when that was done and told me Carey had gone up to the house. ‘And he said I could come to Mossby any time I wanted, to help out with the restoration.’
‘How generous of him,’ I said, but the sarcasm went over his head. I suspected there was a touch of hero worship developing, though Carey wouldn’t notice: he assumes everyone he talks to shares both his enthusiasms and his knowledge.
‘Carey says …’ Louis started again, and this was clearly going to be his new catchphrase.
‘Carey says going to art college is really useful, because you can try your hand at all kinds of other things, not just your main subject,’ he said now, casually. ‘If I can get on a course, then he thought you might let me come and do work experience with you in the holidays.’
‘Of course I would, Louis, and I’ll help you with your college application too, if you like? You’ve had lots of relevant experience; they should jump at offering you a place.’
‘That would be great, thanks, Angel.’
‘And I’ll be here as often as I can make it, helping you get the workshop ready – and after it’s open,’ Ivan said. ‘If you’ll have me, that is? I don’t care if you can’t pay me till the business gets going, because I’m bored to death doing nothing – just like Louis is bored to death being a teenager.’
‘Oh, Granddad!’ Louis sighed long-sufferingly.
‘You know I’d love your help, Ivan. I’d have already asked you, except I didn’t want to take advantage when I couldn’t pay you. How about I give you petrol money, till the business starts to earn out?’
‘And a bottle of Old Spoggit Brown every day, to go with my sarnies?’ he suggested cunningly.
‘Done – it’s a bargain!’
‘And you know you said you needed a plumber? Well, I think I can help you with that one,’ Ivan said, and tapped the side of his beaky nose mysteriously. ‘I’ll make a call.’
It’s amazing what you can accomplish with help – and it makes everything a lot more fun – so we’d already made quite a difference by the time we finally adjourned to the house.
It was later than we’d thought, so Carey suggested he show Louis and the others the windows I’d been telling them about another day. Louis seemed more interested in the cellars and the haunted wing, anyway.
I spread out my brochures and the list of workshop equipment and materials on the kitchen table, among the coffee cups and a big plate of amazingly delicious custard-filled chocolate choux buns that Molly had left, with a note taped to the box saying, ‘Eat Me’.
‘I know what I want with the air filtration system,’ I said to Grant. ‘A smaller version of the one Julian had. It’s the kiln I’m not sure about. There seems to be a huge choice these days …’
We pored over the catalogues while Ivan, his lips moving, read through the long list.
From time to time he’d exclaim, ‘Wire brushes!’ or something else I’d forgotten, and then scribble in the margins.
When we’d decided on the best model of kiln for my purposes, I told Carey that Ivan knew a plumber.
‘That’s right. Officially retired, like me, but still working because he’d be bored sick doing nothing all day and though you can exist on a pension, it’s not a lot of fun,’ he said. ‘He’s a good plumber.’
‘Ivan rang him from the workshop and he’s coming tomorrow to see about putting a small sink and electric water heater in the cloakroom,’ I said. ‘And he’ll check out the rest of it, to see what else wants doing. He’s going to cut me a good deal – or rather cut you a good deal, since the plumbing must be your department.’
‘In cash,’ Ivan nodded.
‘How retired is he?’ asked Carey, a familiarly keen expression in his eyes. ‘I mean, could he do a bit of updating in the house and fit me a shower in one of the rooms, perhaps?’
‘He could do that, all right,’ Ivan agreed. ‘You’d need an electrician as well to sort the shower wiring and fuses, mind.’
‘That’s OK, I’ve got one of those, recommended by the people at the pub down the road.’
‘You’d better have a word with him when he comes tomorrow, then,’ Ivan said. ‘Me and Louis will be back, too, but Grant’s got plans.’
‘Yes, though I’ll come up and give a hand whenever I can, Angel, and you can always ring me if you want to discuss anything,’ he said.
‘I’m just grateful you all came over today,’ I told them. ‘It’s made all the difference.’
Next morning Carey came down to meet Ivan’s plumber friend, Garry, who told him he’d sort out what I wanted at the workshop, no problem, and would come up another day to see what was needed at the house.
After that, Carey took himself off to the big attic, because the dealer friend who liked high Victorian furniture was coming over la
ter with a large van.
Louis spent hours outside the workshop removing the old paint from the window frames with a small flame gun, which he seemed to regard as extremely enjoyable, while Ivan and I started painting the big room. Or rather, I went up the tallest ladders to paint the tops of the walls, while Ivan held the bottom and droned gently on about football, in which I had no interest whatsoever. I just said ‘um’ occasionally and let it flow on uninterrupted. It was very pleasant and peaceful.
When I looked out later to see if Louis wanted a drink, he was down at the corner of the building, talking to Vicky, of all people – in fact, they seemed to be getting on like a house on fire and, going by their stance, were inputting each other’s numbers into their phones.
Then she gave him a flirty look and tottered off down the drive, while he gazed after her with a slightly dazzled expression. I suppose she was terribly sexy really, and Louis was of an age to be flattered by the attentions of an attractive older woman …
He was a nice boy, but I wasn’t sure what she was going to get out of it. Perhaps she was just being nosy and pumping him for information about what we were doing, and the flirtiness was incidental.
We saw a vast van drive past in the late morning and when I took Louis and Ivan up to the house for a belated lunch and to show them the Jessie Kaye and Lady Anne windows, three burly men were loading monumental bits of mahogany into it. They’d had to park on the drive at the side of the servants’ wing, since the van wouldn’t fit into the courtyard without demolishing the fishy fountain and the lollipop topiary.
Carey looked pleased as the van filled up. I wondered how there could have been so much weight up there without the ceiling coming down.
When they’d driven off, we all went up to the attics to see what was left and I appropriated a couple of battered but comfortable chairs for the workshop and a pretty desk in a light maple colour for the studio-office downstairs. I’d carry on using Carey’s battered old kitchen table for working on, though.
The House of Hopes and Dreams Page 24
