I've met several members of David's family in the course of working at his shop, his parents and his sister, Lynda, the latter of whom works in the shop some of the time. She seemed impressed by my houseworking skills, however since I was brought up to do my own housework it's hardly surprising.
Working for David has been a sometimes exasperating experience, the amount of cleaning up I've had to do over the past few weeks has been a little aggravating. It seems that David's shop is a magnet for people who make a mess, I've cleaned takeaway remnants from the front, someones kitchen waste where they had left it by the telephone exchange box in nothing but a black plastic sack, where the local wildlife had torn it open. Most aggravating was someone who has repeated left birdseed, lots of the blessed stuff outside the back door, undoubtedly attracting both rats and feathered rats. The first time the bin was half full of the stuff, the next two times the birdseed was actually collected for Trevor's mother's chickens. Trevor who works in the workshop part of the shop told me that the last person to do something like this died recently, so I'm keeping an eye out for the culprit. I left a couple of polite notes out the back asking the mess makers to reconsider.
The actual work has been going quite well, part from a "flower pot" clock that has kept stopping for no apparent reason, but that's par for the course when working with French-style clocks. David seems to appreciate my computer skills, especially with his new internet connection. I help out Norman, the chap who mostly deals with customers when I can, especially when disposing of the packing material that comes with new stock.
Last week David asked me to move the replacement watch straps into their new stand, and he seemed surprised at the speed at which I was able to handle the changeover, especially as I was reorganising them as I went. Mum seemed to really appreciate the hyacinths I bought for her birthday present, which reminds me that "Birthday Season" is approaching rapidly.
