PART ONE

1.- THE LIBRARY IN MIDDLEFORD

What’s (What is) this? It’s (It is) a library. We’re (We are) in a library in Middleford.Mr Steele, are you there? Yes I’m (I am) here. I am the chief librarian.Are you Arthur? Yes, I am. I’m (I am) Arthur NewtonWho’s (Who is) she? Is she Mary? Yes, she is. She’s (She is) Mary Stephens

2.- IN THE KITCHEN

We aren't (are not) in the library now.We're with Arthur. He's at home with Mrs Harrison.They're at 21 (twenty-one) Gladstone Avenue, Middleford. It's a large house at the corner of the street.Gladstone Avenue's near the shops but it isn't (is not) near the library .Where's Mrs Harrison? She's in the kitchen. Tlie window's open and the door's closed.

What's Mrs Harrison like? Well, she isn't (is not) a young woman and she isn't (is not) thin. She's quiteold, and rather fat.

There's a long table in the kitchen, with two chairs, and there's a cupboard on the wall.

There's a cat under the table. What colour is it? It's black and white. It isn't (is not) beautiful. It's an uglycat, with a short tail. Is there a fish on the table? No, there isn't (is not). Is there a fish under the tablewith the cat? Yes, there is. The cat's happy.

There are two cups and two saucers on the table. There's a milkjug and a teapot near the cups. There'sa plate on the table and there are four biscuits on the plate.

Where's Arthur? Is he in the kitchen? No, he isn't (is not). He's in the bathroom.

3.- ARTHUR IN A RESTAURANT

Well there's no fish for Arthur at home tonight. Mrs Harrison hasnt any food. Arthur isn't very happy-in fact he is miserable. He is also very hungry.

Near the library there is a new restaurant. Arthur is now at a table in this restaurant. There is a red tablecloth on the table and there are some knives, forks and spoons and some salt and pepper on the table. There are two empty glasses on the table.

Arthur now has the menu. There are some very good things on the menu. The steak is very good but It Is also expensive. Arthur has only £2 (two pounds) and 10p (ten pence). Hé hasn't any £10 (ten pound) notes or £5 (five pound) notes.

Who are the people in the dark corner over there? They are Mary Stephens from the library and Bruce Fanshawe. Mary is a pretty girl and Bruce is good-looking. He has a moustache and he has a gold watch. Yes, Bruce has some money tonighf. Bruce and Mary have some white wine on the table. ArtHur hasn't a gold watch. He has only a cheap watch. Arthur hasn't any wine because he hasn't any money.

4.- THE WRONG HOUSE

Well, not a very good evening for Arthur. Now he is at the bus-stop on a cold evening. He is tired, cold and miserable. His hands are cold, his feet are cold and he has a red nose.

Where are Bruce and Mary? Perhaps they are still at the restaurant with a nice hot cup of coffee and some brandy. Their hands and feet are not cold. But, of course, Bruce has some money. His wallet is not empty like Arthur's. He has one or two f5 notes in his pocket.

Perhaps they are in Bruce's car or perhaps ...

But here is Arthur's bus. That's good.

Now Arthur is in the bus, but his hands and feet are still cold. There are only two or three people in the bus with Arthur. There is an old lady with a handbag and a small dog on her knee and there are two men with pipes in their mouths. There are no other people in the bus, only the conductor and the driver, of course.

Now Arthur is at the front.door of his house. Where is his key? Is it in his coat pocket? No, it isn't. Is it in his trousers pocket? No, it isn't there either. This is bad. There are no lights in the house. Mrs Harrison is probably asleep. She is also deaf.

5.- ARTHUR’S DREAM

It's Sunday afternoon. It's raining. Arthur's sitting in an armchair in Mrs Harrison's sitting-room. He's thinking. He isn't happy; he's miserable. The television's on but Arthur isn't watching it. What is he thinking about? He's thinking about Mary. What's she doing this afternoon? She isn't sitting at home and she isn't watching television.

She's sitting next to Bruce in his car. They're driving into the country. Arthur isn't driving with Mary. He hasn't got a car and he hasn't got any money.

Now Mrs Harrison's walking into the sitting-room. What's she carrying? She's carrying a tray. What's on the tray? There are two cups of coffee-one for Arthur and one for Mrs Harrison.

Now the coffee's on the arm of Arthur's chair, but he isn't drinking it. Arthur's sleeping. He's dreaming. What is he dreaming about? He's dreaming about Mary.

In his dream Arthur's got a car. Bruce isn't driving the car; Arthur is. Arthur's driving the car and Mary's sitting next to Arthur. She isn't sitting with Bruce. Arthur and Mary are going to the seaside together. It isn't raining now. The sun's shining and the birds are singing. It's a beautiful day and Arthur's happy.

Now Arthur and Mary are lying on the beach. Arthur's wearing a pair of swimming-trunks and Mary's wearing a bikini. Mary's eating an ice-cream, and Arthur's smoking a cigarette. Bruce isn't lying on the beach with Mary; Arthur is.

6.- DANGER! ARTHUR AT WORK

It is Friday morning. Arthur is in the library. Mary is also there with him. She is sitting at her desk and talking to a man. He is giving her a book, and she is stamping the date on it.

Where is Arthur? He is at the top of the ladder. He has some books on his hands. They are new books. He is putting them on the top shelves.

Is Mr Steele in the library? No, he is in his office. A woman is with him and he is talking to her.

Now Arthur is taking some books from a box. He is giving them to Mary. She is writing the titles of the books on a card.

Arthur is climbing the ladder again. This is hard work for him. He is tired.

Now he is sitting at the top of the ladder. The book in his hand is interesting, so he is reading it.

7.- ARTHUR IS LATE FOR WORK

Arthur's bedroom is between Mrs Harrison's bedroom and the bathroom. These three rooms are upstairs.

The kitchen, the sitting-room and the dining-room are downstairs. There are two lavatories, one upstairs and one downstairs .

It is half past eight on Monday morning and Mrs Harrison is downstairs. She is standing in front of the stove and she is making breakfast.

Arthur isn't downstairs; he is asleep in bed.It is now a quarter to nine and Mrs Harrison is going upstairs. Arthur is late and Mrs Harrison must wake him up. 'Can you hear me, Arthur? You must get up,' she is calling to him.

Arthur is lazy. He cannot get up in the morning. He has an alarm clock but he cannot hear it.

It is now nine o'clock. Arthur is getting out of bed. He is wearing his pyjamas. He is looking for his socks but hc cannot find them.'I must find them ,' he is thinking. 'Where are they? They aren't under the bed and they aren't on the chair.'

Where are Arthur's socks?

Now it's five past nine. Arthur is downstairs. He cannot drink his tea; it is too hot. He zannot have breakfast. He is very late. He must go to work immediately.

It is now a quarter past nine. Arthur is standing at the bus-stop. He is waiting for the bus. He cannot see the bus because he is reading the newspaper. Oh dear, the bus is·not stopping. There isn't another bus until half past nine. Arthur must walk. He must walk quickly; he must not walk slowly.

Now it is twenty to ten. Arthur is looking through the library window. Mary is there. He can see her through the window but he cannot see Mr Steele. That is good. Mr Steele must not see him at this time.

8.- STUCK ON THE STATIONIn fact Arthur has no twin brother but he has a father, a mother and a teenage sister, Jennifer. Arthur's father is a doctor in a village in Berkshire called Applefield. It's a small place with not many people and it's only a few miles from Reading. Arthur's parents have a small house between the church and the village pub.

Dr Newton Mrs Newton A rthur's father Arthur's mcther Mrs Newton's hushand Dr Newton 's wife

Arthur Jennifer Jennifer's brother Arthur's sister Dr Newton's son Dr Newton's daughter

It's Thursday morning in Middleford and Arthur's in the kitchen. He isn't late today-he's early. This morning he has time for breakfast. It's only half past seven and so he can have a lot of things for breakfast.

Now Mrs Harrison's bringing in the post. There aren't many letters this morning; there are only tw~-one for Mrs Harrison and one for Arthur. Arthur's letter is from his parents. There's a party at Arthur's parents' house on Saturday. It’s Jennifer's birthday and she’s seventeen; so Arthur rnust go home for the weekend.

Arthur is now taking his wallet out of his pocket. How much money is there in it? There isn't very much- in fact there’s very little. How much is the fare to Applefield? It's f2.20 return and £1.10 single. He must pay Mrs Harrison and he must pay about £3 for Jennifer's birthday present.

9.- JENNIFER’S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Poor Arthur! He has three cups of tea and he doesn't like tea a he doesn't like tea very much. Poor Sheila and Mary they like tea and the hven't got any.

Now Arthur is talking to the porter.

After a miserable journcy Arthur is now at home in Applefield. It is Saturday evening and Jennifer is welcorning her guects to her party. Like many young girls today, Jennifer and her friends often wear jeans and sweaters at parties. They don't always wear pretty dresses. There is a record on the record-player.Young people usually listen to records, dance and of course eat and drink at parties.

Arthur's parents, Dr and Mrs Newton, are not here this evening. They don't like young people's parties very much. They are having dinner with their friends, Mr and Mrs Lester. Mr Lester works for a largc engineering firm in London.

Now Sheila is coming in and, yes, Mary is with her. Jennifer knows Sheila because she often comes to Applefield. But Mary doesn't know any of the people here except Sheila and, of course, Arthur.

10.- A ROAD ACCIDENT

Dr Newton is in the dining-room at the Lesters'. Mrs Newton is with him. They are having coffee after an excellent meal.

Now the telephone is ringing and Mr Lester is getting up from the table. He's going to answer it.

Dr Newton is just going to have another cup of coffee but Mr Lester is saying, 'It's somebody for you, Jack. It's the police. There's an accident at the crossroads near the school.'

Dr Newton is now putting on his coat. In a minute he's going to get into his car and drive to the scene of the accident. Mrs Newton isn't going to go with him. Mr Lester is going to drive her home later.

Now Dr Newton is standi"g by his car. He's going to take his black bag out. He must check the contents because he must have a number of things like bandagec, dressingc, syringec and various medicines.

Now Dr Newton is eoing back into the house. He’s going to telephone Arthur because he wants something from the surgery. He's going to ask Arthur to bring some penicillin to the scene of the accident.

11.- SUNADY MORNING IN APPLEFIELD

Arthur has seen the car and the driver and he has recognized both of them. Who has Arthur recognized? Yes, you are right. It's Bruce Fanshawe, the Casanova of Middleford. Dr Newton has examined his patient and now he is in the ambulance on his way to Applefield Hospital. He's going to stay there for a few days. A breakdown lorry has arrived from the local garage and is going to take Bruce's car away. The policeman has written down Bruce's name and address and he has looked at his driving licence and insurance certificate.

Dr Newton and Arthur have driven back home now. The party has finished. Jennifer has said goodbye to her guests and all of them have gone home. Mrs Newton has just arrived home and she is going upstairs to bed. Jennifer is still up. She's taking all the dirty glasses and plates into the kitchen and she's going to do the washing up in a minute. She has put all the records away and tidied the sitting-room.

Now it's eleven o'clock on Sunday morning. All the Newtons have got up and have had their breakfast. Arthur has just telephoned Mary and Sheila and told them about Bruce. Dr and Mrs Newton have both gone to church. Neither Arthur nor Jennifer has gone because Jennifer is cleaning the house and Arthur is too lazy. He has not even had a shave. He has asked both Mary and Sheila to meet him in The Applefield Arms, thevillage pub, at twelve o'clock.

12 - IN TROUBLE WITH MR STEELE

It's Monday morning. Arthur and Mary have already gone back to Middleford. Sheila hasn't returned yet. She is still in Applefield with her aunt. She's going to go back to Middleford in a couple of days. Bruce, of course, is still in hospital.

Mary and Arthur are once again in the library. It's ten o'clock. Arthur has been there since ten past nine-he still can't get there at nIne o'clock. Mary has been at the library since five to nine. She has been there for over an hour. She is always early for work. Mr Steele has not yet come to work. He's the boss so he sometimes comes late but he often stays late. Sometimes he is still there at seven or eight in the evening.

Arthur has a lot of work on his desk. He must send some postcards to the readers. They have ordered some special books and these books have already come into the library. He has already sent a few of the postcards but there are still a lot on his desk. He hasn't sent any for several days.

Now Mr Steele has just come In. He hasn't gone into his office yet. He's still standing near the door.

13.- A SUMMER’S EVENING IN JUNE

Last weekend in Applefield Arthur was broke. It was the end of the month. But on the last Thursday of each month. Arthur eets his p· and today is Thursday. 27th June..It's pay-day and Arthur's happy. The weather's fine and warm and Mr Steele is going to start his holiday on Monday Ist July. He's going to be away until 15th July. Arthur is happy about this too.

So Arthur's going to have some money this weekend. Mary's not going to go out with Bruce; he's still in hospital. His injuries weren't serIous but the doctors have not allowed him to get up. He's going to stay in hospital for another ten days. Again, Arthur's happy about this

Last weekend wasn't a great success for Arthur but this week is going to be different-Arthur hopes. The summer weather is good. It hasn't raincd for threc weeks and the sun has shone all day today. Now it's a beautiful evening; it's not dark yet-the summer evenings are always light.

Mr Steele has just gone home. Arthur's locking the library doors and Mary's finishing her last letter. She's wearing a light summer dress and is looking very pretty.

14.- ON THE RIVER

Arthur got up early on Saturday morning. He had a shave and put his clothes on. He doesn't put his suit on when he isn't working. He opened his drawer and took out his light-coloured trousers. He put his suit on a hanger and hung it up in the wardrobe, and then closed the wardrobe door.

He went downstairs and switched on the radio. He wanted to hear the weather forecast. What was the weather golng to be like? The forecast was good-sunshine, clear skies and high temperatures. Arthur was pleased about this. Then he switched the radio off and went into the kitchen for breakfast.

After breakfast he rang Mary up. He told her the forecast was good and asked her about the food for the picnic. She asked him to do the shopping because she was busy.

So Arthur went to the supermarket and bought some cheese, ham and tomato sandwiches, some pickled onions and some fruit. After that he went to the off-licence and bought some drinks. This weekend, of course, he had enough money for all these things. Usually he is too broke.

At two o'clock sharp Arthur got off the bus outside the Town Hall. He had his bag with him with the sandwiches, drinks, and the rest of the food. The others were not there yet. Arthur was the first. It was a very hot afternoon.

After about three minutes, Sheila and Michael arrived. Michael had a picnic basket with a cold chicken in it, some French bread and a bottle of wine. They waited for another two minutes and then Mary appeared. She looked very beautiful.

They all walked down to the bridge and hired a boat for the afternoon.

15.- LEARNING TO DRIVE

Two small boys.in a canoe brought the boat back to the island after about three quarters of an hour and Arthur rowed the oat back to the bridge. He didn't row very quickly becauce this time it was upstream and Arthur was’t very good at rowing anyway. Sheila steered and Mary sat next to Michael. They arrived back at the bridge by eight o’clock.

Because they were all wet and miserable they went home immediately. Mary didn’t even say goodnightto Arthur. When Arthur got home, he went straight to bed.

The following morning it was still wet so Arthur didn't get up until twelve o'clock. Then he had lunch and sat in front of the television for the rest of the day. He didn't go out and he didn't even have a shave.

One of the programmes on the television was about learning to drive. What a good idea!-Arthur thought and so the next day he went along to the Licence Office in his lunch hour and got a Provisional Driving Licence. Then he went to the Driving School and made an appointment for his first lesson on Wednesday evening.

16- ARTHUR BUYS A CAR

Did Arthur learn to drive? Probably not, you may think. But Mr Taylor's hair didn't go completely white and in fact Arthur learnt to drive without too much difficulty. He did not take his driving test two or three times-he passed the very first time-six weeks after his first lesson.

So now he needed a car but he wanted a cheap one because he only had about £200. By now Bruce was out of hospital and back at work. Bruce is a second-hand car salesman, by the way. He sells cars at Middleford Used Car Mart just round the corner from the library.

One Saturday afternoon Arthur put his cheque-book into his pocket and caught a bus to the High Street. He wanted to have a look at some good second-hand cars. He got off the bus at the police station and crossed the road to the Car Mart. There was a yellow sports car outside the showroom with the following information on the windscreen:

THIS WEEK'S BARGAINONE CAREFUL OWNER LOW MILEAGE

1978 M.O.T RADIO MANY EXTRAS £200 deposit 3 YEARS TO PAY

Arthur looked at it for a long time. It was bright and shiny. The paint looked new. ‘I need a car like that,’ thought Arthur. ‘I may have enough money for the deposit next month.’

17.- ARTHUR GOES FOR A DRIVE

So Arthur now has a car. It isn't a very magnificent one but it seems to go all right.

It's Thursday afternoon and Arthur is working in the library. Tomorrow evening he will start his two weeks' holiday and will drive down to Applefield to stay with his family. He has no money left to go anywhere else. He needn't go by train this time. He needn't spend money on fares but he must, of course, buy petrol.

Mr Steele has gone home early today and there aren't many people in the library so Arthur's sitting behind the desk and he's thinking:

'This evening I shall clean the car, check the tyres, fill up the radiator and put some distilled water into the battery. Then I shall get four gallons of petrol.

'How long will it take to drive to Applefield, I wonder? It's only about forty miles so it won't take more than an hour and a half. So I shall arrive home at about 8.30. They'll all be surprised to see me with a car, won't they? It's a pity Mary isn't coming. She'll be with Bruce, I suppose. Oh well, never mind. Perhaps I'11 take Jennifer to the seaside on Sunday.'

So Arthur drove down to Applefield on Friday night and on Saturday morning he was in the village shop. There he met Sheila. She was at her aunt's again and was very pleased to see Arthur. He told herabout his 'new' car.

On Sunday, Arthur took Jennifer and Sheila to Swanage for the day. They stopped and looked at Corfe Castle about five miles outside Swanage.

18.- AT THE RACES

In England double yellow lines at the edge of the road may mean 'No Parking at any time'.

Arthur's car was at the police station. So while Sheila and Jennifer went for a swim, Arthur went round to the police station and collected his car. He had to pay £40 and the policeman on duty said one of his tyres was worn almost smooth. This was illegal. Arthur had to buy a new one that day. And so Arthur had less money for the rest of his holidays. The Sunday trip was more expensive than he first thought.

On the way home Jennifer was even more unpleasant than before. The traffic was worse on the way back. (On Sunday evenings in the summer the traffic is always heavier than usual; In fact it's the worst time of the week.) Sometimes they went no faster than five miles an hour and in some places they went evenmore slowly.

When they passed Salisbury, however, conditions were better, but they didn't arrive home until after midnight-much later than they expected.

Arthur didn't do much for the rest of his holidays; he spent a lot of time working on his car. He bought ·me paint and at the end of the week it was cleaner, brighter and more attractive than it was before. Jennifer's friend, Bob, the engineering student from Reading University, knows a lot more about cars than most people in Applefield, and he came round to the Newtons' on several evenings and helped Arthur. They did all the necessary jobs and finally the car worked much better.

On his last Saturday at home, Arthur, Jennifer, Bob and Sheila went to a race meetIng at Fetlock Park near Applefield.

19.- THE FOOTBALL MATCH

So Arthur was lucky for once. The odds on Darling Mary were 10 to 1. If you put £1 on a horse at 10 to 1, you win £10 and you get your original £1 back too. So Arthur went back to Middleford a little bit richer.

One day during his first week at work after his holidays, Sheila's brother, Michael, came into the library to borrow a book about soccer. (In England there are two kinds of football: Rugby Football or rugger, and Association Football or soccer.) Michael is a keen supporter of Middleford Rangers, the local football club. He goes to watch them every week during the soccer season if they are playing at home. He sometimes watches them play away, if the match isn't too far from Middleford.

Michael had a spare ticket for Saturday's home match against Didcot United. Arthur, as you can imagine, is not a great sports man, but he had nothing to do that Saturday, so he accepted Michael's invitation to go with him. Middleford Rangers was not the best team in the Football League. In fact it was the worst. It was near the bottom of the Fourth Division. But this season they had a new centre forward, Fred Merton. He came from Neasden Rovers, a club at the top of the Second Division. In the first six matches of the season he scored ten goals for his new club.

So Arthur met Michael outside the ground at a quarter to three on Saturday, a quarter of an hour before the kick-off. They went through the turnstile and walked up to their seats in the stand.

20.- A BRIEF MOMENT OF JOY

So Arthur got a black eye. He didn't go to many football matches after that. In any case he often had to work in the library on a Saturday afternoon. However, Arthur didn't lose interest in football completely.

Every week Arthur received a coupon by post for the football pools. Every Thursday he sat in Mrs Harrison's sitting-room and filled his coupon in.

One Saturday while Arthur was working in the library, he took his small transistor radio out of his pocket and switched it on very low to listen to the results and check the copy of his coupon. Mr Steele was working in his office and Arthur didn't want him to hear the radio. Radios aren't allowed in the library.

Mary was also working in the library. She had to put some new books on the shelves. She was watching Arthur and noticed that he was getting very excited.

PART TWO

1.- NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

In this book we are going to read some more ad;lentures of Arthur Newton. Arthur works in a library in Middleford, a town in southern England. He lives in digs at 21 Gladstone Avenue, Middleford. His landlady, Mrs Harrison, is a widow. She has lost her husband. He died five years ago.

Arthur's parents are still alive. They live in a small village called Applefield. Arthur's father is the village doctor. Jennifer, Arthur's seventeen-year-old sister, still goes to school and lives at home with her parents.

We are also going to read about Mary Stephens and Bruce Fanshawe. Mary also works at Middleford Library and Bruce sells second-hand cars at the Middleford Used Car Mart. Recently Arthur bought a car from Bruce. Mary and Bruce often go out together and this does not pleace Arthur. Bruce is tall, good-looking and has a big moustache. He wears expensive clothes and has a gold wristwatch. Arthur does not like Bruce for several reasons and the most important reason is that Arthur is in love with Mary himself. But of course, he has not told her about it.

There's another girl called Sheila Lawton. She is very interested in Arthur but he has not shown much interest in her so far.

It is New Year's Day. Arthur is at home with his parents and sister in Applefield. Mrs Newton is in the kitchen and Jennifer, Dr Newton and Arthur are talking together in the living-room.

2.- A NEW LODGER

The holiday is now over and Arthur is still a heavy smoker. He arrived back in Middleford on Sunday night, put his car away and walked into Mrs Harrison's sitting-room.

There was a man sitting there; he was short and thin with old-fashioned glasses. He. got up and introduced himself: 'My name’s Smithers, Reginald Smithers. I'm Mrs Harrison's new lodger.'

Then Mr Smithers told Arthur about himself. He was a clerk at the Westland Bank in Middleford High Street. This was Arthur's bank. He was 55 years old and still a bachelor. He came to Middleford from Reading twp months ago. His first landlady in Middleford was terrible. In fact she was an old dragon. She said things like: 'You mustn't smoke in the bedroom. You mustn't do any washing in the bathroom.- You must be in the house by 11 o'clock at night. You mustn't play the radio or make a noise.

Then Mrs Harrison came in with a cup of coffee for Mr Smithersand one for herself.'Oh, hallo, Arthur,' she said. 'Did you have a good holiday? Shall I make a cup of coffee for you?' 'You needn't bother about me,' replied Arthur.'I'11 make you one if you like,' said Mrs Harrison. 'Oh, I'm sorry. Have you introduced yourself to Mr Smithers?''Yes, we've introduced ourselves,' replied Arthur.

Just then the telephone rang.'Shall I answer it?' said Arthur. 'No, you needn't get up,' said Mrs Harrison.'It's probably for me. I'llgo myself.'

A minute or two later Mrs Harrison came back into the room. 'I'm afraid that was bad news,' she said. 'My sister in London's ill in hospital. I must go and see her tomorrow evening. I'm afraid that you two must cook for yourselves tomorrow evening. You needn't worry. I'll peel the potatoes and leave yousomething else to cook. Oh, and will you feed the cat, please?'

At work in the library the following day, Arthur told Mary labout his holiday with his parents, and about Mrs Harrison's new lodger. He also said:'We're going to cook for ourselves this evening. Mrs Harrison won't be there. She's gone to see her sister in hospital. 'I'11 pop in some time in the evening, if you like,' said Mary.

3.- MONEY PROBLEMS

The chops were completely ruined, so Mr Smithers and Arthur had to go out for their dinner. Arthur had to pay because he was responsible for the accident. Arthur was now completely broke again. He is very bad with money and never seems to have enough. This time he had less than usual and it was a long time till payday. He spent a lot during the Christmas holidays; he bought presents for all his family and for Mrs Harrison and Mary. He also had to buy a new battery and a new exhaust for his car.

January 16th is the seventy-fifth anniversary of the opening of Middleford Library, so this year they are having a party to celebrate the occasion. Arthur is not looking forward to it very much as Mary is bringing Bruce. Unlike Arthur, Bruce always seems to be well off. So Arthur has two reasons to be jealous of him. Arthur isn't taking anybody to the party himself. Arthur has only one suit and he wears it to work every day. It's beginning to look rather shabby. Everybody else is buying something new to wear for the occasion.

Another thing is-Arthur can't dance very well. At parties everybody else dances while Arthur just sits and looks miserable. Mr Steele, the chief librarian, is coming to the party with his wife. Arthur does not l-cekini very much elther. It is quite enough to see Mr Steele at work. He does not want to spend the whole evening under Mr Steele's eye. He would like to be somewhere else.

On the Thursday before the party during his lunch hour, Arthur is walking along the High Street with Mary.

4.- NO MONEY AND NO GIRL

Charles Dickens was a famous English novelist of the late nineteenth century. He created a character called Mr Micawber. Mr Micawber got into a lot of trouble because hz spent more than he earned and had to go to prison because of it. But he realized his problem and gave people this piece of advice: 'Annual income £20, annual expenditure £19/19/6, result happiness; annual income £20, annual expenditure £20/0/6·, result misery.' This of course means that you mustn't spend more than you earn.

Arthur did not follow this advice. He had to see the bank manager because there was not only no money in his account but he was also overdrawn. There was less than nothing in it. Arthur did not have to go to prison, of course, but all the same the manager was not very pleased. He let Arthur have another £50, but Arthur had to promise to keep his account in credit in future.

So the following weekend Arthur had to stay at home. If you stay at home you don't have to spend any money. He spent the whole time in the company of Mrs Harrison and Mr Smithers. He had to give the greater part of his £50 to Mrs Harrison. He also stayed in on Monday evening but on Tuesday he went tothe party. Mrs Harrison pressed his only suit for him.'You'll have to buy another one soon,' she said. 'I'll have to have some money first,' replied Arthur.

At the party everybody seemed very cheerful. Mary was wearing her new dress and she looked very beautiful. But she was with Bruce and, as you know, Arthur didn't like Bruce.

5.- PROBLEMS OF THE HEART

The news was a surprise to everybody at the party. The only person who wasn't pIeased about it was Arthur, of course. Everybody admired the ring that Bruce gave Mary. It was a large diamond in a platinum setting-the kind you don't often see these days. Arthur was one of the few people who did notcongratulate Bruce.

Bruce and Mary let quite early and by ten o’clock the only people who were left were Sheila, Arthur and Mr and Mrs Steele. Mrs Steele asked Arthur to help her collect all the dirty glasses and plates. Sheila then helped Mrs Seele to do the washing up but first she ate a few of the sandwiches that were left. She offered some to Arthur but he was not hungry. Athur helped Mr Steele to move the chairs and tables.

They were all working very hard and Mr Steele was surprised to see Arthur so busy. Normally Arthur is a young man who doesn't like hard work-or at least that is what Mr Steele thinks.

By half past ten everything was tidy again and Mr Steele thanked Sheila and Arthur for their help and left with his wife. Arthur put the lights out and locked up. Then he helped Sheila put her coat on.'What shall we do now, Arthur?' she said. Arthur wanted to be alone, so he made an excuse and said, 'There are some letters I've got to write, actually. I'm terribly sorry but I really have to do them tonight. I'11 drive you home if you like.

So they walked to the car park at the back of the library and got into Arthur's car.

6.- A NASTY EXPERIENCE FOR MR SMITHERS

Arthur did not feel like going home, and of course he didn't really have any letters to write. After he had taken Sheila home, he drove back into the centre of Middleford and wandered about on foot for a while along the street where all the ~ best shops were.lThe things he looked at in the windows were much too expensive for him to buy-hi-fi sets, cameras, tape ~ recorders and watches.( He stopped at a photographer's shop and looked at the wedding photographs in the window; there was a girl in one of the photos whose smiling face reminded him of Mary. Arthur felt even more unhappy.

Then he walked past the restaurant where he had once seen Mary and Bruce together. Bruce had ordered an expensive meal with a lot of wine. Arthur hadn't even had enough money to pay for his omelette. Bruce had lent him a pound and laughed at him.

After that Arthur walked down to the boathouse where he and Mary with Sheila and her brother had once hired a boat. There were no boats there now because it was the middle of winter.

After he had looked at the river for a while, he began to feel cold. So he looked for a place where he could have a cup of coffee but every café in Middleford was closed. He made his way back to the place where he had parked his car, got in and O drove back to 21 Gladstone Avenue.(When he had put his car away, he went into the house and heard Mr Smithers and Mrs Harrison talking excitedly.

7.- INVIATTION TO A DANCE

Everybody discussed the robbery at the bank for two or three days but after a few weeks it was more or less forgotten, except that Arthur did not forget Mr Smithers' description of one of the bank robbers.

The winter is a time when a lot of books are borrowed from a library and so in the last few weeks of January Arthur was kept very busy. A record number of books were taken out in the first week of February and the staff of Middleford Library did a lot of overtime.

At the beginning of February the weather suddenly got very cold; the temperature dropped to ten degrees below zero and snow fell every day. Conditions at 21 Gladstone Avenue were pretty miserable. Mrs Harrison had arranged for central heating to be installed but It had not yet been put In. Arthur's room was heated by a gas-fire which had to be fed with coIns every couple of hours or so.

One Friday night Arthur came home at 8.30. The pipes were frozen and he had no 50p pieces for the gas meter. 'This is the last straw.' he thought. 'I'm going home.' He telephoned parents, wrote a note for Mrs Harrison, got in his car and started off for Applefield. He arrived home at about midnight and went straight to bed.

In the morning he was woken up by his mother with a nice cup of tea and then he went downstairs for a late breakfast in front of a blazing fire. His father was already out visiting patients so he had his breakfast with his mother and Jennifer.

8.- OLD SCHOOL FRIENDS

After breakfast Mrs Newton caid to Arthur,'You really ought to tidy your room. I should have cleaned it weeks ago but It's been impossible because of all your things all over the place.'

So Arthur went upstairs and began to sort out all his belongings. There were a lot of things that ought to have been thrown out ages ago. Among the things he found were some old school reports from St Mark's Grammar School where he was educated. They had been put into the drawer years ago and hadn't been taken out for ages.)Arthur looked through these and thought about some of the boys and masters he used to know. Most of the boys had done much better than he had; they had all either got good jobs or were studying at university.

Arthur hadn't worked very hard, especially in his last two years at school. Instead he used to waste his time and everybody said he ought to have worked much harder. Unfortunately, he failed his A-level examinations and his parents were very disappointed. In their opinion he should have become a doctor like his father

When he left school, he found it very difficult to get a decent job. First of all, he became a clerk in an insurance company This was a very boring job. He used to Cit at a desk all day and copy figures from one piece of paper to another. He then got his job in the library.

'But I don't really like it there,' he thought.'l oughtn't to stay there all my life. I should try and study again and get something good like some of the boys I shall see at the dance tonight. Now I ought to get on and tidy myroom, I suppose.'

09.- ARTHUR DECIDES TO IMPROVE HIMSELF

Arthur did not enjoy the dance very much. All his friends seemed to be much more successful in life than he was. Jennifer, on the other hand, had a very good timc there. She must have danced with almost all of Arthur's old friends.Arthur couldn't dance very well. Besides, he was too shy to invite anyone to dance with him so he sat and thought about his future. What could he do? He couldn't go to university because he didn't have enough qualifications. Besides, where could he get the money?(He did not want to stay at the library. The money was not good enough for him and he couldn't get promotion without more qualifications .IHe didn't like Mr Steele and Mr Steele didn't like him. Anyway the work was not interesting enough. The work in the library was much too boring for him. Until recently he could bear the job because Mary was there. But he couldn't go out with her again as she was engaged to Bruce.

At work the following Monday he couldn't do anything right. First of all he was twenty minutes late for work because he could not start his car. His battery must have been flat again. Then he was rather rude to an old lady who came to borrow a book. His remarks were heard by Mr Steele, who told him off. Then Arthur said something nasty about Bruce and Mary got very annoyed with him. Finally, he dropped a pile of books on the floor as Mr Steele was walking out of his office.

As he was going home that evening he passed Middleford Technical College. He thought to himself:'There must be something Icould study at evening classes here and get enough qualifications to find another job. 'So he parked his car in the college car park and went through the revolving doors into the entrance hall. He asked the girl at the enquiry desk about evening courses and she gave him a prospectus and arranged an appointment for him.

10.- EVENING CLASSES

The following Tuesday Arthur went for his first evening class in A-level English. Mr Morgan's secretary had said that he should buy a copy of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Chaucer's Prologue to the Canterbury Tales and Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. Arthur had read Julius Caesar but he had not read the other two. His lecturer, Mr Greenslade, told him that the classes in English were once a week on Tuesdays and the Economics classes were on Thursdays.

At eight there was a quarter of an hour's break and they all went for a drink in the college canteen. Arthur was very surprised to find Mary and Sheila sitting in the canteen. Neither of the two girls had told him that they were attending evening classes. He asked the girls if they would like another cup of coffee. Mary said that she didn't want anything but Sheila said she would have another cup of coffee and a cream doughnut. Arthur went and got them and came back to their table.

Sheila told him that she was on a keep-fit course and Mary said she was studying cookery. Arthur wanted to know whether her course was interesting. Mary said that she had to learn to cook now because she was getting married soon. Sheila said she was trying to lose weight. Arthur wondered whether she was serious when he saw her eating the cream doughnut but he didn't say anything.

Neither of the girls was looking very happy and Arthur wondered why. His last meeting with SheIla had been a little bit embarrassing so he was not surprIsed about that. But Mary had just got engaged and yet she was looking miserable. So he asked them if they wanted to meet hIm at the college entrance hall andhave a drink with him after the class.

11.- ARTHUR ON TELEVISION

One evening, Arthur was sitting in Mrs Harrison's sitting-room, watching a quiz programme on the television. In a quiz programme members of the public are invited to answer questions on various subjects. In this particular programme, the quizmaster asks three questions. If the contestants answer the three questions correctly, then the contestant chooses a number between one and ten. For each number there is a different prize. Sometimes the prizes are worth a lot of money and sometimes they are something worthless like an empty matchbox or an old shoe.

Arthur, Mrs Harrison and Mr Smithers were watching a young man answer some questions. First of all he was asked what the capital of Scotland was. This was a very easy question, of course, and the contestant answered that it was Edinburgh. Next, the quizmaster asked him where Mt. Everest was and the young man answered this question correctly too.lr;inally he was asked which was heavier-a pound of lead or a pound of feathers and again he gave the correct answer that they were both the same. Then the quizmaster asked the contestant which number he wanted. He chose number seven, saying that this was his lucky number. The quizmaster opened the envelope marked No. 7, and told him that he had won the Treasure Chest, which contained £200.

Mrs Harrison asked Arthur why he didn't go in for one of these quizzes. Arthur thought it was a good idea, so when the address for applications for entry to the quiz was put on the screen, O Arthur wrote it down on a piece of paper. Then he got out his writing-pad and wrote the following letter.

A week or two later a letter with a Birmingham postmark arrived at 21 Gladstone Avenue. Mrs Harrison asked Arthur what it was. Arthur opened it and told her that he'd been invited to take part in the quiz the following Friday. Mrs Harrison asked him if he could go and he told her that he certainly could.

12.- A MAN COMES FOR THE TELEVISION

Mrs Harrison and Mr Smithers were very disappointed that the television had broken down just when Arthur I.vas about to answer his questions: Worst of all they did not know whether Arthur had won a prize or not, because they were not able to see the programme.

So they waited for Arthur to arrive but he did not come home until 12.30 a.m. When he finally got home he was able to tell them what had happened in the quiz.lFirst of all the quizmaster had asked him what the longest river in the world was. Arthur had told him that it was the Nile, and this, of course, was theright answer.(Then he was asked what language they spoke in Brazil and Arthur said that it was Portuguese.lBefore the quizmaster asked Arthui the last question he talked to him about his job. He asked Arthur if he was married or if he had a girlfriend. At this question Arthur wasn't able to say anything. HeOblushed and became embarrassed. So the quizmaster quickly asked the final question, which was: 'Which English king had six wives?' Of course, Arthur was able to answer this question- he told the quizmaster and the audience that it was Henry VIII.

Then the quizmaster told Arthur to choose an envelope. He chose number eight. At this point both Arthur and the audience Owere very nervous. The quizmaster opened the envelope and read the piece of paper inside. It said that Arthur had won the holiday for two on the Costa Brava. The audience clapped and cheered. After this the television company gave Arthur and the other contestants a dinner and then Arthur said goodbye, and left for home.

Arthur drove down the motorway and was home fairly soon. Mrs Harrison asked him who he was going to take on the free holiday with him. Arthur said that he didn't know.

The following morning was Saturday and Mrs Harrison rang up the TV repair company and asked them to send a repair man to O the house. Arthur told Mrs Harrison that he would be in. He and Mr Smithers were having their breakfast when the front doorbell rang.

13.- AN EMERGENCY VISIT TO THE DENTIST

The first man who came was obviously not from the television repair company; he was a confidence trickster. Mrs Harrison had said goodbye to her television set for ever.

She immediately telephoned the police. A very polite and friendly detective, the one who had questioned Mr Smithers about the bank robbery, came round in about a quarter of an Ohour.lHe wanted to know what time the first man had come, what he looked like and whether Arthur had noticed the number of his van.lThe detective said that the man had done this trick many times recently. He was well-known in Middleford. He often came to houses where there were lodgers after the landlady had gone shopping on a Saturday morning.) Mrs Harrison told him that she'd only been out for about half an hour when he came. She'd just gone to the local shops to get her coat cleaned and have her shoes repaired and to do a little bit of householdshopping.

Mrs Harrison was very glad that her television was rented and not her own property. She was going to ask to have a colour set installed soon anyway. When the detective had gone Mrs Harrison went out to the television shop to explain what had happened and to order a new colour set.

After Mrs Harrison had gone out again, Arthur made a cup of coffee for himself and Mr Smithers and brought them into the living-room with some rock cakes that Mrs Harrison had made the day before. Mr Smithers remarked that the cakes looked rather hard. Arthur agreed. Mr Smithers bit his cake, and suddenly let out a shout-he had broken one of his front teeth.

Mr Smithers immediately telephoned the dentist and explained to hIm what had happened. The dentist agreed to see him immediately, so Arthur volunteered to drive Mr Smithers round to the dentist's straight away.

14.- MARY IS UPSET

The following Monday Arthur got up early for a change. He looked out of his bedroom window and saw the sun shining brightly. 'If it were like this every morning,' he thought, 'I'd get up at six o'clock.'

While he was eating his breakfast, he kept on looking out of the window and thinking:'If ~ didn't have to go to work this morning, it would be really great to go to the coast and sit in the sun-and if Mary were my girlfriend instead of Bruce's, she would come with me.'

But unfortunately, Arthur had to go to work. So he set off half an hour earlier than usual and arrived at the library before anybody else. The next to come was Mr Steele who thought,'This must be a miracle. Arthur is actually the first here. If he came as early as this every morning, he would get a lot more work done.'

Arthur began to get on with his work and by half past nine he had finished all the postcards he had to write. A little later he looked at his watch and saw it was a quarter to ten. Mary had still not arrived. He wondered whether she was ill or if she had taken the day off.lBut Mr Steele came in and asked him if he knew where Mary was. 'If she were ill, she would telephone,' he said.'It's not like her. She's usually the first to arrive.' Arthur said that he had no idea where Mary was. He hadn't seen her since last Friday.

But at that moment the door opened and there was Mary. She was looking very pale and tired. She apologized to Mr Steele and explained that she had been awake most of the night. She hadn't got to sleep until five in the morning and had consequently overslept. Mr Steele was very kind and suggested that she should take the day off. She thanked him and said she would stay, but she hardly said a word for the rest of the morning. JArthur, on the other hand, was feeling cheerful so at one o'clock he suggested to Mary that they should go and have lunch together at the Sunny Snack Bar, and she agreed.

15 AT THE POLICE STATION

Mary and Arthur had to get into the detectives' car and drive to Middleford Police Station. There they were taken into separate rooms and wcre asked a great many questions. The police asked Mary once more where she had got the ring and she explained that she'd been given it as an engagement ring by Bruce. The police were very interested in Bruce and they asked her when she had seen him last and where he lived. She told them his address but said that she hadn't been able to contact him all weekend. They then told her that the ring that she'd been given was one of the rings that had been stolen in the recent robbery at the Westland Bank in Middleford. They asked her if she had a photograph of Bruce and she told them she had and the police asked her if she would give it to them. Then they told her not to leave Middleford. They asked her if she would mind having her fingerprints taken and she told them she had nothing to hide and agreed.

As soon as they arrived, Arthur asked if he could telephone Mr Steele at the library to tell him that both he and Mary would be late back from lunch and that they were helping the police with their enquiries. He was told by the inspector that the sergeant would phone Mr Steele.

The police asked Arthur if he knew Bruce and he said that he did. They then asked him when he'd last ceen him and he told them it was at the dentist's on Saturday and that he was with Mr Smithers, who thought he'd seen Bruce somewhere before. When the police asked who Mr Smithers was and Arthur told them he was a clerk at the Westland Bank in Middleford, the police immediately went round to the bank and brought Mr Smithers to the station. When Mr Smithers was shown Bruce's photo, he told the police that he recognized the man he had seen at the dentist's. He also told them that one of the bank robbers had had a moustache and a gold watch just like Bruce's.

After a couple of hours they were all allowed to leave. Mr Smithers went back to the bank and Mary and Arthur returned to the library.

16.- AN ARREST IS MADE

That evening an article appeared in the evening paper,

The police are anxious to interview Bruce Fanshawe, a Middleford car salesman. He has been living in Middleford for three years and duringthe past two years he has been working at the Middleford Used Car Mart. The police believe that he would be able to help them in their enquiries into the recent robbery at the Westland Bank. If anybody has seen this man, would they please contact the Middleford Police (Telephone 026 307 8097) or any police station?

For the next few weeks Arthur saw Mary quite a lot-not only in the library but also in the evenings and at weekends. Mary was trying to forget all about Bruce but of course this was difficult for her. She had been thinking quite a lot about him. She had been impressed by his money, his sports-car and his generosity, but she hadn't realized what sort of man he really was or what he had been doing when he wasn't with her. He had actually been robbing banks and mixing with other criminals. She thought she had been behaving like an idiot. And none of her family had ever liked Bruce.

Arthur was very sorry to see that Mary was so miserable but he was glad, of course, that the engagement was over.

One evening about three weeks after the drama at the police station, Arthur had been studying at the Technical College. He had been working very hard for the last few weeks at his English and Economics. In a few weeks he would be taking his A-level examinations. He had been going out with Mary most evenings and weekends but he had been staying up late reading and learning.lon this particular evening, Arthur did not see Mary but went straight home from his class to Mrs Harrison's. She now had a colour television set and she and Mr Smithers had been watching it since dinner when Arthur came in.

17.- THE TRIAL

During the next few weeks the newspapers were full of the case of Bruce and the bank robbery. First he was brought before the Magistrates' Court and charged with armed robbery together with four other men. The court was so full that many people were turned away and could not get into the court.

Mr Smithers enjoyed giving evidence very much but Mary was so upset that she burst into tears in the court. They both had to appear twice, first at the Magistrates' Court and later at the trial before a judge and jury at the Central Criminal Court (or the Old Bailey, as it is called) in London. At the trial Bruce was found guilty and sent to prison for eight years.

The Saturday after the trial was such a nice day that Arthur rang Mary up and suggested a picnic and a drive into the country. Mary said she wouid come so Arthur picked her up at her house where he met Mary's parents for the first time. They invited him to come back for supper after they had returned from the country.

18.- MIDSUMMER FAIR

During the next week the weather got warmer and warmer and the evenings became lighter and lighter.

One day after work Arthur asked Mary to come to Middleford Midsummer Fair with him. This fair is held annually every third week in June on Middleford Common, a large open space to the east of the town centre.

When Arthur and Mary arrived the common was crowded with thousands of people enjoying themselves on the roundabouts, dodgem cars, the big dipper and all the amusements generally found at a fair.

Arthur and Mary walked past the caravans parked round the outside of the common and stopped at a stall seliing hot-dogs and hamburgers. They each bought a hot-dog and walked to the middle of the fairground eating their hot-dogs and looking at all the stalls. They stopped at a shooting gallery where they were given a rifle loaded with darts. Arthur missed the target completely with all his shots but Mary got a good score and won a prize-a rather ugly-looking vase.

Then they came to the ghost train. Arthur persuaded Mary to go on this with him. So Arthur paid the money and then they sat down together on the narrow seat. Mary pretended to be frightened by the sights and noises and held tightly on to Arthur's arm.

Next to the ghost train wac a brightly painted caravan with a sign outside. Arthur tried to hurry Mary past this quickly but she stopped and read the notice. She told Arthur she would like to go in and hear what Madame Tanya had to say. Arthur said that he thought fortune telling was a lot of stupid nonsense, but before he could

say any more Mary had walked up the caravan steps and had gone in. She found herself in a dimly-lit room in front of a table with a crystal ball. Sitting behind the table was a dark-haired lady.

19.- ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED

Mary was delighted. The fortune teller had told her that she would get a proposal very soon. How right she was! Of course, she accepted and it was a very happy couple that left the fair that evening. Just near the common there was an old eighteenth-century pub with a garden outside where they went to sit and talk about their future. What a lot of plans they had to make! Arthur had just taken his two A-level examinations but would not know the results until August. When should they get married? Where would they live?

Arthur was not absolutely sure what he wanted to do. He wanted to study for more qualifications and to leave the library but everything depended upon his examination results. Mary said that whatever he did she would like to get married soon. If Arthur wanted to study she could earn enough to keep both of them if the worst came to the worst. Arthur said that he would like to leave Middleford and that he could probably work and study in London if he passed his examinations. To begin with they could look for a small furnished flat.

But first of all they had to see Mary's parents to tell them the good news and decide on a date for the wedding. Then they had to ring Arthur's parents as well. What a surprise it would be for Jennifer that Arthur was going to marry Mary!

Then there was the honeymoon - it was lucky that Arthur had won the holiday for two on the Costa Brava in the TV contest, especially as Arthur did not have very much money. He told her that he would not be able to buy her such an expensive engagement ring as the one Bruce had given her. Mary said that she would rather do without an engagement ring and spend the money on something more useful.

When they had finished their drink, they got into Arthur's old car and drove towards Mary's home. How nervous Arthur felt as Mary turned the key in the lock and pushed him through the front door.

20.- THE WEDDING

As you can imagine, the next few weeks were very busy for Mary and her parents, although Arthur didn't have much to do. As is the custom, Mary's parents sent invitations to everybody they wanted to come to the wedding.

Mary had to have her wedding dress made and the bridesmaids also had to have dresses. Mary wanted Sheila and Jennifer to be her bridesmaids; Sheila accepted her invitation immediately, although Jennifer wasn't very keen on the idea at first. Mary and Arthur received many presents just before the wedding. Many people sent towels; in fact they found they had enough towels to last them the rest of their lives.

Arthur and Mary went to see the vicar of St. Mark's Church to make arrangements for the ceremony and Mrs Stephens had to do the same for the reception. Of course, Mr Stephens had to pay, which made him think how lucky he was to have only one daughter.Finally the great day arrived. At about 9.45 the guests started to arrive at the church. The men were all dressed in morning suits and grey top hats and they wore white carnations in their button-holes. The ladies all wore very large amusing hats and gaily-coloured dresses. Arthur's old school friend, Peter, was the best man and he and Arthur arrived at the church just before 10 o'clock and waited for Mary and her father to arrive. He asked Peter nervously whether he had the ring and Peter pretended that he had lost it. At last the church organ began to play and in came Mary on her father's arm followed by Jennifer and Sheila.

Then followed the ceremony, after which photographs of the bride and bridegroom with the bridesmaids and families were taken outside the church. Cars then took everybody to the Talbot Hotel for the reception.

THE END

………………………………………..………………………………..

……………………..………………………….………....200…

Dear...., How are you getting on these days? I …….. Arthur Newton's wedding today. He … ….. Mary Stephens. The ceremony ……………….St. Mark's Church, Middleford The ...was very beautiful, and the …..... looked quite smart too. The organict ……… Here Comes the Rride and Mary walked to the front of the church with her father, and the …….….. walked ……………. them. The photographer ………..some beautiful …………. after the ceremony. We all went …….….. car to the Talbot Hotel. There were lots of lovely things ……… and ……. Some people drank too much champagne, by the way. It ……….. have cost Mr Stephens a lot of money. (Mr Stephens is Mary's father, ……………………. ) Arthur and Mary did not stay long. They ……………….. be at the airport by three and it's quite a long drive from Middleford to Heathrow. They went to Spain for their ………………….. When are you going to …………… I wonder?

Yours

PART THREE

Unit 1 – Finding A Flat In this book we shall be reading about a young married couple-Arthur and Mary Newton. They have not been married for very long, in fact they have just come back from their honeymoon. They have just come to London as Arthur is about to start a course in Management Studies at the Earls Court Polytechnic and Mary is hoping to get a job as a secretary. Arthur and Mary both used to work in a library in Middleford, amedium-sized provincial town about thirty miles west of London. Mary's parents still live in Middleford. She is an only child; she has no brothers and sisters. Arthur's parents live in a counts, village called Applefield. Arthur has a sister called Jennifer. She is still at school but will be leaving soon.

This week Arthur and Mary are staying at a flat which belongs to Richard and Cathy Steele. They are awayin Italy for a couple of weeks. Richard is the son of Arthur and Mary's old boss. They will be back on Saturday so Arthur and Mary have to find their own flat very quickly. This is quite a problem for them because furnished flats in London are not only difficult to find but they are nearly always very expensive.

Unit 2 – Working In An Office A few days later Arthur and Mary moved into their new flat. They spent the first week settling in. The flat had been left in rather filthy state - the carpets were stained, the paintwork was covered in dirt and there were rather a lot of cobwebs in the corners. Both Arthur and Mary worked very hard. Arthur didn't enjoy cleaning very much but Mary insisted on his helping. By the end of the first week the flat was spick and span; the paintwork was gleaming and you could actually see the colours of the living-room carpet. They had to spend quite a lot of money getting one or two things that were not provided such as bathmat, an alarm clock, reading lamps and a number of extra kitchen utensils. So when Monday came Mary decided that it was about time she went out and earned some money. She decided she didn't want to tie herself down to a regular job at this stage so she went round to one of the many secretarial agencies in London to get herself a temporary job.

At ten o'clock she walked into the Dover Street Bureau where she was given a form to fill in. She had to write down all her personal details such as age, date of birth, education, past experience, typing and shorthandspeeds, type of employment required and her last salary.

After doing this she was interviewed by a smartly dressed middle-aged lady who read through her form, asked her a few questions and then opened a drawer in a steel tiling-cabinet and took out a few cards with details of various jobs available. First there was a job going with a large hotel company but the hours for this didn’t suit her. Then there was a job with a small firm but this involved working in an office all on her own. Finally there was a job in a travel agency working with a lot of people. This seemed ideal for her as it wasjust round the corner from her flat. Mary told the interviewer she was very interested in the job at the travel agency. She was then asked when she was available as they needed somebody urgently. So she was given an introduction card and went straight round to the travel agency.

Unit 3 – Higher Education At nine o'clock on the twenty-third of September the first term of the new academic year started at Earls Court Polytechnic.

When Arthur arrived at the entrance hall he saw a large notice informing new students that they were to assemble in the main hall for an address by the Principal, Dr Gibson. So Arthur made his way to the main hall, which was filled with students waiting to hear what the Principal had to say. Arthur was a little late but he just managed to find a seat in the back row. There were a number of people already sitting on the platform but the Principal had not arrived yet.

At 9.30 precisely the Principal hurried into the hall and on to the platform. He seemed to be a pleasant and efficient person, Arthur thought. He said that he was delighted to see so many intelligent looking students and that he hoped that they would all manage to profit from their various courses of study. He proceeded to give a brief outline of the history and organization of the Polytechnic and then went on to give some general advice concerning their studies. A number of students near where Arthur was sitting appeared to be taking notes so Arthur pretended to do the same. Dr Gibson then introduced Mike Robinson, the President of the Students' Union, and sat down. Mike Robinson told them all about the activities of the Union and announced that there

was to be a meeting the following day. He hoped that everybody would be able to come. After that, the Registrar, the Librarian, the Senior Tutor and the Lodgings and Welfare Officer each said a few words, after which everybody left the hall.

The next thing Arthur had to do was to register, which involved standing in a long queue and filling in a form. By now it was lunch time and Arthur joined another long queue, this time for the refectory. When he saw how long it was and smelt the food that was being served, he decided not to wait and made his way instead to a little café across the road from the Poly, where a lot of other students seemed to have the same idea as Arthur.

During the afternoon he saw the Head of the Department of Management Studies and his personal tutor, Mr Trafford, who gave him his timetable and a list of books that he was expected to buy. He went to the college bookshop although he could not afford to buy all the books on his list.

Unit 4 – The Domestic Budget One Saturday morning several weeks later Arthur found several letters on his doormat. All but one were in buff coloured envelopes. This meant only one thing - bills ! Arthur sat down to breakfast with rather a long face as he opened them one after the other.

The first was the electricity bill-over twenty pounds; the second was the final demand for the telephone -thirteen pounds. Mary had been making many long distance phone calls to her parents in Middleford. If she hadn't made these calls the bill would have been much smaller. The third was from the - local corner shop where Mary had been running up a bill for groceries. Luckily there was no gas bill as there was a coin meter for gas in the flat.

The fact was that Arthur had only enough money left in his bank account for two of the bills and Mary had already spent half her week's wages on Friday night. There had been a sale at one of the department stores inKensington High Street and Mary had bought herself a new winter coat and had got three shirts and a pullover - at bargain prices - for Arthur. She had been very pleased with herself because she had saved such a lot of money on them, or so she said. If Mary had been there at that moment she wouldn't have been pleased to hear Arthur's language but she had got up early and gone out shopping again.

Unit 5 – Christmas The first term at the Earls Court Polytechnic seemed to go by very quickly and in no time at all it was the Christmas vacation. Mary took a couple of weeks off so that both of them could go to Arthur's home in Applefield for Christmas itself and to Mary's parents in Middleford for the New Year. On the first Monday of the vacation Mary did all their Christmas shopping in Oxford Street. She likes seeing the lights and hunting around the shops for presents. Arthur did not bother to go as he does not like to be pushed and shoved in the Christmas rush. In fact he does not like going shopping at all. He prefers staying at home in front of a warm fire watching television or reading

The following day they caught the 8.30 train from Paddington to Applefield. The weather was unusually cold; it started snowing while Arthur and Mary were on the train and by the time they arrived, it was already three inches deep. It continued snowing for the rest of the day and Mrs Newton said it looked like being a real old-fashioned Christmas. Most people in the village like to see the ground covered in snow. But Dr Newton hates to go on his rounds in these conditions when the roads are slippery and you can get stuck in the snow.

Arthur's sister, Jennifer, had not yet arrived home. She had just left school and was training to be a nurse in one of the London teaching hospitals. It was impossible for her to get away until Christmas Eve. Mrs Newton loves having all her family around her at this time. She couldn't bear to think of Christmas without them.

On Christmas Eve Jennifer arrived in time to help the others who were busy wrapping up presents to put round the Christmas tree. She said she was sorry she hadn't seen Arthur and Mary in London. She had intended to visit them but she explained that, like most nurses, she had been rushed off her feet most of the time. In the evening a number of people called round to the Newtons to wish them all a Merry Christmas, so everybody had a jolly evening. They all continued talking until well past midnight and finally went to bed.

On Christmas morning everyone got up rather late except for Mrs Newton, who got up at eight o'clock to start to prepare the Christmas dinner. She had to stuff the turkey and put the Christmas puddings on the stove as they take a long time to cook. Jennifer, Arthur and Mary went round to see one or two friends in the village about midday and got back home at about half past two. At three o'clock everybody listened lo the Queen's speech on television. Immediately after this Mrs Newton brought the turkey in and Dr Newton started to carve it. Then everybody sat down to their Christmas dinner after which they all opened their presents.

The rest of the day was spent in a very relaxed way. Dr Newton fell asleep in his favourite armchair whileMary and Jennifer did the washing up. The day ended very quietly.

Unit 6 – Sickness and Heath 0n the third day of the second term at the Earls Court Polytechnic, Arthur came home in the evening looking pale and tired. He told Mary that he had felt terrible all day. First of all he had had a headache since about ten o'clock in the morning. He had tried taking a couple of aspirins but they did not seemto have had any effect. He had also had a cough for several days and now his chest felt painful. He couldn't remember feeling as bad as this. He didn't want to do anything all he wanted to do was to go to bed and this he did.

Mary felt his forehead - it felt hot, as if he had got a temperature. She thought he must have caught fluso she went into the kitchen and made him a warm drink. When it was ready, she brought it into him but poor Arthur was asleep. She put an extra blanket on the bed and went back into the living-room. She tried to read for a bit but she couldn't concentrate as she was worried about him. His breathing was heavy and his face was flushed. She couldn't remember having seen him looking as ill as this. She remembered that he had forgotten to take his overcoat with him that morning although the weather had been cold and windy. And he had had a cold ever since New Year's Eve when they were at her parents' in Middleford.

The next morning Arthur was no better. Before Mary went to work, she rang up the doctor and askedhim to call at the flat. She told Arthur that she would come home for lunch. This was no problem as her office was only just round the corner. She told Arthur to try and keep warm and to drink as much as possible.

At a quarter past twelve there was a ring at the doorbell so Arthur staggered out of bed, put on hisdressing-gown and made his way to the door. It was Dr Dixon, the local G.P. The first thing the doctor did was to make Arthur go back to bed. Then he stuck his thermometer under his tongue. When he took it out, he exclaimed, ‘You've got quite a temperature there. Now let's examine your chest.’

Dr Dixon produced his stethoscope from his bag and started listening to Arthur's breathing. Finally hesaid, ‘I'm afraid you might be suffering from pneumonia. You'd better go into hospital, that is if I can manage to get you a bed. May I use your phone?’

At that moment Mary arrived back.

Unit 7 – Home Decoration When Arthur had recovered from his illness, it was almost time for the Easter vacation. Mary had been complaining about the dirty walls and paintwork, escpecially in the kitchen. So Arthur in a rash moment volunteered to do out the kitchen and the living-room, which was almost as bad as the kitchen. On theSaturday before the Easter weekend, Arthur and Mary went to the local 'Do-it-yourself shop. First Mary spent ages thumbing through the wallpaper catalogues in the shop while Arthur wandered around looking at all the power tools and other gadgets he wished he could afford. Eventually, Mary told Arthur she hadn't seen anything she liked. Arthur was quite pleased about this as he didn't really want to do any papering. He told Mary that he thought it was too difficult for him to do and that he would much rather paint the walls. He explained to her that the patterns on most wallpapers are a hard job to match. Mary was sensible enough to realize that painting is not so difficult as papering and that Arthur would be less likely to make a mess of it.

That evening while Mary was preparing the evening meal, Arthur decided to pop across the road to theShip and Shovel, where he had a quiet drink and talked to some people he knew about his plans for decorating his flat. One of his friends, a man with an Irish accent called Paddy, knew of a shop in Ealing,a suburb in west London, that was going out of business and selling paint at bargain prices. Paddy offered to collect the paint in his van, since Arthur didn't have a car, and deliver it as soon as he could. He said he would also bring his overalls, in case Arthur needed any help.

In the meantime Arthur started working on the kitchen. The walls and ceiling were rather dirty so firstthey had to be washed down thoroughly with a strong detergent. This together with the job of filling the holes and cracks in the wall surface took up the time until Paddy was due to deliver the paint.

Unit 8 – An Evening Out Shortly after Arthur had redecorated the kitchen, he and Mary were sitting at home one evening when he suddenly realized that it was Mary's birthday in three days' time. It occurred to him that she might like to go out somewhere to celebrate the occasion. perhaps to a show or something with dinner afterwards. Mary was delighted when he put this idea to her. She had had a suspicion that Arthur might actually have forgotten all

about her birthday. They had been in London for several months and not once had they managed so far to go to the theatre. What was more they had no idea what was on.

As it was Sunday they had a couple of Sunday papers so they turned to the page advertisingentertainments. Arthur looked at the Observer while Mary went through the list in the Sunday· Times. Arthur asked Mary if she would rather go to a ballet, a musical show or a straight play. Mary said that shewasn't sure. She would rather look at all the possibilities and make her mind up later on. First of all she thought that she might like to see Robert Morley who was appearing in A Ghost on Tiptoe. She had seen him play in some comedy or other a few years ago on a day out in London with her mother. She couldn't remember the title of the play. Then she wondered whether she might like to see the Royal Shakespeare Company performing A Mdsummer Night’s Dream at the Old Vic. She had done the play as a set book for O-level English Literature at school. She had once seen it performed by an enthusiastic but somewhat incompetent amateur company at her local Church Hall in Middleford. In the end she told Arthur she would leave the decision up to him.

So the following day Arthur went round to the local ticket agency and found that on Mary's birthdaythere were very few theatres where there were any reasonably priced seats still available. If he had gone to the agency earlier, there might have been more choice but now the only practical proposition wasThe Jack Seagrave Show at the Victoria Palace. This was a kind of music and variety entertainment with the centre of attraction being the popular comedian Jack Seagrave.

Unit 9 – Invitation To Dinner In the travel agency where Mary works there is a young French lady called Yvette whose husband, Rene, works for Air France. They have been living in London for ahout six months and both of them speak English quite fluently though not always accurately.

One day Yvette invited Mary aIld Arthur to have a meal with her husband and herself at their flatwhich was a stone’s throw away from where Arthur and Mary livcd. This was the first time that Arthur and Mary had been invited round to someone else's home for a meal and they were both looking forwardto it eagerly.

When the evening in question arrived, Arthur and Mary went round to their French friends' flat atabout eight o'clock and were received by René who showed them into the living-room and offered them an aperitif. Yvette came in to welcome them shortly afterwards but went back to the kitchen almost immediately so that she could get on with preparing the meal. Mary asked her if there was anything she could do to help but Yvette acsured her that she could manage by herself.

They had just finished their aperitifs when Yvette came back with some food on a tray and invitedthem to sit down at the table. She gave them each a small dish containing an artichoke. Arthur and Mary had often seen artichokes in the greengrocers’ shops before but never actually got round to trying them. Arthur glanced at Mary somewhat anxiously because he had no idea what to do with his artichoke or where to start eating it. Eventually Yvette guessed that her two friends did not quite know how to eatit so she started stripping off the leaves and dipping them into the melted butter. Mary thought that these were the nicest vegetables she had ever tasted and so did Arthur, who told her that she would have to get some and ask Yvette how to prepare them.

The rest of the meal was equally delicious. Arthur was so impressed that on the way home he toldMary she ought to learn how to cook a few French dishes. Before they left Mary had invited their hosts to come and have a meal with them the following week.

Unit 10 – Toursits In London Arthur was just about to finish the first year of his course in Management. The summer vacatiori was drawing near and because he had spent most of his grant, he thought that whatever else he did, he had better get a vacation job. The college notice board had details of quite a few jobs but the ones he hadseen so far had not appealed to him very much. A lot of them were quite reasonably paid but were the sort of thing that required a lot of muscle, like labouring on the construction of a new motorway or hurnping boxes around in a factory or a warehouse. Whatever the pay was like in such jobs, Arthur felt that he wasn't cut out for that kind of work.

The only two jobs which Arthur felt he could do without dying of exhaustion were guiding foreigntourists around London and the Home Counties, and standing outside Piccadilly Circus Underground station asking people what soap, shampoo, bathsalts, or whatever, they used - that is, doing market

research for a company producing toilet preparations. The former paid more money but Arthur felt that he wouldn’t have much chance of getting it as he wasn't a Londoner and didn't feel particularly qualified to do it. So on the morning of rhe last day of term he went to see the full-time secretary of the Students' Union at the Poly and asked her how he should go about applying for the market research job. She told him she was rather busy at that moment so he had better leave it with her and come back in the afternoon. When he went back to see her she told him she had made an appointment for him to see a Mr Coombes in room 407 in Fitzroy House in the Barbican in the City of London at ten o'clock the following morning.

Arthur managed to get there on time for his interview, and was welcorned bv Mr Coombes. He startedasking him lots of questions about London and it gradually dawned on Arthur that he was not being interviewed for the market research job at all. Mr Coombes' questions seemed to have no relevancewhatever to that kind of work. There must have been some mix-up or other over the job reference numbers. Whatever the reason fcr the confusion was. Arthur had no time to think about it. While he was wondering whether he had better explain the misunderstanding, he was offered a job and asked if he could start the following day. He had to pick up a paraty of American tourists at nine o’clock in the morning to take them to Hampton Court and Windsor Castle.

Unit 11 – Holiday In Wales At the end of the third week in August, Arthur, having made a reasoriable amourit of money guiding tourists aroun London and elsewhere, decided he didn't need to do any more work for the rest of the vacation. Instead he thought he would take Mary away somewhere for a holiday. While walking down Earls Clourt Road one day he happened to bump into a fellow student of his by the name of David Jones, Arthur asked him what he'd been doing over the vacation. David told him that he'd been staying with some other students in a cottage in Wales belonging to his aunt. Arthur thought that this would be a good idea for their own holiday so he asked David if he happened to know whether it would be free or not. David proimised to phone his aunt and let Arthur know as soon as he could. Arthur didn't think any more about it for a couple of days and didn’t even mention it to Mary until the phone rang. It was David who told him that the coittage was available from the following Saturday for a fortnight if they wanted it, but that he had to kmow immediately or no later than the following day. Mary thought it would be a good idea as she'd never been to Wales and had heard that it was very beautiful. So without any futher delay Arthur phoned David back and told him that they would take the cottage.

As there was no public transport within miles of the cottage, they decided to hire a car for the fortnight.On Saturday they collected the car, got it filled up with petrol and oil and set olf down the M4 motorway, towards the Severn Bridge and South Wales. The cottage was in a village called Penol near Cardigan on the west coast of Wales. The journey as far as Carmarthen werit fairly smoothly although there were heavy winds blowing across the motorway which made driving a litile difficult. However, having got toCarmarthen, Arthur took a wrong turning and found himself driving west instead of north. Having stopped in a lay-by to consult the map, he got himself back on the right road but they didn’t arrive until it was just getting dark. They had been told to get the key from a Mr Dai Davies, the landlord of the Penol Arms just down the road from the cottage. Mr Davies, a very jolly and helpful man, gave them the keys and told them where the cottage was. He also told them that he had asked Mr Phillips, the milkman, to call in the morning and showed them where the village shop was. They were very tired after their long drive and were looking forward to a rest.

Unit 12 – Preserving The Environment After a somewhat disastrous beginning, Arthur and Mary’s holiday was a mixture of delight and frustration. On the one hand, on the sunny days that began their holiday they really appreciated the peace and quiet of rural Wales after the noise and bustle of London. The beach was only ten minutes drive from the cottage and they were able to swim and sunbathe in surroundings which contrasted rather sharply with the seaside resorts of southen England with their neon lights and tawdry commercialism. Towards the end of their stay, however, there were one or two wet days when they found themselves more or less prisoners in the cottage. They could not even move the car becauce the wheels just spun in the mud.0n the evening before they were due to leave, Arthur telephoned his mother in Applefield. She suggested that they should make a slight detour on their return and stay in Applefield for one night or perhaps two before going back to Earls Court.

After making sure the cottage was clean and tidy, they handed the key back to Mr Davies on the Saturday morning and after a pleasant drive through the centre of Wales and then through the Cotswolds they arrived in Applefield at about teatime. As they drove round the village green towards Arthur's parents' house they noticed a number of posters stuck on trees and garden gates saying, ‘ Save Applefield from Motorway Vandalism’. They wondered what this was all about and were surprised to see the same poster in the Newtons’ sitting-room window.When they got in, they found that the only person in the house was Jennifer, home for one of the few free weekends she had during her training as a nurse. She explained that her parents had both gone to a meeting in the village hall to do with the matter that had caused all the posters in the village. Apparently, the Department of the Environment had published plans for a new motorway which the villagers feared would go right through the village green and virtually split Applefield into two. The whole village wasup in arms about it and they were determined to do everything in their power to get the Department of the Environment to think again. Arthur told Mary that his father often got bees in his bonnet about matters of this kind. ‘It's probably only a storm in a teacup.’ Arthur said. ‘And talking of teacups, Jennifer, wouldn't it be a good idea if you made us some tea?’

Unit 13 – The Police And Crime Arthur and Mary enjoyed their short stay in Applefield but decided to return to Earls Court late on the Sunday night as they had very little money left and Mary wanted to go to work the next day. Moreover. the people from whom they had hired the car wanted it to be returned on Monday morning. Thelonger they kept it, the more it would cost them.

They arrived outside their flat at about eleven o'clock at night. Mary went in first while Arthur startedto unload the luggage from the car. He had just taken the cases from the boot when Mary came running out of the front door in tears, calling to Arthur to come quickly. Arthur could hardly believe his eyes when he saw what a state the flat was in. The living-room seemed to have been hit by a tornado; all the cupboards had been emptied, the furniture had been overturned, the carpet pulled back. Their hi-fi equipment, which they had had for only a month, had disappeared and the television set was also gone.

It was the same in the bedroom. Every single drawer, including the one in which Mary kept herjewellery, had been pulled out and the contents strewn all over the floor. The silver-backed brush and comb set that Arthur had given Mary soon after they had got engaged was missing and there was nosign of her jewellery. It was difficult to see what else had been stolen as the place was in such a mess.

After a few minutes Mary stopped crying and Arthur told her that he was going to ring the police,which he did straight away. They told him to leave everything as it was until they had a chance to look at what had happened and to look for fingerprints and signs of how the thieves had got in.

Arthur was thankful that he had taken out an insurance policy against fire and theft a couple of monthsbefore. He consoled Mary by telling her that even if the burglar was not caught and they never saw their property again, they would receive compensation.

Unit 14 – A Visit To A Factory Arthur and Mary never got their property back but they were compensated in full by the insurance company. Arthur went to the hardware shop to buy new locks for the windows and it took him all day to fit them. The following day was the first day of the autumn term and Arthur had to be there at nine o'clock in order to register, listen to the Priilcipal's address and collect his programme from the course tutor. One of the things that Arthur noticed on his new programme was that in this his second year a number of visits to various firms had been arranged. In the second week of term they were to visit a car factory near Oxford. Arthur was looking forward to thi as it would make a change from the normal routine and, surprisingly enough, it was something he had never done before. They were to assemble at nine outside the main entrance of the Poly, where a coach would be waiting to take them to Oxford. They would arrive at Oxford at 11.30 and then be free until two o'clock when they were to go back to the coach in order to get to the factory at 2.30.

Arthur rang up an old school friend of his who was in his last year at the university and arranged tomeet him as soon as he arrived. The day of the visit turned out to be fine and sunny and they all admired the autumn tints as they drove through the undulating countryside towards the ancient university city. Arthur's friend, John Phelps, was waiting at the bus station at Gloucester Green in the middle of Oxford. They had coffee in John's rooin in college and then his friend showed Arthur round the university. They had lunch in The Trout, a thirteenth century pub by the river, after which Arthur rejoined his party at the coach. After a

short drive they arrived at the main gate of the factory where they reported to the gatekeeper who directed them to the of'fice building. A young management trainee, who had himself been on the same course as Arthur, welcomed thern and explained what the plans for the afternoon were. Firstly they were to go on a conducted tour of the works, seeing first the engines being assernbled, then the main production line, next the paint shop and finally an experimental shop where teams of workers assemble the whole car instead of each worker doing one repetitive job. Last of all they were to have a cup of tea and an informal discussion with the works manager and the personnel manager in the staff canteen.

Unit 15 – Looking For A Job As Arthur was coming to the end of his course at the Earls Court Polytechinc, he began to wonder what he would be doing after it was all over. During then weekends of the summer term he would sit in his flat going through the job columns of the Observer and the Sunday. Times looking at all the possible openings in industry or commerce that might start him on the road to becoming a tycoon. First he might start modestly as a trainee in management, then go on to become a junior executive and then end up as a man with a plum job with a company car, an expense account and all the perks of a high-powered job. He would imagine himself sitting in the back of a long chauffeur-driven car either issuing instructions to his subordinates over the car telephone or dictating letters and memoranda into a dictating machine. 0r he would be sitting at an impressive leather-topped mahogany desk with three telephones, an expensive carpet on the floor, and a pretty secretary sitting opposite him. pencil poised waiting to take down that important directive that would affect the lives of millions. 0r again he would be flying to New York on his way to an important international trade conference. His fantasies were endless.

The realities of the situation were, however, somewhat different. He was at that moment an averagely impoverished student living partly on his young wife’s earnings with just about enough to pay the rent, rates and fuel bills and to eat modestly at least until his course finished at the end of the following month when his student days would come to an end.

He had already filled in at least fifteen application forms written as many letters of application and hadreceived back six postcards informing him politely that the post he had applied for had already been filled. Another seven had written saying that his communication was acknowledged and would be receiving attention in due course. The rest of his efforts had met with no response whatsoever. He was beginning to feel that if he had been a little younger he might have stood a better chance. So despite Arthur's fantasies he was not feeling especially confident when he started to write a letter to a firm called Robinson's Electronics who were advertising for a management trainee to start in September at their headquarters in North London.

PART FOUR

CHAPTER 01 – Staring a new Job

Arthur Newton is a young man about to make his way in the world. He is married to Mary, whom he met while they were both working as librarians in a small town called Middleford, which lies to the west of London. Mary's parents still live in Middleford. Arthur's parents live in a village in Berkshire called Applefield. Arthur's father is the village doctor. Arthur's sister, Jennifer, is a student nurse at one of the London teaching hospitals.Arthur has recently completed a Management Training course at the Earls Court Polytechnic. After applying for many posts in industry, he has finally been accepted by a company called Robinson Electronics, a rapidly expanding firm in North London.Today being his first day in the new job, Arthur has put on a new suit and a clean shirt and, looking the part of a budding young executive, has just arrived at the administrative building of Robinson Electronics.

Chapter 2 – Country Life

Shortly after Arthur had started his new career with Robinson Electronics, he and Mary were invited down to spend a weekend with Arthur's parents. As some of you will know, Arthur's father is the doctor who looks after the inhabitants of the village of Applefield in Berkshire, a county to the west of London. Arthur and Mary decided to travel down by coach from Victoria Coach Station. Victoria is only four stops from Earls Court on the District Line of the Underground. Arthur went to Victoria straight from work on the Friday afternoon and met Mary and his sister Jennifer, who was also going home that weekend, in the Grosvenor Hotel opposite the Coach Station, where they had a cup of tea before starting on their journey. After roughly a two hours' ride the coach pulled up at Applefield village green. Although both Arthur and Mary knew Applefield extremely well, they nevertheless were always struck by the contrast between the bustle of London and the peace of the village. Mrs Newton is always glad to have her children home with her and she showed this by cooking them all an enormous meal. The following morning Arthur helped Dr Newton in the garden. Arthur's father is very proud of his garden; he grows both flowers and vegetables quite successfully. At this time of the year the cabbages and Brussels sprouts were just about ready and his dahlias were in full bloom. The three ladies went shopping and called on the vicar's wife for coffee, after which they came home and quickly prepared a cold lunch. Dr Newton and Arthur went straight back into the garden after lunch as there were still many jobs to be done. By tea time, however, they were sufficiently exhausted to call it a day.

Chapter 03 – Expecting

Jennifer had exaggerated somewhat; the animal in question was only a docile young bullock. Dr Newton and the young people did not have too much trouble in getting it out of the garden. While they were engaged in this task, Mrs Newton telephoned Mr Eldridge, the farmer who owned the bullock. And asked him if he would mind coming round to collect it. In no time at all Mr Eldridge and his son arrived on the scene in a truck. The Newtons all helped them to load the animal on to it and very soon order was restored. On Sunday.Dr Newton and Arthur had to work in the garden again after all.So it was a very tired Arthur who returned to London with Mary and Jennifer. He slept for most of the journey and had to be woken up on their arrival at Victoria Coach Station. The following morning he was still exhausted but managed to crawl out of bed and get himself to work on time. He had a hectic day at the office: the telephone never stopped ringing and he was only able to snatch a quick cheese roll at lunchtime. On the way home in the evening he called in at the local for a pint and a chat, and arrived home slightly later than usual. Much to his surprise he found that Mary was not at home. He found a note saying, ‘Gone out for a short while. Dinner in oven. Back soon.’ As he was trying to take his dinner out of the oven without burning his fingers, Mary walked in.

Chapter 4 – House Hunting

Now that Mary was expecting, she and Arthur decided that they ought to be thinking of finding a p]ace of their own, as their flat in Earls Court was not very suitable for bringing up children in. Moreover, Mary felt that with all the traffic, the air in Central London was too polluted for a young baby to breathe. She said she wanted a house in the suburbs with a garden. Arthur thought that it would be a good idea to look for a property in the Epping Forest area, which was fairly near to his work in Enfield. Epping itself, despite its proximity to London, still retains the character of a small country town. It is almost completely surrounded by the forest, which is now a playground for the people of London. Although the forest is not very big, it is very thick in places and is quite easy to get lost in. The Saturday following Mary's visit to the doctor's, she and Arthur got up early and went to Epping, arriving there just after nine o'clock. They walked up and down the High Street, having a look at the town generally. They looked at the photographs and read the descriptions of various houses in an estate agent's window. All the properties they liked were much too expensive for them, however. They wouldn't have been able to find enough money to pay the deposit on any of them. Also they would have had to borrow so much on the mortgage that the monthly repayments would have been beyond their means. They walked further down the High Street and looked at one or two other estate agents' windows, and eventually found one or two houses which seemed just within their price bracket. They arranged to view three of them, one in the morning and the other two in the afternoon. They didn't like the first two they saw. One of them was on an estate miles away from the shops or public transport and the other needed a lot of money spending on it. By the time they got round to viewing the third house they were feeling somewhat depressed.

Chapter 05 – Moving in and meeting new neighbours

Eventually Arthur and Mary managed to find a three-bedroomed semi-detached house in a quiet estate on the outskirts of Epping. It was by no means a palatial residence but it was the best they could afford. It was in aquiet cul-de-sac away from the traffic but on the other hand it was quite convenient for the buses and it was only five minutes away from the forest.This was a very expensive time for the Newtons, as you can imagine. Not only did they have to find the money for the deposit but there were also solicitor's fees, surveyor's fees and of course, this being their first unfurnished home, they had to buy at least the essential pieces of furniture. Dr Newton helped them out with half the cash they needed for the deposit and Mrs Stephens, Mary's mother, said that as she and Mr Stephens were getting a new three-piece suite for their sitting-room, Arthur and Mary could have their old one. This was a great worry off their shoulders as furniture these days is very expensive. Nonetheless, they had to buy a bed, some floor covering - lino and carpets, a dining-table and chairs, a gas cooker and various other items for the kitchen. It seemed to Arthur that he was forever signing cheques.They had to wait rather a long time before they could move in, the reason being that the people they were buying the house from had been having some difficulty in getting into their new house. However, at last they managed to get a date for the completion of the sale and Arthur made arrangements for the items of furniture they had purchased to be delivered. He took a Friday off from work and fixed this day for moving in.

Chapter 06 – Old Age

Arthur and Mary's noisy neighbours, the Elliots, didn't seem to get on well with anybody, least of all with each other. About a fortnight after they had moved in, Arthur and Mary were woken up at about two o'clock in the morning by the sound of shouting and swearing. After a while Arthur got so fed up that he picked up his shoe and banged on the wall with it, but to no effect. Mary got rather worried because it sounded as if someone was being murdered and asked Arthur if he thought they should call the police. But as soon as she had said that, they heard the Elliots' front door slam and then their car being started and driven away. For five minutes or so afterwards they could hear Mrs Elliot crying but the sound gradually died down and Arthur and Mary eventually got to sleep. Mr Elliot was never seen again and shortly afterwards a 'For Sale' notice appeared outside the house.

Happily, however. Arthur and Mary's relationship with the Sampsons on the other side was quite a different story. They became extremely friendly with Judy and her husband, Jim, who was a teacher at the local comprehensive school. Mary quite often looked after Judy's six-year-old son, Paul. The morning after Mr Elliot had left his wife, Mary went next door to tell Judy about the previous night's drama. She was rather surprised to find Judy dressed up in the uniform of the W.R.V.S. This is an organization that was formed just before the second world war to cope with emergencies arising out of air-raids, but is now concerned mainly with social work. Judy explained to Mary that she was going to deliver hot meals to old people in the district. This service is known as Meals-on-Wheels.

Chapter 7 – A New Car

Mary was glad that she had spent a morning with Judy and the Meals-on Wheels. In fact she decided thereand then that once her baby was old enough to be left, she too would join the W.R.V.S. Arthur by now had finished his six months probationary period at Robinson Electronics and had been given a rise in salary.

One of the perks of his new job was a company car and it was a very excited Arthur who one day washanded the keys to a brand new Ford Cortina. As soon as he arrived home with it, he rushed up the pathway and called to Mary to come out and have a look at it. It was a sort of pearl grey with black interior andupholstery. It also had a radio, a heated rear window. electric windscreen-washers and a cigar lighter. Arthur was fortunate that he didn’t have to pay for it as a new car these days costs far more than he couldpossibly afford. Although Arthur had just got quite a reasonable increase in salary, the money he would have had to pay for the car would have amounted to more than the extra he was getting. Judy and her husband, Jim, came out to have a look at it too. In a neighbourhood of the sort they were living in, whenever anyone gets a new car, it always attracts a lot of interest.

Chapter 08 – Having a Baby

Fortunately the damage to the car was not too serious. The front nearside headlight was smashed and the wing was slightly dented. In the morning the local garage fitted a new headlight on straight away and told Arthur to bring the car in a couple of weeks' time when they would straighten out the wing and re-spray it. Of course when he arrived at work with his battered wing, he had to put up with a certain amount of leg-pulling from his colleagues. In fact it took him some time to live it down.

It was now the beginning of May and Mary's baby was just about due. This didn't seem to worry Maryunduly but Arthur appeared to be getting rather nervous. By now they had bought all the things they would need as soon as the baby arrived. Mary had booked her bed in the maternity ward of the local hospital for the middle of the month and had had a case packed for some time. On the tenth of May. Mary woke Arthur at three in the morning and told him that she thought she'd better get to the hospital at once. Arthur rang the hospital and they told him to bring her in immediately.

Chapter 09 – Consumer Protection

Naturally, Arthur and Mary were delighted with the new baby. While Mary was in hospital all four grandparents and Jennifer came to visit her. After a lot of discussion they decided to call it Simon Arthur. After a few days Arthur brought them both back home. Now life underwent a radical change. There was no more lying in in the mornings or the weekends. The baby's routine began to dominate the household. One of the more notable changes that took place was that there was a lot of washing to be done. Up to now Mary had done some of her washing by hand and had taken the rest of it to the launderette in the High Street. Just before Mary had gone into hospital she had persuaded Arthur to buy a fully-automatic front-loading washing machine which made the whole business of washing much less of a chore. One day however after Mary had loaded her machine with washing and was just starting to do the washing up, the machine started to make a most unusual noise After a few seconds of this there was a blue flash and the machine went quiet. Mary found that she could do nothing; she couldn't even take theclothes out of the machine. She immediately rang up the Electricity Board Showroom where they had bought the machine. She was told by the girl who answered the phone that the Electricity Board themselves do not do

any servicing of that particular make of washing machine but that the manufacturers themselves prefer to attend to this. She gave Mary another number to ring. Mary immediately dialled this number and explained her problem to the man on the other end of the line. He told her that the earliest time that they could do anything about it would be two and a half weeks later.

Chapter 10 – Air Travel

Mary had to wait for another six weeks before the washing machine was put right. Meanwhile she had to do the washing at the launderette as before This was very inconvenient especially as she had to take Simon with her in the pram. She and Arthur decided that when they needed to buy another expensive piece of equipment, they would consult the consumer magazine Which.

But it was selling expensive pieces of equipment which was now occupying most of Arthur's attention atthis time. He had been entrusted with the task of travelling up and down the country trying to persuade various firms to buy the computers produced by Robinson Electronic. On his first three tips he did not appear to meet with much success. However, in his four trip, which was to Newcastle in the north east of England, he managed to pull off quite a successful deal with a heavy industrial firm. This was quite a feather in Arthur’s cap and the Sales Director. David Masterson. was so impressed that he decided to give Arthur a chance to see what he could do in an overseas market. The Commercial Attaché at the British Embassy in one of the oil-producing states in the Persian Gulf had received an enquiry which suggested that one of the local banks was interested in replacing their computer, which was becoming obsolescent. The message had been passed on to Robinson Electronics, who were anxious to send somebody out there as soon as possible. The firm was just beginning to show signs of expansion and at that particular moment the entire sales force was otherwise occupied – apart from Arthur, that is. He was given a thorough briefing from the Sales Director prior to his departure. He wondered whether there would be any language problem at first but was assured that English was spoken by all the people he would be likely to meet.

So one Thursday morning he got up early, said goodbye to Mary and Simon and made his way to HeathrowAirport. Having parked his car in the long-term multi-storey car-park, he checked in al the British Airways desk and went to wait in the Departure Lounge.

Chapter 11 – The Big Boss

The briefcase in the aircraft proved to be quite innocent. As Arthur was telling the hostess about it, a passenger overheard him and said that it was his and that he must have left it in the lavatory by mistake. The rest of the flight turned out to be quite uneventful. Arthur's companion left the plane at Athens and Arthur slept for most of the second leg of the flight to Bahrein. When he arrived he checked into his hotel and found a message asking him if he would meet a Mr Abdul Hakim in the hotel lounge at six o’clock that evening. When Arthur met him, he turned out to be the General Manager of the Gulf States Banking Corporation. This was not, in fact, the bank that had made the original enquiry. He told Arthur that he had been shown the literature concerning Robinson Electronics computers by the manager of the other bank, who happened to be his cousin, and had been so impressed that he was determined to be first on the list for one of the new computers. To cut a long story short, the final outcome was that Arthur managed to sell not one but four computers. When he arrived back in London the news of Arthur’s success had already reached the ears of Sir John Robinson, the Chairman and Managing Director and son of the founder of the firm. The day after Arthur's return he was told to report to Sir John's office. Arthur was rather nervous as Sir John had the reputation of being an extremely crusty character, who did not suffer fools gladly. But when he reached Sir John's office he found him extremely affable. He offered Arthur a drink and then congratulated him on the success of his mission to the Gulf and questioned him very closely on the details of the negotiations. After a short conversation, he invited Arthur, out of the blue, to come and have dinner at his home the following Friday and to bring Mary along.

Chapter 12 – Nurses and Doctors

As they were driving home Mary told Arthur what Lady Robinson had said. This put both of them in a fairly good mood for the rest of the journey. Arthur was very busy over the next few weeks tying up the loose ends concerning the contract he had recently negotiated. He had to make one more trip to the Persian Gulf to finalize the deal. While he was there he was approached by several other people who expressed an interest in his firm's products. He telexed his office to find out what delivery dates he could offer his potential customers. Sir John himself phoned Arthur at his hotel and instructed him to delay his return and to explore the possibility of finding an agent to act for the company in the Gulf as it seemed that the demand was expanding sufficiently to warrant it. Arthur again went to see the commercial attaché who recommended a number of likely people, from whom Arthur chose one, a Mr Abdul Aziz. Mr Aziz and Arthur flew back to London together where the rest of the details were taken care of.When Sir John, David Masterson and Arthur had seen Mr Aziz off at Heathrow. Sir John told Arthur to take a couple of weeks off. He was very grateful for this as he felt exhausted after the globe trotting he had been doing The first thing he did was to sleep for twelve hours solid. In the morning Mary brought Arthur his breakfast in bed together with the post. There were three letters, two of which were bills. The third letter was from his sister Jennifer telling him the good news that she had qualified as an S.R.N. (State Registered Nurse) and inviting him and Mary to a party that she and her two flat-mates were having to celebrate the occasion. Arthur was delighted about this; what with one thing and another he hadn't been able to see much of Jennifer for a month or two.

Chapter 13 – Holidays Abroad

At the weekend Arthur and Mary drove down with Simon to Applefield. Shortly after they got there, Christopher and Jennifer arrived together with Christopher's parents. Christopher’s father turned out to be another member of the medical profession. In fact he was quite an eminent Harley: Street surgeon. Dr Newton was astonished to discover that Mr Peacock. Christopher's father, was a contemporary of his when he was a medical student at Guy’s, the famous London teaching hospital. The London teaching hospitals are known not only for the excellence of their medical training but also for the fact that many of their students play rugby and reach a very high standard. Many of them have in fact played for England. Both Dr Newton and Mr Peacock had been members of the same hospital rugby team. Dr Newton was naturally delighted to have somebody he had known for such a long time become an extra member of the family, so to speak. After dinner they had a small number of close family friends in for a few drinks to celebrate Jennifer's engagement. When everybody had left, Arthur brought up the subject of their coming holiday. They were at a bit of a loss as to what to do, particularly as they had got Simon to consider. Mrs Newton surprised both Arthur and Mary by saying that Simon would be no prolem as she would be only too delighted to look after her grandson for a while. This was something that had never- crossed their minds and they were slightly taken aback. However, the more they thought about it, the better the idea seemed. Not having Simon to consider gave them much more scope. Mr Peacock suggested that they might like to go somewhere warm on a package tour. He told them that he and his wife had just recently been to Greece for a holiday and thoroughly enjoyed themselves

Chapter 14 – Teaching and Learning English

The Newtons and the Peacocks spent a very leisurely Sunday after the previous evening's celebrations and in the afternoon Arthur and Mary drove back to London. leaving Simon with Mrs Newton. First thing Monday morning Arthur made a few telephone calls to see if it was at all possible to go on a package tour to Greece that very day. All the travel agents were very helpful but pointed out that package tours normally begin on a Saturday. It happened that there was one tour that left that day but it was unfortunately fully booked. Mary was beginning to think that their plans would come to nothing but Arthur said he would, as a last resort. Try the local travel agent in the High Street to see if there was any way of getting to Greece independently that was not too expensive. He was told that there was a night flight every

day which was cheaper than the normal scheduled fare, and that since it was not jet the high season, they should have no difficulty at all in finding reasonably-priced accommodation on the spot, once they had arrived in Athens. So Arthur bought two plane tickets, went back home and told Mary to start packing. Their flight left Heathrow just after eleven o'clock and arrived in Athens just as the sun was rising. They felt rather weary although they had managed to snatch forty winks on the plane. They went to the enquiry desk and were given two or three addresses of hotels. They told the taxi driver to go to the first hotel on the list, booked in and went straight to bed and slept till lunchtime. After an excellent lunch they went out to do a spot of sightseeing. They climbed the hill up to the Acropolis, which impressed them both considerably. Then they wandered back down again feeling rather hot and sticky and, above all, thirsty.

Chapter 15 – Teaching and Learning English

Arthur and Mary had a very pleasant half-hour with Richard and his students and the following evening they all had a meal together in a typical Athenian restaurant. The next day, feeling rather tired, they packed their bags again, went down to Piraeus, which is the port of Athens, and caught a boat for the island of Delos. They spent a few very agreeable days there and then on their final Saturday went back to Athens feeling completely refreshed and looking very suntanned. They went for a final look at the Acropolis before getting a flight back to England. On the Sunday they drove down to Applefield to collect Simon and on Monday morning at nine o'clock, Arthur drove to his office car-park, took his brief-case out of the boot and made his way towards his office. Imagine his surprise when he saw that his name had been removed from his office door. Feeling rather puzzle, if not alarmed, he went in to find his secretary on the telephone, apparently talking to Sir John Robinson himself. When she put the phone down he asked her why his name had been taken away; she ignored the question and told him that Sir John wanted to see him immediately. All kinds of thoughts passed through Arthur’s mind as he made his way to the presence. However, Sir John greeted him very cordially, asked how his holiday had been and then told him that he was to have lunch with him at twelve o'clock. Arthur somewhat shakily mentioned the disappearance o his name. Sir John said that he knew nothing about such matters and that he had better ask somebody else. In any case he was already five minutes late for a meeting with the works manager. When Arthur got back to his office, he telephoned a few of his colleagues to ask them if they could solve the mystery. They all professed ignorance and seemed to show a complete lack of interest. So Arthur spent rather a worried morning.

THE END