Another cup of jasmine tea

chapter 4

I was settling into my new accommodation nicely. I was starting to get my giros again, so I had a little bit of money in my pocket.
I did a bit of the tourist thing because I had not been to London before, but some of the big places were too expensive or they looked at me suspiciously because of my hippie appearance. It wasn’t that I was dirty. I’d been to the laundrette. Now I had access to hot water, I was bathing and shaving every day and washing my hair once a week.
I’d cleaned my room as best as I could, but without the company of the commune around me and with nothing to make, I was bored. I pestered some of the other residents in the squat, but half of them were elderly drunks. The other half were addicts, who were either off their heads or looking for their next fix. Sunshine was an addict too.
I was determined not to go down the same route. I needed something to do. I needed to find a job.
Sunshine warned me that a paid job would interfere with my dole money. She suggested that I tried volunteering at the Oxfam shop, or help to serve cooked breakfasts to the homeless for a charity in north Kensington... if I really wanted a job, she knew some people who ran a vegetarian coffee shop in Covent Garden. I opted for the last one. It was a proper job. It would be my first. I needed to make a good go of it. Maybe my mum would forgive me for leaving in the first place, if she knew I was earning my own money and not surviving on the state. Earning my own money was the only way I was going to get out of the squat to move into my own flat. Once I had my own flat, then maybe I could get an even better job. I could finally do my ‘A’ levels at night school and then go to university as my parents had originally planned. The only exception being, I had done it all myself, without their support. Surely that was more of an achievement.
Sunshine spoke to her friends who had arranged an informal meeting to see what the job entailed.
They had not called it an interview, but I knew that’s what it was. I bought some new clothes from Oxfam to smarten myself up. It wasn’t much, but they made me look less of a hippie. It took about an hour to get there, including a trip on the tube.

I was aware of tourists and others watching me suspiciously, even though I was much smarter than I usually was. I tried to ignore their stares and concentrate on the novelty of being in the tube in London for the first time. I had as much right to be on the train as them, after all!
At Covent Garden, there was lots of people milling around, speaking many unfamiliar languages. I presumed they were tourists. I passed a street acrobat who had drawn quite a crowd around him.
The cafe was easy to find. It appeared to be quite busy, even though it was not lunchtime yet.
In my mind I had supposed that a vegetarian coffee shop would be painted in shades of green and purple with a sprinkling of orange. The pictures on the wall would look like the painter was stoned when he had put his brush onto the canvas. I thought it would look on the shabby side of chic. However, the aim of the cafe was to attract vegetarians and non-vegetarians to sample the food and drink available, so it had a much more conventional decor, which solid wood tables and chairs and framed newspaper cuttings on the wall depicting famous London events in time.
Sunshine had told me to ask for Carol, so I did. A woman in her early thirties came out from the back of the shop to greet me. She had her bleached blonde hair piled on the top of her head. Much of it was trying to escape it’s restraints, so she was left with what looked like a pineapple top on her head. Her kohl lined eyes had been smudged in the heat of the kitchen. She greeted me warmly with a smile and a shake of her hand. She looked like she had been busy baking because her white apron was sprinkled with flour and a dusting of cocoa powder. Underneath her apron, she wore what appeared to be a conventional tee shirt that could be found in and Marks and Spencer or C and A shop up and down the country. However, she also wore a pair of hideous, voluminous harem trousers in a green and blue paisley print with a pair of boots that looked like she’d just borrowed them from a builder, who had just left a building site.
I liked the fact that she still showed a bit of a wild streak. She may have had to turn the volume down in order to make a decent living, I supposed.
I saw the kitchen briefly. It was all white tiles and stainless steel. It looked small to be providing food for the cafe, but perfectly functional.
Carol’s office in contrast, was in complete disarray. She nervously moved bits of paper around, then had an idea.
“Would you like some jasmine tea?” she asked. “I could do with something soothing and relaxing”.
I nodded in agreement, trying to be polite.
As she busied herself filling the kettle and switching it on, she found some clean cups our office a cupboard and threw a teabag in each one. She found some of her home made biscuits that had been put away. She put a few on a plate in front of me. Meanwhile she asked me about Sunshine. How was she doing? Was she still a smack head? How did I know her?
She had heard of the commune in Wales, but had not actually been there. She supposed it was one of those places that was good to visit, but not to love there.
I agreed nervously. I wished the proper interview would hurry up because I hated this small talk. I had never had an interview before, so I had no idea what I would be asked.
She passed me the cup of jasmine tea, then took her place at the other side of the desk.
I thanked her for the tea and tried to take a sip. It was much too hot to drink straight away.
I left it to cool a little. Carol went back to shuffling papers, eventually finding what she wanted. She started to ask me questions about my work experience and my qualifications...
...the next thing I can remember is her thanking me for the interview. She congratulated me for being successful and getting the job. She would see me again tomorrow at nine o’clock.
What that happened there? I supposed my nerves had taken over and that was why I couldn’t remember anything about the actual interview. But anyway, it didn’t matter. I had got the job! My first job ever! That was a reason to celebrate if ever there was one!
As I waited for the tube, I realised how bloated I felt. I’d not felt as full as this since I’d lived back with mum and dad and we’d all indulged for a party celebration. My trousers felt uncomfortably tight as if I had eaten far too much, but I could not remember eating a thing. The only thing I could remember having was the jasmine tea. I dismissed the feeling, blaming it on the beans I’d eaten two or three days ago.
I called in at a local grocer’s shop on my way home. I could not celebrate with too much alcohol. It would not look good turning up on my first day with a hangover. Instead I chose a large tin of Chunky Chicken and a chocolate bar for pudding. Chunky Chicken was chicken in a thick white sauce. I would serve that over toast. I usually just bought the small tins. I could not decide which chocolate bar to have either, so I bought a Wispa, a Crunchie and a Dairy Milk. I could decide on which one to have later.
I surprised myself! It was only lunchtime, but I ate the whole large tin of chicken, half a loaf of bread and all the chocolate! I told myself off for being so greedy. I was supposed to have had half the chicken for lunch and half for my dinner. The same with the chocolate. I made excuses for myself saying it was to celebrate my new job an such, but it meant I had nothing in to eat later. I had to go out and pick up a takeaway meal. I chose a chop suey roll, chips and gravy from the local Chinese. They were the cheapest things on the menu. The chop suey roll was made up of scraps left over from other meals, wrapped up in wonton pastry and deep fried until it was crispy. The gravy was not like English gravy. It had extra spices - maybe a bit of soy sauce. It was delicious and stopped the chips from being so dry.
The portion of chips was probably enough for two people, but I ate the lot. I went to bed feeling very satisfied that night, remembering to switch the alarm on my clock radio for my early start the next morning.