TRUE STORIES FROM A BED & BREAKFAST HOST. I grew up in a B&B since the age of 4, after 20 plus years of having a constant stream of strangers come through the front door. You pick up a story or two....
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Now and again a group of girls would come to stay for about a month and the house would have a more feminine feel to it, more flowers, the smell of perfume and, of course, more washing! This particular group were from Brazil and there were four of them. They arrived just as the summer was coming to an end and they would all be experiencing cold weather for the first time. They were such happy girls, full of laughter and a sassiness that we English have never been able to master even on the dance floor.
They were here to learn English at a Language School and were friends and cousins. They loved being in London and London loved them. Within two weeks the prettiest had a boyfriend who owned a nightclub. After about a month one of the girls came to me and asked if I could help them find jobs as they wanted to stay in London. I checked that they had a visa valid for a year, and then I set about seeing how I could help them.
I said the easiest thing to do would be to set up a cleaning company in an affluent area like Wimbledon - remember I am talking 20 years ago now. We posted handmade adverts in the windows of newsagents in Wimbledon and the Raynes Park area.
Within a week, four enquiries came through. I drove the girls to their first appointments, I also advised them to work in pairs, when attending their first interview or job. Their first booking was located in a luxury block of flats, the owner of which was in charge of high-end tailors on Bond Street and he wanted his apartment cleaned once a week. The girls got the job! They were thrilled. Several more jobs came through including an Estate Agency, they were rocking and rolling after six weeks, with back to back work.
The girls didn't drink alcohol but they would dance until they could dance no more. They gave me dancing lessons on my patio when the sun was going down and when the nights got colder we would move the table to the corner in the kitchen and dance there. It was like having four grown up daughters – it was great fun.
The three months they had booked with me went by and the girls asked me to find them a place to stay that was more affordable. My handyman, Pat, had a three bedroomed house and as he had known them since they first arrived, they took him up on his offer and moved in.
He loved the laughter, music and company they breathed into his home. It wasn't long before a second one of the girls was dating the owner of the Estate Agency (the one they had been working for) and another one went out with one of his friends and within a year the two of them were married.
Those four girls had a completely different outlook on life and made the most boring job seem exciting and fun, and I could see why they had captured the hearts of the men they were dating.
They kept in touch for a while and the last I heard was that the girl who married the Estate agent had a baby. It is such a shame that I lost their details. I'd love to know what they are up to nowadays... They were the nearest I had, to being a mother and friend to four really delightful girls.
