6th September 2010

Ah, there you are. Sorry not to have kept this diary up to date. The fact is the queen is not well and has had two weeks in hospital. I have had to be nurse, cook, secretary and message taker for the past month. She still isn’t so bright. It’s worrying when the one you love is not well. Everybody has been so nice, which is making it tolerable for her, but I’d rather like to see her getting out and about again.

It was our wedding anniversary at the end of August, and I had asked her a month or so back what she would like. She said she would like a watch. Now I had bought her a watch a few years back. The leather strap had been replaced and was now tatty and anyway she preferred an expandable bracelet type thing, also she needed a watch with a slightly bigger dial to make it easier to read.

Coincidentally, I had recently pulled off the top of the button on my watch when trying to change the time which had left a sharp point projecting. I had asked the jeweller how much it would cost to repair and was quoted £10 to £17, so, as the watch was only about £25 new, I was not inclined to pay it.

Now you can spend a lot of money on watches these days, but they still tell the same time. I mean a £10,000 watch doesn’t tell you a more accurate time or offer superior time. It doesn’t come with the assurance of sunny weather or a promise of better health for the wearer or anything like that, and gilt ones look like gold even if they are made from reclaimed FrayBentos tins.

The outcome was that the queen and I agreed that we would buy watches for each other for our anniversary, and that, as she wasn’t yet mobile, I would go down town on my own and choose them. I was carefully briefed and we agreed that I should pay whatever was necessary to get exactly what each of us wanted. We expected this to be anything from £25 to £100 each.

I started at the place we had always regarded as our ‘watch shop’, and was surprised to be told that they had nothing in that price range at the moment because they had let stocks run down prior to imminent structural changes and re-decoration of the shop. ‘If I cared to come back in three weeks …’

No I didn’t.

I crossed the road and went into another small jeweller’s shop. There was a beautiful young lady who should have been on a cat walk. She smiled so sweetly that I couldn’t stop staring at her. ‘We don’t sell watches in the ordinary way,’ she breathed. ‘Perhaps the occasional antique watch bought privately … but if you go into the Alhambra Centre there is a jeweller there who sells nothing but watches, I think you will find what you are looking for. Can I help you with anything else?’

She could, and I didn’t want to stop looking at her, but the queen wanted a watch. I had to move on. I reluctantly came out and made my way to the Alhambra Centre. On the way I passed the huge window of a big jeweller’s shop and peeked in. I saw several ranges of watches with price tickets on them with numbers as long as my National Insurance number … I walked on.

I reached the Alhambra Centre, went through the swing doors and quickly spotted a shop with a huge display of watches … several shelves with about a hundred or more on each shelf. There were no prices showing which I found irritating. They could cost hundreds … even thousands. Anyway, they did look interesting. A young man came up to me. He didn’t speak. I quickly saw a watch that looked like the very thing that would suit the queen.
‘May I see that?’ I said.
He nodded and handed it to me. Then I saw one that looked like what I wanted. He handed it to me and I put it on my wrist. It seemed to fill the bill. I had a closer look at each of them. They seemed fine. ‘How much are these two?’ I said.
He pointed to a sign high up over the counter. It read: “Watches - 3 for £10.”
I read it again. I couldn’t believe it. I took a step back. I was stunned, but my training as a husband told me not to show it. I looked back down at the watches. I didn’t know what to say. I checked that both watches were working. They were. They both showed the correct time and the second hand was sweeping round the dial at an even rate.

Eventually I managed to speak. ‘But I don’t want three watches,’ I said.
The young man pointed back up to the sign. Then I realised he wasn’t English. ‘Tree for ten pund,’ he said.
I said, ‘How about these two for six pounds?’
He looked thoughtful, then after a moment he shook his head.
I said, ‘How about these two for seven pounds?’
He nodded.
I pulled out a five pound note and two pound coins. ‘Wrap them up,’ I said.
‘No boxes,’ he said dropping the money in the cash till.
I frowned. But I wasn’t going to argue about boxes. I put the two watches in my pocket and looked up to say, ‘Thank you,’ but he had moved away to attend to another customer.

I came home highly chuffed. So was the queen. Now I’m stuck, trying to think of a Wedding Anniversary present for her.

Well, I have started my new book, but not progressed far due to hospitals and other problems. I still have to get a carpet for the little box room I use as a study, but I have to get motivated for that sort of thing. I want to do it before the winter winds start, and I noticed quite a few leaves on the lawn this morning. Autumn isn’t far away.

I enjoy hearing from you. I seem to have readers all round the world. You can always reach me at angeldetective@uwclub.net, and if you write anything really interesting, I might mention it here on the diary.

Cheers for now, and thanks for looking in.

PS. What do you buy a woman who has everything?






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