Life's Illusions - Chapter 6 - Marital Bliss and Pandemonium
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We moved into the Penthouse at Thorn Plaza a week before the wedding though we'd failed miserably at finding staff to look after the place, everyone we interviewed seemed to fall short at some stage until we thought we would have to compromise and accept some of the rejected candidates.
2 days after we moved in I was at The Woodruff to meet the 3 new Hotel Directors chosen by Ramon in preparation for his move to CEO of SPECTRUM.
Ramon suggested I meet them in a working environment as he had them working together daytimes only for two weeks (He was personally taking up the evening shifts) so they could understand what made each other tick and get to know how each would respond to differing situations.
To say I was impressed would be an understatement as they completed tasks and bounced easily off each other. I congratulated Ramon he had excelled yet again.
Sitting out on the terrace I was pleased to see Rozel passing by, I waved her over and after the obligatory hugs as greeting I asked if she had time to have coffee with me and she surprised me, saying it was her day off so yes she had all the time in the world and would relish a catch up (something we now did regularly).
Apparently she was only here today to help reassure a young housemaid she had hired that she was doing a good job and to show her a few tips on easing her workload, I told her to put in her hours but she just phished that one and said it was only a couple of hours and time well spent if we got a first class housemaid from it.
I went to get coffee and some nibbles despite Rozels protest that she should be the one fetching and carrying not me, I just phished that same as she'd done to me and left her laughing.
Over coffee we chatted about lots of things, her job which she loved, her family, in particular her sister who she was thinking of taking on here as a cleaner though she felt her sister was full of confidence and capable of so much more, then there was her brother in law who was desperate for a job having just come out of the Armed Forces where he had been a 'Special Ops Commander'.
Without knowing it Rozel gave me a complete description of the couple we were looking for to be our live in staff and I guess at some stage I drifted off into thought only to be brought back to earth by Rozels laughter, "I guess I'm boring you" she laughed.
"No far from it you just hit on something, Lenny and I are having a problem with".
I went on to tell her about our disappointing search for staff and she laughed again, telling me for an intelligent man I was a bit dense at times.
I knew she was only saying it in a good natured way, but she went on to ask who searched out the household staff for The Woodruff and I saw her point, she was the expert and I'd completely overlooked that but something else was taking form in my mind so I asked if she and her family would join us for lunch tomorrow (Sunday), she agreed to come as her husband was working all day and her sons were at a weekend scout group meeting.
In particular I asked if she could bring along her sister and brother in law, she agreed telling me I was being sneaky but she could read my game.
The following day we walked along the Promenade to Mano's Beachfront Restaurant and Bar, I'd been going there on Sunday's since the first week I arrived in Torremolinas.
The first few Sunday's when it was apparent I was alone I was drawn in by different families who would never allow someone to be alone on what they called family day its traditional to bring everyone into the family in Spain.
As the weeks and months passed I was regarded as a member of several families with Lenny and my staff being afforded the same privilege.
When we arrived I spotted Rozel chatting with a couple of women and as I gained her attention I whispered "Don't let your sister know I'm checking her out".
Rozel smiled and walked away towards Rozel.... !!!
I was dumbstruck the two women were identical twins and right now I could see some rather animated conversation involving a lot of pointing in my direction which the man next to them seemed to be absorbing before heading in my direction followed by both Rozels.
Within seconds I was face to face with a well built man of around 6'1" who though not angry certainly could not be described as happy either.
"Senor would you care to explain why you were checking out my wife, as you put it".
At this point whilst Lenny was almost doubled up laughing hysterically at my predicament, the real Rozel linked her arm through mine and introduced me as her boss PJ Thorn and admitted we had set up today's lunch so that I could meet her sister and brother in law without them knowing which now seemed to have become an exercise in damage control.
Rozels brother in law seemed somewhat satisfied with the explanation and held out his hand in a friendly gesture saying, "Mr Thorn I'm Leandro, this is my wife Rosa, just over there", he pointed to a active little girl, "the bundle of joy getting into as much mischief as possible is our daughter Reya, and it could possibly be a pleasure to meet you once you've answered my earlier question".
I noticed he now had a hint of a smile but his intense stare also confirmed he would appreciate an answer and soon.
I took the opportunity to introduce Lenny then asked Leandro if we could chat over a beer and he followed me out to the beach terrace where Mano delivered 2 ice cold beers to us.
I started the conversation off by saying "First off let me apologise Leandro, Rozel told me in conversation that both you and Rosa were looking for employment and I thought I might be able to help in that area so I'd wanted to get a general feel for both of you without alerting you but it seems my discreet checking out went drastically wrong".
He laughed and held out his hand again, "Ok let's start again, to my friends I'm Leo and now Mr Thorn I'm pleased to meet you"' I shook his hand and told him, "And I'm pleased to meet you Leo but to my friends I'm PJ", we touched glasses in a toast and the afternoon rolled onwards with lots of friendly chatting over a long and leisurely lunch.
As the afternoon drew to a close around 5.30pm Lenny asked them all back to our apartment.
Rozel had been here several times with some of her staff to help get everything set up for our moving in so she was familiar with where everything was and headed off into the kitchen with Lenny to get drinks and snacks.
I realised that Leo and Rosa were standing just inside the lounge as if in awe of this place so I went over and said "Look I have an ulterior motive for inviting you here and if you're not comfortable I'm going to fail my mission so do me a favour, go explore, the only room off limits is my office and that's locked so everywhere else is fair game now go for it".
Their faces were like kids in a sweet shop but off they went and I could hear ohhs and ahhs coming back from them as they explored.
We congregated up on the roof in a bunch of armchairs and sofas below a pergola covered in Bougainvillea, Lenny and I had already decided we liked this family and wondered if they would be up for taking the job of housekeepers.
Around 7pm Rozel had to leave as her husband would be back from work shortly and her sons would be arriving back from their scouting weekend as well.
Leo and Rosa made to leave with her but Lenny told them it would be nice if they could stay a while so we all wished Rozel goodbye and settled back chatting easily.
Reya had dozed off a while back and was happy on her own sofa under the dappled shade of the Bougainvillea.
Leo told us she was such an active child in the daytime that usually she would be asleep by this time and no matter what she wouldn't wake till morning at which time her batteries had recharged and she would be into anything and everything.
I looked across at Lenny and she did her usual 'duhhhh' look whilst making a pushing motion with her hands, Leo and Rosa were looking totally puzzled so I thought, oh well, here goes.
"Leo, Rosa, I said to you earlier that I had an ulterior motive for wanting you to be comfortable here, I'm not sure if Rozel has mentioned it to you but we have been searching for a couple to run our household, hire and fire the help needed, look after housekeeping/maintenance/security, well to cut a long story short we've interviewed dozens of prospects but not once have we felt comfortable with any of them, until today, and we feel a little guilty because we've been interviewing you without your permission but please will you at least hear us out?".
Leo and Rosa smiled at each other then as if tuned to the same thought they both turned to look at Reya who we had learned was nearly 2 years old, still happily snoozing, turning back to us Leo spoke, "PJ I admit I had an inkling there may be something you wanted to offer us but I admit I was way off mark, I figured me as a gardener/handyman and Rosa a cleaner/housemaid, are you saying you might consider us possible candidates to run your household?".
Oh my god I couldn't believe our luck they were at least open to the possibility. "Actually Leo no we wouldn't be considering you a possibility".
I saw his and Rosas expression change to one of crestfallen, at that point Lenny in her typical quick tempered way jumped in reminding me so much of her mother, "Oh for gods sake PJ stop pissing around before I smack you up the back of the head", by now I could see our guests were totally confused, " Leo we couldn't consider you as possibles because you already made it to 100% definates, we are offering you the jobs if you want them, oh and I saw the looks towards Reya so let me explain if you say yes you will be part of the family as will Reya and any more children you may have and Reya will be having a little playmate in a few months".
Rosa looked towards Lenny who nodded yes in answer as Rosa launched herself over to Lenny for congratulatory hugs.
While the girls talked babies and weddings Leo and I explored the sort of things he would need to know I outlined my nett worth and Leo's jaw dropped, he guessed we were as he put it 'well off' but hadn't thought we were that well off.
I explained that because of the wealth it made us all targets for a lot of cranks and criminals and I admitted I knew about his special forces background and that along with Rozels character reference where she basically thought he and her sister walked on water reassured me that this was a really good decision.
I explained that they would have to live in and he laughed saying he supposed they could rough it here if needed.
I couldn't believe our luck this wonderful family just knitted in with us they had the same sense of humour and from off hand comments their values matched ours as well.
Lenny had taken Rosa to see the separate apartment within our penthouse which had its own front door, hallway, 3 bedrooms, lounge, kitchen and access to the wrap around balcony.
Rosa came back with tears streaming down her face but one look assured Leo they were joyful tears.
I pointed out if they agreed all living expenses would be taken care of, Leo would be tasked with keeping us safe, all aspects of security would be his domain, even kitting us out with things like a fleet of cars to his specifications, I told him we had 15 spaces for the penthouse in the underground secure parking.
I stressed we would defer to him always on security matters.
I told Leo there was another aspect of security I needed to discuss but I couldn't do that until he had agreed to take the position so let's talk money then we'll leave you alone to discuss everything you've had thrown at you.
I asked Leo what he'd been earning up to the point he'd left the Armed Forces and I was surprised it was so low, he'd been on a salary of 50,000.00 Euros plus inconvenience payments for being overseas as applicable so I hoped he didn't pass out when I gave him the salary figures I was thinking.
I told him the salary would be 5,000.00 Euros and he seemed deep in thought before replying that would be good as it would put him just ahead of his old army salary with expenses taken care of.
I tried unsuccessfully to hide the giggles as I pointed out his calculations were a bit off and he looked puzzled until I pointed out I was talking weekly not monthly and Rosas salary at Lenny's insistence would be the same.
I could see him struggling with the calculation, not because he couldn't do it but because his brain was telling him there must be something wrong here, so I voiced the figures, "That would be a joint annual salary of 520,000.00 Euros", and there was a stunned silence.
At that point we had been talking for a couple of hours and Lenny suggested we order in some supper so we left Leo and Rosa to chat over all they had heard.
As we walked back across the roof towards the conservatory and the stairs to the apartment we clearly heard Rosa say "I didn't understand, what was that about salary?", Leo must have explained because as we were half way down the stairs there was a stifled scream, Lenny and I smiled at each other and simultaneously high fived.
Lenny called out for a variety of different courses and 30 minutes later the concierge called up to say our order was delivered and his bellhop was bringing it up.
One of my strongest points when we set out security for the building was that no one got past reception unless they were accompanied by the unit owners or by a senior member of reception staff making it sometimes difficult in the initial moving in stages as we had limited reception staff and appointments for any specialist contractors had to be scheduled in advance to avoid clashes though there were still times when contractors were held at reception until a member of staff became free to accompany them to a particular apartment and supervise whilst they worked.
There were strict instructions in place that no 'outsider' was ever to be allowed free roaming past reception, all of our unit owners had to pledge agreement to that and several other security clauses on pain of being removed from the building if they broke the clauses.
If the worst happened and they were refused further entry to the building they would need to obtain a valuation of their unit as would we and if the valuations differed by more than 10,000.00 Euros a middle ground payment would be made before arbitration and the unit owners belongings packed and shipped at our expense to them, they would never be allowed back into the building.
We ferried the food upstairs in the lift and invited Leo and Rosa to dig in, all the while ignoring the elephant in the room until Rosa did a Lenny type gesture pushing her open hands towards Leo, urging him to say something. Leo finally spoke up, "PJ, Lenny, if you're still serious we would like to work for you".
Lenny and I looked at each other grinning, then we jumped up and did the whole woop woop dance including bumping bums before resuming a flat expression, sitting down we high fived and I turned to Leo and Rosa (who were openly bursting their sides laughing) to say, "You bet your sweet asses we are still serious so consider yourselves employed, oh and to clarify, yes we pay the salary but you work with us not for us and Leo any security measures you feel are needed should encompass the whole family that includes Rosa and Reya. I'm sorry there's a downside but just by being close to us you open yourselves up to the cranks and criminals, just so you understand".
Having accepted our offer I could now show Leo the other security measure we'd had installed, a high tech safe room with everything needed to support up to 15 persons, once locked down it was self sufficient and guaranteed impervious to anything below a nuclear attack.
And so another problem was solved, within 2 days Leo and Rosa who had been living with Rozels family were moved in and set about building a staff each.
It had taken them a little by surprise when they realised they were managers not manual workers but we soon sorted that and before our wedding day we had a staff of 3 in the kitchen along with 3 household cleaners/maids and 2 gardeners/maintenance.
Leo initially came to me several times with ideas for upgrading security until I called him into my office.
"Leo I realise this is all new to you but I have every confidence that you will do a great job, now don't take this the wrong way but one of the main reasons I needed you for this role is that I'm too busy and distracted to give it the attention it needs in order to keep us all safe, so going forward you are autonomous, you will make decisions and will be answerable to no one, if there's anything I want to query I will do just that and ask you to explain however that does not mean whatever the query relates to will be reversed it just means you have to explain to me your actions, in a nutshell, I trust you and I'm not qualified to manage you so I won't".
Leo expressed his surprise but also his gratitude that I had such confidence in him and promised any rule he implemented would be for our greater good only.
We had dinner two nights before our wedding day with Gramps and Lenny's parents and whilst waiting for sweets Gramp passed me a large ornate rosewood box.
I knew what I was holding, I looked at Gramps and he said, "Before she passed away your Grandmother made me promise I would keep this safe until the time was right and then I was to pass it on, well I think this is what she meant so I'm giving it to you now".
He passed me a key, I didn't need to open the box I knew what it contained, my Grandmothers jewels and I knew why I had them.
Lenny and her parents were looking puzzled so I explained, "She always told me, one day these would be mine to pass on to my partner and then on down to my children, I'd forgotten".
I turned the box around and pushed it towards Lenny, "This is a wedding present from my Grandmother, in trust, to you, not to me, if you accept it you are charged with keeping it safe, adding to it and eventually passing it forward to our children and their partners".
I passed the key to her and watched as she opened the box and tears ran down her face as she murmured, "Beautiful, so beautiful".
Lenny and I agreed we'd expected our wedding day to be traumatic and tiring but it turned out to be one of the most amazing days either of us had ever experienced.
I was mesmerised the moment I saw Lenny in her magnificent gown, wearing my Grandmothers diamond necklace and matching earrings with the delicate diamond tiara set in her hair holding her veil in place.
She seemed to float down the aisle a vision in white on the arm of her proud looking father, no scrub that, on the arm of a positively beaming Edward, from that point the day became magical.
I swear I couldn't and didn't go more than a minute without searching the room for her and equally she for me, each time our eyes locked we smiled like school kids who new a secret and we did, I was as certain of my love for her as she was of her love for me and we revelled in that feeling, it was euphoric, intoxicating.
It seemed as though every employee of Woodruff was outside the church and as we exited we had an honour guard to pass through of Chefs, Waiters, Cleaners, Gardeners and Receptionists.
If we thought the scene at the church was fantastic we were not prepared at all for what greeted us as we arrived on the Promenade in front of SPECTRUM.
It seemed as though mostly all of the town folk had turned out to wish us well, inevitably a lot of tourists had stopped as well, caught up in the celebrations and as our open top car came to a stop an absolute roar went up, we couldn't believe that over such a short time we had been accepted here and shown so much goodwill.
We shook hands with and received warm wishes from as many as possible before entering SPECTRUM to more cheers from the wedding guests.
On the way in I noticed a couple of our reception staff and beckoned them over, I asked them to get as many names and addresses of the locals who'd come to wish us well as possible and to claim overtime for however long it took and I'd square it with their managers.
The reception was fabulous, the guests were enthralled with the decor of SPECTRUM and Philipe had worked his magic as we knew he would.
The afternoon and evening were everything we could have hoped for with excellent food and drink, funny speeches, including Billy relating some really embarrassing anecdotes from our growing years including how we had been partners in crime since age 5 when we met on our first day of school as two terrified first termer's.
Lenny's dad Edward was hilarious regaling the guests with tales of how they learned about the forthcoming marriage and how he'd been preparing to pay me to take Lenny off their hands, until he realised I was higher up the Forbes list than he was, but I doubt there was a dry eye in the house when he got serious and talked of how grateful he was that his little girl had found her soulmate.
Before I got up to make my speech I sent word to Philipe to muster his troops because I was going to call them all forward in my speech,
Philipe sent back a simple 'are you sure' and my answer was a simple 'Oh yes'.
At the end of my speech where I duly thanked Gramps for raising me (my father hadn't responded to our invitation) and Lennys parents, my best mate and best man Billy, the beautiful bridesmaids, the groomsmen and ushers I halted procedures to call every employee of SPECTRUM to assemble on the two staircases, it took a few minutes before all of them shuffled nervously in and I asked if this was everyone and was told all except Aidana and Anton the dishwashers but they were embarrassed so they stayed in the kitchen, I sent someone back to the kitchens for them.
Finally I asked the assembled guest to stand and show their appreciation for the 38 guys and girls who through their hard work made this magical reception possible and my first stop in shaking every hand were a beaming Aidana and Anton to whom I whispered, "don't ever hide again, you are every bit as important as Chef to the smooth running of this restaurant".
Each staff member working that day was given an envelope containing 100 Euros and a voucher for a meal for 2 to be exchanged by VIP presentation at the concierge desk on any date of their choice without pre-booking.
Ramon almost had a fit when I told him what I'd done for the staff, fearing they would all turn up on the same night but true to form he worked out a deal with them to liaise with each other so that no more than 3 couples would hit SPECTRUM on the same night and in return he would guarantee a prime table on the balcony.
Lenny and I started the dancing and within minutes we were being cut in on constantly by a stream of guests wanting just a few steps with each of us before the next person cut in.
The morning after our wedding day we said farewell to our family and to Leo and Rosa before boarding the Gulfstream V which I'd decided I needed to hold on to a while longer and headed for Lanzarote in the Canaries an island I'd always loved.
The first week of our honeymoon was to be ours alone and then Gramps along with Lennys parents, Leo, Rosa and Reya would join us, flying out on Gramps plane.
At the end of the second week Ramon and his son Raul were flying out to join us then we would all travel home together.
I'd booked us in at a 4 plus star hotel in Playa Blanca for 3 weeks, I was open to changing that if Lenny wanted but I should have known on our first day there she told me she could see why I loved it here it was wonderful and so we spent leisurely days either by the pool, on the beach or people watching from our favourite promenade cafe/bar.
On the 5th day Lenny asked me to indulge her and we walked lazily along the promenade and she had me sit on the sea wall next to the Princess Yaisa Hotel, in front of a vacant lot.
I didn't see what she'd brought me here for but she asked if I remembered sitting on the promenade wall in Torremolinas and pointing to a building I had to have, I said yes, that became our home thanks purely to her hard work.
She fluttered her eyes and asked "Do you suppose I could borrow that funny cheque book again?".
As silly as it sounded I knew exactly what she was asking for, I just couldn't figure out why, "You mean the one with the blank cheques but why would you need that here?".
She turned and pointed to the empty lot. "I want it", she said, "it's going to be our home here, if you'll let me I'm going to build us a fairytale getaway that will blow your mind.
I looked at the site for the first time and could see what attracted her to it.
It was sloping from the road and dropped gently to the promenade, situated above a beautiful beach with an uninterrupted view out to sea.
The site was big enough to accommodate a medium sized hotel but Lenny already had other plans.
In her vision it would eventually accommodate a main house on three levels with five guest bedrooms a complete floor for ourselves and a further 6 bungalows, 3 on each side running down to the lower end of the plot.
I loved the idea but I did pull her into my lap to say "First mistake Mrs Thorn".
She looked worried, I could see from her expression she thought she'd overstepped the mark so I quickly added, "didn't we agree that neither of us now has 'MY' we only have 'OUR' so you will never again ask me if or what you can spend, you may seek, and even then only if you see fit, my opinion, are we clear Mrs Thorn?".
By now her beaming smile was all I needed to see and she threw her arms around me kissing me all over my face.
I suppose it was too much to expect that either of us would relax completely and so no surprise when Lenny immersed herself into acquiring the site and looking for an architect she could work with whilst I made a decision on the Gulfstream V.
Gramps had been pushing me for years to have my own plane but until now it didn't make sense.
Whilst I was managing the North American Division I could hop commercial flights quite easily and work during the flight, now it became more difficult as the most prolific commercial carriers around Europe were charter airlines specialising in package holiday traffic which gave limited seat room and virtually no opportunity to get any work done on the flight, and so with Lennys input the only decision remaining was to either buy or lease my own plane and after talking to Gramps and our accountants I opted to buy rather than lease.
It didn't take long to narrow down the options and within 24 hours I had it whittled down to 3 aircraft.
The Gulfstream V we were currently using was up for sale, it could carry 13 passengers, 3 crew and was one of the contenders but it's drawback was no bedroom and with the baby on the way that was going to be a necessity.
The other two were both Gulfstream G550's, one had a bedroom with a huge king size bed and private bathroom, the other had been configured as two slightly smaller double bedrooms sharing a communal bathroom, each had the usual seating in the main cabin and each could accommodate up to 19 passengers with 3 crew.
I didn't want to make a decision on which aircraft we would take until I had my crew and that proved to be the easiest part.
Gramps had 5 pilots and no dedicated cabin crew for his plane.
When I spoke to him I asked why so many for one aircraft, he told me about pilot hours and how he hops from place to place often at a moments notice so he needed the versatility to be able to rest pilots just in case and besides its only fair to ensure they get adequate free time.
He explained that before a pilot can gain credibility to be considered by most airlines they need to have a certain number of flying hours on record and this helps them build that number whilst still holding a salaried position.
Gramps has a Chief Pilot Charles who I know well and get along great with.
Charles had been with Grand for 8 years and it was his idea to dispense with cabin staff and take on two extra experienced senior pilots and two younger qualified pilots who wanted the opportunity to build up their hours, that way there would always be at least 1 senior pilot in the cockpit and the younger guys rotated between co pilot and cabin crew duties to build up their hours.
Sitting in our favourite beach bar one morning whilst Lenny was attending a site meeting, I took a call from Charles, he offered his congratulations on our marriage and hoped he wasn't bothering me at an inconvenient time, I assured him it was a pleasure to speak to him.
Once the pleasantries were taken care of he told me Grand had shared my plans to acquire my own aircraft and he wondered if I had a crew in mind.
I told him I was planning to come pick his brains on that because I didn't have a clue how to find them, at that he announced "PJ its your lucky day, I have a group of 5 buddies, a set up similar to our operation who were told yesterday that the person they work for has been chopped and the first cost cutting measure is the sale of the company plane, they are unemployed as of yesterday so I reckon I can get you a 1st rate crew secured if you want me too.
I couldn't believe my luck I'd expected a traumatic interview process to find even some of the people I'd need and here they were the whole team being dropped right into my lap, without hesitation I asked if he could secure them as a group and I would guarantee 3 months pay if either side didn't want to proceed once we'd had a face to face.
Charles guaranteed that would not be a concern, he knew them all and would happily have each and every one of them as part of his crew.
Apparently their former employer was a complete and utter arsehole, they would be transported to pilot heaven working for me. I laughed with him and told him to stop ruining my street cred as a tough cookie.
I talked with Charles about the aircraft I'd selected and he ranked them in order exactly as I had, 2 bed, 1 bed, no bed, in fact he said I should rule out the no bed plane as it would be inevitable that with a small child the bedroom would be an essential, I agreed and Charles suggested as he was bringing Gramps and the others out in 2 days would I like to meet my potential crew, he could bring them along.
I told him tentatively yes but I would confirm in the next hour or so if that was okay.
He started laughing and I couldn't understand why until he said "Newly Weds treading on eggshells, it is so sweet but it makes me laugh I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend you".
I told him no offence taken and yes he was right I didn't want to get it wrong so I'd call him in an hour or so.
When Lenny met me at the beach bar I related everything that had happened and my promise to ring Charles if Lenny agreed.
I saw the smile forming on her face but I was definitely unprepared for what happened next.
"Stand up please Mr Thorn and come sit on my lap", I was mystified but to the amusement of the other patrons I did as she asked whereupon she took my hands looked into my eyes and said.
"First mistake Mr Thorn, I didn't marry you to emasculate you, I'd like you to consult me, to update me, explain to me when I'm clueless, as I am with matters relating to aircraft, but, 'NEVER' do you need my permission or approval to do something which is for the benefit of us all, are we clear?".
I was laughing now because she'd turned my ticking her off earlier back on me so I followed her lead and kissed her face all over to a round of applause from the other patrons.
I guess we'd figure out this not treading on toes business soon enough.
I called Charles and told him to bring the crew out with him and tell them to expect to be away for at least a week.
Following that call I rang the agency acting for the sale of the 2 bedroom Jet and set up an inspection for 4 days from now, I agreed a settlement if the inspection went well and requested all of the certificates and checks Charles had instructed me to request.
Next call was a conference call to my personal accountant and my banker to arrange a cash transfer if I gave the approval.
Lenny and I had discussed how we would structure family life once the little one arrived and we agreed that now the Spanish Division was back on track, and surprise surprise the first Hotel back to profit was the Torremolinas Woodruff.
I would be rotating through Europe so we would need more bases.
We'd planned that until after the birth we would remain in Torremolinas and I would travel as necessary but once the little one was old enough to travel we would start a rotation around Europe as a family.
We spent a leisurely afternoon discussing where we should have homes because there was no way I was leaving Lenny and the little bundle back in Spain while I travelled, and constantly shuttling back and forth was also a no no.
Besides our homes in Torremolinas and The Hamptons we still owned the apartment on Park Avenue New York which we'd be selling because it was too small so we decided to upgrade the New York property by acquiring something bigger and add London, Paris and Athens, any other location should be possible to do a short hop back and forth having the plane on standby.
We agreed setting up those houses would keep Lenny busy in the months waiting for junior to arrive and I knew she would make each a fantastic place to be, she told me not to take this wrong but we should probably set a figure on what she should spend on each.
I thought about it and replied, "As much as you want as long as the property value supports it, for instance to get a property in the right area and of the right size in London we may have to spend up to £20 million and another few million to renovate but assuming the value then comes in at £25 million that's ok, if we loose a few million along the way that's not a problem.
I added, "Don't look on it as spending money look on it as investing money, if the eventual value outweighs the spend then you're actually increasing our nett worth".
At last Lenny was becoming comfortable with spending large amounts of money and she was doing a great job.
On the Torremolinas property the nett worth outweighed the spend by an estimated five million.
We'd decided that each home would have a skeleton staff and we would look to restructure our staff back in Torremolinas to be a group who would travel with us, Lenny made a note for us to discuss that with Leo and Rosa.
Everything seemed to be going well.
I'd identified the root cause of our Spanish troubles and put in place a recovery plan.
I'd put together a group of people to launch what we all hoped would be a successful restaurant company.
I'd married the person I adored and wanted to spend my life with and we had a little bundle of joy on the way.
We'd lucked out fantastically with finding such wonderful people to take up the posts within our household.
I still could not believe that on my first day in Torremolinas I had found in Ramon, Philipe and Rozel three wonderful individuals who never failed to earn my admiration and gratitude.
In general my life was rosy, but then that's the trouble with life it could so easily be an illusion and Life's Illusions so often preceded a fall.
TBC
Constructive comments, good or bad to cfgw2000@aol.com please, headed "Life's Illusions" in the subject box.
Thanks for giving your time to read this.
Author ARB