(aka Bike) Part 1841 by Angharad Copyright © 2012 Angharad
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I talked over what had happened with Jacqui, David and Stella. They all thought I had grounds for a complaint against Inspector Marple, however, as it wasn’t a recorded interview, it would be my word against his. I did, however, call our solicitor and relate the incident to him and he made notes and advised to call him immediately if it went any further. He cautioned me not to say anything further to police without a legal rep being present. I did mention complaining and he told me I would be wasting my time.
I looked up the website of the local paper and found out the name of the woman concerned.
‘Local women see off thugs in car park.’ was the lurid headline. It continued in equally deplorable fashion.
‘Portsmouth widow, Edith Howse (47) was attacked by two thugs in the car park at Gun Wharf Quay, according to police. While several shoppers walked past oblivious to her plight, a lone woman shopper came to her aid and in the manner of a martial arts expert, she subdued both attackers, one of whom was armed with a knife. In the subsequent fracas, one of the attackers stabbed the other by mistake before being subdued by the woman and subsequently arrested by police when the original victim escaped and summoned help.
Inspector John Marple of Portsmouth CID, while commending the rescuer on her courage suggested that it isn’t a good idea to intervene, especially when the attackers are probably armed. Police are respecting the anonymity of the rescuer who has made a statement.’
Once I’d printed off a copy of the article, I contacted James and asked him to find out details of this woman. I wanted to go and see her, first, to find out if she was okay and second, to offer her financial assistance. I also wanted to learn who the loan shark was and perhaps ask him to leave her alone–taking Jim with me of course.
He was quiet at the moment, though apparently he’d been working for two members of parliament–one was investigating the other surreptitiously–believing he was having an affair with his wife.
“Was he?” I asked.
“Was he what?”
“Having an affair?”
“Oh yeah, but not with the other guy’s wife.”
“So she was innocent after all–just paranoia?”
“Not quite, she was screwing the minister of the department he worked for as a deputy, junior undersecretary or something equally ludicrous.”
“What did he do, make the tea and buy the biscuits?”
“Something like that–I think he held the budget for pencils and parking.”
“Does it cost to park a pencil, then?”
“Obviously it does in Westminster.”
“I wonder if they tow them away if you leave them carelessly on your desk?”
“Being slightly familiar with the idiocies of Westminster, it wouldn’t surprise me.”
“Idiocies or idiots?” I asked for clarification.
“A bit of both. Of course in the upper house, they have the privilege of being congenital idiots as opposed to aspiring ones in the Commons.”
“I’ve just realised how it works. You work in the Commons until your dementia is noticeable and then they send you off to the home for confused politicians now called the Lords.”
“You could well be right,” he chuckled. I gave him the link to the article and asked him to trace her for me and then to come down so we could visit her together.
I sat and ate my lunch with an appetite which felt greatly reduced. It would probably do me good if that state lasted for a few weeks, but I knew it wouldn’t, so I wouldn’t lose any weight. I know, we women are obsessed with being overweight and all want to lose some without any pain or effort. Sadly, only an illness tends to do that or some horrible pills which cause you to have diarrhoea.
“That copper upset you, didn’t he?” observed Stella.
“What d’you mean?” I asked defensively.
“It’s put you off your tuna salad. Got to be serious to do that.”
“Okay, so he got to me. I plan on dealing with it.”
“You’re not going to do anything daft are you?”
“Like what?”
“Like try to get your own back.”
“No, I have some plans but none of them involve the police.”
“Care to share,” she badgered me.
“Not at the moment.”
“Suit yourself.” She went off in a huff while I waited for James’ call. It happened about an hour later, while I was trying to feed Catherine. He’d found the person concerned and we agreed to go and see her the next day. He’d also put out some feelers about loan sharks in the area: there were at least three–it’s a naval town, and some of the families of servicemen aren’t the best at controlling their finances, despite the navy offering help with advice and all sorts of social/family care workers.
The rest of the day dragged on and I eventually got to bed waiting for the chance to do something useful tomorrow.
“Si?” I said lying with him spooned around me.
“Yes, babes,” he gently stroked my leg.
“You know that woman I helped?”
“What about her?”
“I told you she was being pestered by a loan shark.”
“Yeah.”
“If I acted as her guarantor would you give her a loan to pay him off?”
“What?”
“Didn’t you hear me?”
“I heard you loud and clear.”
“So?”
“So what?” he obfuscated.
“Would you give her a loan?”
“She sounds high risk, so probably not.”
“Even if I acted as guarantor.”
“What if she defaults?”
“I guess I get to cough up.”
“Why should you help her?”
“Because she’s one of many who can’t get credit and thus fall prey to these creeps who once they get their claws in them won’t let them go.”
“She can’t get credit because she can’t guarantee to pay it back.”
“That’s why I want to help her.”
He rolled onto his back and rolled over to face him. “Why have you got this compulsion to make everything right?”
“I haven’t, but I felt she and I worked to deal with the thugs and so I’d like to work with her again.”
“All she did was run off and call the cops.”
“She could have just run off and left me to them.”
“My money would be on you,” he said looking me directly in the eye.
“Yeah, well I want you to put your money on her.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I’ll make her a personal loan.”
“She could be in hock by thousands.”
“So?”
“These guys are real crooks, they charge huge rates of interest and it quickly totals up to thousands.”
“I know, that’s why I want to help her escape their clutches.”
“I don’t know, babes, it goes against all the principles of banking–we’re a business not a charity.”
“Yet you are a very charitable and generous man,” I kissed his nipple to emphasise my point.
“Only to you and the kids.”
“Just this once–pretty please?”
“I’ll see, get her to come into the local branch and I’ll ask the manager to see what he can do.”
“Si, you are simply wonderful.”
“If my father finds out he’ll hang me from the yard arm after flaying me alive.”
“No he won’t.”
“He will.”
“I won’t let him.”
“You and who else's army?”
“Just me, you Camerons are pussy cats when faced by a real tiger,” I did my best attempt at a tiger roar to prove my point.
“Miaow,” he replied then grabbing me by the bum...you don’t need to know that do you?
Comments
Neither a lender nor a borrower be.
Pretty difficult trying to be neither in today's times. It's reached the ridiculouse stage where one has to have debt before the credit agencies and financial institutions are prepared to extend any debt by lending further. You won't believe this but I had my credit rating reduced because I paid off a loan TOO EARLY. It took me months of negotiation and eventually the threat of a court action to get my credit rating restored. The absolutely crazy thing is that my so called bank manager would not give me a letter of good character despite never ever having been overdrawn for upwards of thirty years.
The lunatic circumstance endures in Britain that if you have never borrowed money you have a penalising credit rating. In other words, the more you save the worse your credit rating and yet the twats in government are begging everybody to save.
Lewis Carrol could not write a more ridiculous scenario.
No wonder the world's stuffed. The less you spend and the more you save, the worse your credit rating. The more you borrow and the more you spend, the better your credit rating. Please tell me how that works!
Good story Ang,
Bev.
XX
Cathy strikes again
Si is right. The bank isn't a charity.
But will that slow Cathy in the slightest? No way!
And, BTW, watch out Inspector Marple.
Red MacDonald
The fine art of taming your man
It looks like both Cathy and my roomate are finally beginning to understand the care and feeding of the male animal. :)
G
Easy As Falling Off A Bike pt 1841
Why, oh why do I see Cathy and James discovering corruption in the Navy, and High Street Bank?
May Your Light Forever Shine
Lending Money
I know Si is right in his beliefs about the lending of money, and right now all appears to be legit, and even if Cathy fronts the loan or loans it herself, things could turn out bad for Cathy. What if the lady is the loan shark and the two men are Navy men attacking her because of the debt incurred by their wives? In that case, the men are wrong in attacking, but then they didn't figure on Super Cathy getting involved...... hmmmmmmm .
Don't let someone else talk you out of your dreams. How can we have dreams come true, if we have no dreams?
Katrina Gayle "Stormy" Storm
*sighs*
*sighs* It sucks that it takes this kind of thing for a banker to talk about maybe loaning someone money. :-(
Nice to see James back into the picture. He's an interesting character. Look forward to finding out what he discovers. Pencils... LOL
Thank you,
Annette
Not a loan officer but I know some of the reasons for the "Alice
in Wonderland" actions of lenders.
A bank IS a business. It MUST be profitable or at least break even or it will fail.
From the profitability standpoint of the bank, someone who NEVER incurs overdraft fees, has mostly savings or certificate of deposit accounts and doesn't request special services is unprofitable or barely profitable. It costs money to maintain accounts, software, computers, people, brick and mortar, the costs of regulatory compliance -- all those reports, mandatory periodic training of staff take time and money -- and so on. The bank must recoup its costs AND retain the required amount of reserves incase of loans going sour.
When it comes to loans, refinance ones in particular, there are a large number of things the underwriters look at such as equity, IE the percentage of a property you own vs. what remains of the loan. Anyways they want to know you can and will predicable make your payments in full and on time. They even calculate things -- or at least build it into the rate you pay -- like the present value of the future income stream of your payments. For real fun throw in variable vs. fixed rate.
In essense if you pay off early you may be decreasing the actual purchasing power of that money you paid back to the bank. Remember deposits are LIABILITIES on the banks books. Performing loans are assets on their books.
It gets all very complicated and byzantine but you get the idea.
I like what Cathy is suggesting but it is by definition a risk and best considered a gift rather than an a loan. Still you get what you sow so maybe something great will come of it. Or not knowing Cathy's luck and the evil plotlines of Bonzi.
Hum, what game is that stupid plod pulling?
I agree he is a potential menace for Cathy.
And he knows she is the pension killer. What an idiot unless he thinks he can kill the *killer*?
And I still wonder what will happen to Jackie and her legal case about her false institutionalization, rape and sterilization AND total lack of HRT afterwards.
She needs justice and her former family needs to pay as well for believing the coppers lies.
But then the govt will claim he was *rogue cop* and THEY are the real victims.* Oh, sorry we ruined your childhood, jeopardized your physical and mental health and took away your chance to ever be a mom. Here's ten-thousand quid. Now go away!*
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
There are none so arrogant
As somebody who thinks he can accomplish what his colleagues have been unable to do - defang the pension killer. I suspect he thinks he has something on her, but given her family what he thinks is a bombshell may turn out to be more of a wet firecracker. Cathy can get embarrassed but Cathy can't be embarrassed. Say what you want about Cathy, I doubt you can blackmail her, you may, however, annoy her!
Go after her family though, and a megaton-blast-rated missile bunker isn't deep enough or safe enough to save his ass! I guess we could call it "suicide by dormouse"!
Oh, and John makes a very good point about banks and money-lending. Banks, like any business, must make money to stay in business. Banks are a perpetual enemy for most of us because it seems like once we reach our teens we're paying them month after month, year after year. Nobody likes that!
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
John, I know
you spend long hours in banks (dunno if anyone works there), but people who save money with the bank are allowing them free rein with it to loan at a higher rate and pay minuscule interest on it. Currently mortgages are about 7-8% the bank rate is 0.5%, I get 0.02% on one saving's account. I pay a monthly fee for my current account but get no interest for it at all.
Plus if everything goes belly up, the banks get in for their share before other creditors get anything.
Angharad
Owe no one nothing.
It is hard to accomplish, and most of us can not do it. Last night, I wrote the final check on a laptop I bought from Best Buy in March of 2011. The finance company did something that I think would have been illegal 10 years ago, so for an $800 laptop, I wound up paying $1200 or more.
I hope that both this woman and I have learned our lessons.
G
If everyone was
too follow the Inspectors advice and follow the sometimes crazy health and safety madness we have nowdays in the UK Then the world would be a poorer place for it..
People who are brave enough to risk their own lives should be applauded not told to leave it to the over stretched professionals who try as they may cannot be everywhere at once .The reality of life is that even driving your car could be classed as putting your life at risk and okay doing what Cathy did was certainly a lot more dangerous but if she had not acted who knows what might have happened to poor Edith...
Kirri