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In the Scillies
Nephew Wilde
My plans were well advanced for a short skiiing holiday at the beginning of last week. However, in the event, I saved myself from the perils of the slopes; climbing down a ladder with my dusty skis and boots I slipped and suffered an injurious fall. I stoically accepted temporary immobilisation but nevertheless strongly desired to escape the London air.
Now my natural surrounding for relaxation outside a bar is the seaside. I find I can get the maximum of ozone without the bother of getting into i boat by sitting on the end of Brighton Pier. It also has the additional advantage of a range of amusements, such as one-arm bandits. Yet in view of the season I feared that these enjoyments might be denied me. The outcome of my dilemma was that I sought refuge and rest in the Scilly Islands.
Unfortunately I bumped into a local who regaled me with stories about wrecks off •the Scilly Islands from which riches galore had been recovered. Such a topic immediately sparked off a train reaction of money and thence my own investments. So concerned was I, in tact, that I put through a reverse charge to my broker Wotherspool.
"Surprised to hear from you, old chap," were his first words, " thought you might have drowned yourself after selling Kinross just before they shot ahead."
I muttered a few unrepeatables which Wotherspool tacitly accepted. However I thought he was trying to be sympathetic when he said that what I wanted was Amari. .The only significance of the word to me was that it was the passive infinitive of a Latin verb.
Obviously Wotherspool realised the confusion. "No, no," he quipped, "I'm referring to a well known metal and engineering company."
• I was silent, still smarting over the Kinross sale.
He continued: "What I principally like about the group are its strong trading connections. It has a joint business with Rudolf Wolff, the large metal dealing company, and recently Selection Trust took an 11 per cent stake in the company. Linked in this way I am sure that Amari will be better placed for the future. Already, in fact, the group has done much to sort out its own problems by spreading its activities, from mainly aluminium stockholding, to engineering. Another bull point about Amari is that it has strong overseas connections and only the other day it announced a deal with a Spanish company."
"Very good, Wotherspool," I said, remembering that I was still on holiday, "I'll buy some."
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