Edmund had to leave his culinary comfort zone to find the right people for the watermill. He was usually chasing some idea, following a vision or trying to put into words a vague half manifested idea. These situations asked for food that was rich, nourishing and uncomplicated. He had a deep love for the kind place that looked a bit dilapidated because the people there were more focused on getting the food done and the hungry fed than keeping up appearances. Clear clean cooking was more important than fancy chairs or tables.
This was Edmund's food for thought, he had done so much thinking when eating that food, that now when he ate the right things the ideas would come. He even had categories. Fish and chips was for mathematical or stochastic problems, obviously. While a good strong curry was the food for great narratives. Analysis and research was clearly best suited for Chinese takeaway eaten on public soil somewhere in the city.
Now however he had to do research, look for possible allies and recruit a potential engineer while at the same time going to a strange new place to eat. Highly irregular. So Edmund went all out, the food would be distracting him anyway so he chose something he usually would avoid, also this would be a test for Linda. He had chosen The Enchantress a vegan place in a successfully up-scaled former working-class neighbourhoods. He was still poring over the menu when Linda arrived. While neither knew how the other looked like Edmund had assured her that she would know him when she saw him. He he cultivated an old school Bourgeois, slightly over-dressed style that would have caused Sartre to break out in sarcasm. Also he had reserved a table under his name just in case he had overestimated his individuality.
Linda appeared 5 minutes early, all practical clothes and combat boots sporting an expression of existential bemusement. When her eyes met his, she paused her eyebrows moving up an inch. He answered her question with a smile warmed by smugness.
"You are Edmund." a bit of a question flowing into a greeting.
"I am." he said. "You must be Linda." he stood up to shake her hand. "Pleased to meet you."
"Hi. I'm Linda. Likewise." The question was not quite done yet.
"Please take a seat and feel free to get whatever you like. Dinner is on me." Edmund waited for her to sit down before he did the same.
"Thanks." she said now focusing on him. "I heard from Russell that you have project that I might be interested in. Something about high efficiency power generation?"
"Yes. A friend of me Jenny is looking to renovate and old watermill. And I'm talking middle ages old. She plans to rebuild it, turn it into a café but she wants it to be something special."
"Special like this place?" Linda asked looking at the menu still not quite sure of what to make of it.
"No. Not like this place." Edmund said.
"OK" Linda said not looking any more convinced than when she had entered the place. "So special in what way?"
"I'm not sure how yet. Jenny has a vision, but I think it is not quite clear to her yet what it is yet. She is trying to give a dream of hers form. And... have you ever had a great dream that faded the moment you woke up but you tried to remember?"
Linda just nodded.
"Well I think it is something like that. But one part that is absolutely clear is that the place will produce its own power. At the very least we would like it to produce as much of the power it needs on its own. If you need more details you will have to talk with her. But first of all I need to know if you have what it takes" that made a pair of eyebrows rise "and then if you are interested in our little project."
"Who else have you talked to?" Linda asked her eyebrows brought back down setting her face into poker configuration.
"So far just Russell. Right now I'm spreading the word."
"What kind of solution are you thinking about?"
"Er..." Edmund paused. "There is more than one?"
"Are you going for a single source of power, or a hybrid system? Are you trying to shift the energy balance towards neutral or do you want full self-sufficiency? And is this going to be low emission, zero emission?"
As Edmund heard this his polite smile broadened into full enthusiasm and his eyes shone. "I have no idea. But I would love to hear what you think about it."
The rest of the evening was spent filling napkins with sketches, plans and projects while eating significant amounts of surprisingly good food. When they left The Enchantress they had a several different plans for Jenny to decide on.
Chapter 3 Foundations
While Edmund was out and about trying to find people to give her Café power and something to offer beyond a dry place in a storm, she was working towards clearing the place. The first day she did it on her own. A horrible idea but a necessary one. Picking up the trash and putting it into bags was easy enough, even if it took her ages to just filling bags with rubbish. No matter how much she collected, there was always more left for her to get rid off.
As Mount Trash, as she called the black pile in front of the mill began to grow, she had started to attracted the curiosity of her new neighbours. Most of them had been happy from simply watching her for a while from the security of their property casting their silent judgements in forms of nods, shaken heads and various species of smiles.
An older Lady who had watched Jenny for a while was different. She looked looked young for her age, in a way that was one part a lucky draw in the gene lottery for the greatest part though a resolute determination to not give a single inch to age without an all out war. Where other people had aged with dignity she had worked on being young for her entire life and was now a veteran. She had observed Jenny far longer than anyone else. At first Jenny had not noticed her at first, then ignored her as she thought that she was just a curious bystander like all the others. When it became clear that this wasn't the case Jenny paused swung the trash-bag in her hands towards the summit of Mount Trash and then turned towards the woman. She waved with and said "Hello." and after a short pause added, "I come in peace."
The woman tilted her head waved back smiling and disappeared into her house.
'OK. So that's the local strange old lady...' Jenny thought and went back into the mill collecting the souvenirs of a small army of teenagers past. While she was taking out another nest of beer cans she heard a knock on the door. She turned around to see the old woman standing on the threshold. She had changed into hiking boots and put on a crimson scarf and a coat the colour of dried blood. She was armed with a Thermos and a large tin.
"Hi I'm Barbara." she said, "I bring tea, " she lifted the Thermos, "and cookies." she said lifting the other hand, presenting her offerings to Jenny. And if you like I have also brought a little something to give the tea a kick." she added with an impish smile.
"Hello Barbara. I'm Jenny. And tea sounds perfect." Barbara's smile began to fill with pity "Preferably reinforced." The smile was back to normal after that. "What do you have?"
"Rum." Barbara said.
"Perfect" Jenny said sitting down on the floor next to the beer can nest. "Please take a seat."
Barbara joined her on the floor after moving a few stones away to clear bit of space on the floor. "Nice place you have here." she said while pulling out two mugs from the depths of her coat pockets.
"Thanks although I'm thinking about redecorating." said Jenny while she watched Barbara pouring the tea steaming in the cold air filling the room with its pleasant scent.
"Milk?" Barbara asked.
"Just the rum for now." Jenny said.
"Prefect choice." Barbara nodded and added a very generous splash of rum two both mugs.
As the fragrance of the rum joined the smell of the fresh tea Jenny Jenny could feel how the place came alive. She nodded to herself smiling. "This will work."
"I beg your pardon?" asked Barbara.
"Oh, I was just thinking aloud. I think that what I have planned for this place will work."
"And what have you planned?"
"I'd like turn this place, the mill, into a place where people come to forget the world outside, to relax and to have a cup of tea." Jenny said.
Barbara toasted Jenny with her mug. "It seems to me that right now you are passing the proof of concept stage. Cheers!"
"Cheers."
"It is good to see that someone is finally taking care of this place. I've always loved it." Barbara looked around. "I grew up here, lived in the house," she pointed with her thumb over her shoulder towards where she had come from, "until I was done with school and left for the university... among other things. I played here when I was little and when I got older this was the place where I could hang out with my friends without my parents being a constant embarrassment. The mill is a special place to everyone who grew up here. I remember that I had dreams of taking care of it should I win the lottery. Turning it into a gallery or a workshop or something like that. We all did. But in the end no one ever did anything..." she paused for a moment lost in thought. "but then, in the end, life tends to get in the way of your dreams, doesn’t it?"
"Yeah..." Jenny sighed "But not any more. I'm here to change that." she nodded more to herself than to Barbara when she said that.
"Is there anything I can help you with?" Barbara asked "if there is something I've left in abundance it's free time."
"Well... as a matter of fact, yes."
"Want me to help you getting rid of the rubbish?"
"That would be great. However there is another thing..." Jenny said.
"Yes?"
"I may have taken a few of the blessings of modern civilisation for granted."
"You need to go to the toilet right?"
"Yes, please?" Jenny said.
Barbara got up. "Well then, follow me. You can sing my praises later.
As midday approached Mount Trash had grown so high that it tempted any passing summiteer to check their climbing gear. However looking at her work Jenny could not help but feeling slightly annoyed. She had not come as far as she had wanted to. Despite her creation of a new mountain range in front of the watermill, going inside everything still seemed to be crawling with rubbish. Every big piece she removed just seemed to bring a swarm of smaller refuse to light. Besides that was just the shit people had left around. The next step would be to take all the bits of broken building out of there. The Bits of stone and wood, the broken sheets of plaster. Some of the which had to be removed with the use of some well applied force as parts were still attached to the building clinging unconvincingly to their life of old. And what would happen then? While she could a pretty structural analysis on a text, doing the same with a building was a task she was completely unsuited for. Nonetheless she did know that if you went ant took out parts of buildings willy nilly buildings tended to take that lying down, on top of you.
It was Barbara who brought her back from her contemplation.
"You look glum." Barbara said.
"I was just thinking about what I still needs to be done." Jenny said not taking her eyes off of the old watermill. "I was thinking that I was starting on square one. Or actually square three or four considering I had to secure financing and the rights to the watermill in the first place. Turns out I'm square mines five..." her shoulders fell as she said that her entire form shrinking. Barbara put her hand on her shoulder, very softly as not to weigh Jenny down any further.
"That's actually a good thing." Barbara said.
Jennies eyes swivelled to look at Barbara, she did not have the will to move her body, but her posture hardened making her look like a sulky gargoyle. "Oh really...?"
"Yes." Barbara said her hand now grabbing hold of her shoulder. "If known many people like you, people with vision, people following some impossible dream, and they all sooner or later arrive at the place where they realize that their idea was shining so bright in their hearts that they had misjudged how far it was.
There are two types who tend to reach the finishing line the most. The ones who notice early on how hard the road ahead really is, those who do not give up become careful, they know how hard the way is and plan accordingly." Barbara let that sink in.
Jenny relaxed a bit regaining her composure. "And the other type?"
"They are drawn so strongly to towards that light that they simply will not be stopped by such trivialities. Reality will give way to their vision."
"Those are the other ones who reach their goals?" Jenny asked now standing up straight again and turning towards Barbara.
"You have to remember that most people fail or give up. Most fall for the common sense's siren call others simply burn out as we are never taught how to pace ourselves when following our passion. Passion burns. And blindly playing with fire is..." Barbara was quiet for a moment her smile still tender turned sad "...it does not end well."
"I think you were trying to lift my spirits." said Jenny.
"Yes I am." Barbara said returning to the present. "You already know how much work is ahead of you and that it won't be easy. That is much less of risk. Right now you are in a situation where you are realising that your little walk in the hills is actually a mountain climbing expedition through an unmapped mountain range."
"Spirits still firmly grounded." Jenny said though she could not suppress a smile sneaking in.
"I know, wait for it." Barbara shushed her. "You know what you are up to though. You are not yet lost. You see what you are really up to and now you can plan. You walked through all those hills and now notice that you are now at the food of a mountain. Look right there." she pointed towards the heap of rubbish in front of the watermill. "You alone got all that out of the mill in only a morning. That's a lot you achieved right there."
"But there is so much more left."
"Yes. But look at that" Barbara insisted. "Look at it. That is already not there any more. And you are not alone."
"That's true. But Edmund is still out trying to get people to take care of things that won't be possible until I am done here..."
"Who is Edmund?" Barbara asked.
"My best friend." Jenny said.
"Well I was not talking about him."
"No? But..."
"I didn't even know that he existed a second ago. I'm talking about me."
"You...?" Jenny attempted to interject again.
"Yes, me. And I have a few friends who will be able to help you."
"You do?"
"Yes, I'm pretty sure there a few other details that you still have not thought about."
"Like..."
"Where will the water and electricity come from? Where will be your toilets, or the kitchen, where are you planning to have power sockets, and what about a computer network? Pipes and cables need a place where they can go through. And you'd want to know where these things are going to be before the builders come."
"Oh." Jenny said.
"Where are your spirits now?" Barbara asked.
Jenny looked at her blinked a few times before saying, "I guess they just found the basement."
Barbara looked surprised. "The basement!"
"Yes now I am really feel like I wasted my money and am now sitting on a ten thousand year lease paired with a set of on second thought really crippling obligations."
"Forget about that for a moment. Did you find the basement? When I was a teenager it was already a half collapsed death trap. A very interesting one though." Barbara grinned.
"er... nope. No basement that I know of." Jenny said.
"They must have sealed it. You'll want to open it up again. It will give you more space and you need to be sure that it is OK, you don't want to build on a decaying foundation."
"Right..."
"Right. Now back to your spirits. Are you hungry?"" Barbara asked.
"I was ten minutes ago."
"Perfect. I brought you a few things." Barbara pointed towards a big wicker pick-nick basket Jenny had somehow failed to notice until now. "You've got enough reality for the moment. It is time we go in there and find your vision.
Jenny took a deep breath. "Let's go." She took the lead back into the watermill. "Where would you like to have lunch?"
"I don't know" Barbara said. "Why don't you give me a tour."
"Well..." Jenny paused looking at large room in front of her. It filled the entire area of the part adjacent to the actual mill. "This is the main room. You can't see it for all the crap lying around but this will be were the people will be sitting having a great view at the river over there," she pointed to the wall in front of them, "and the terrace over there. Which you cant see because there are no windows there or a a terrace. Yet." She turned around and pointed to the wall to her right. That wall will be opened up and second as kind of bar the kitchen will be behind that where the actual mill is." She hesitated for a moment. "provided I can take out so much wall without everything falling apart..."
"Well now that you know what you want, you will be able to ask people who know about these things how you could get it done." Barbara said calmly. It had been dark when she had followed Jenny inside but not her eyes were getting used to it and it was illuminated by Jennies imagination she could see it. She could feel the warmth of the sun warming the room even on fresh autumn day as today. The space was wide open and yet comfortable.
Jenny opened a door to her right leading further into the mill.
"This will be the corridor that leads to to the kitchen, the storage space and the generator." Jenny said.
"The generator?" Barbara asked.
"Yeah. The mill will generate its own electricity. It's been here for so long and it has been using the flow of the river to do its job it would be a pity if that would change."
"That makes sense." Barbara nodded. "What about the toilets."
"The toilets?" Jenny said. "Oh... yeah. They should probably be here somewhere. They cant go there..." she looked at the wall to the left. "That's where the stairs are." A short pause. "Hmmm, the wall here should also vanish the stairs should be accessible from the kitchen the main room and the back... So the toilets could go to over there" She pointed towards the other end of the corridor."
"You should consider putting them behind the kitchen." said Barbara.
"Why?"
"Piping. The water needs to come from somewhere and you don't want pipes in all walls. That will be a lot of fun once you decide to put a new picture on a wall. Also the further warm water has to travel, the longer it will take to for it to come out warm."
Jenny just nodded. Went through the next door turned sharp to the left and went up the stairs. Barbara followed her but with far less trust in the steps that Jenny was showing careful to only step on the outermost parts of them.
"Then up here would be another room with a great view. More like the place were you would read a book or follow your thoughts. More bath rooms over there. A dumb waiter in the corner there and more toilets, separating the public part from the private area..."
"Private." Barbara asked.
"Yeah. I feel like it would be nice to live right here. there could be a bathroom on the other side and maybe an apartment. Over the main mill room. Or maybe around it?" she led the way again leading the gallery of a large two story room that looked like an ancient city god had lost his temper in half way through assembling a timber framed house and thrown all of the remaining materials into the air and left in a huff.
"That treeish looking thing poking out of the rubble should have been the drive shaft or what ever it's called of the mill. Even if the generator is large we don't need all the head-room. And there is another floor above us that has also enough space for a small but comfortable flat. Maybe this could be a hostel too." Jenny crooked her head as she said that thinking about it. "Nah. That's not quite right. More like a place where friends can crash..." She looked back down. There are also some old storage rooms down there, which would make great new storage rooms." She looked again at the mountain of rubble and broken wood downstairs biting her lower lip lost in thought. She looked up at the ceiling and then down to where the floor was hidden. "This there is the heart of the mill." she nodded to herself. "This part is the most important."
"Why?" asked Barbara.
"Because here the energy of the mill will come from. This is the part that will make it all come alive. Everything else is just an extension."
"All right," Barbara said, "I think I know the right people for the tasks you have at hand."
Jenny changed focus from her vision of the mill back to the present. "And who would that be."
"Friends of mine who dropped out of University around the same time as I. They also followed their vision."
"What vision was that?"
"One of stone and mortar, pipes, metal and electricity. They became builders."
No comments:
Post a Comment