"Tobes" drabbles by Neville Hunt

Succession planning

Tobes #4

A year later, our second son Alex was called upon by Tobes who needed some help at The Brocket. Tom had moved on from washing up and was a delivery van driver’s assistant. (His knowledge of Ango-Saxon rapidly multiplied!)

Tobes asked Alex to take on the prestigious role of head (and only) barman, serving pub customers and pulling pints of beer. He was a diligent chap and very friendly too. He got to know all of the regulars, who regularly bought him drinks.

Head barman Alex was just 15 then, whereas the legal minimum age for drinking is 18🥴.

Instant promotion in the field

Tobes #3

Unfazed by Barry’s exit, Tobes sidled into the kitchen towards Tom, the washer-upper, as if nothing had happened.

“Tom........... we’ve got a party of Americans arriving at 4:30 and they’re expecting a traditional British cream tea. Barry’s not well, could you knock up a batch of scones for them? Here’s the recipe; it’s dead easy; you can do it.

Tom, just 16, hadn’t even boiled an egg before! He likes a challenge though...

At 4:30 the Americans arrived. With no concept of the British ‘scone’, they thought them ‘really quaint’, and tipped Tom accordingly!

Like he’d won the lottery!

A hasty exit

Tobes #2

Barry was chef at The Brocket. Now Barry was a nice guy and my son Tom got on well with him.... he gets on well with most people. Tom washed the dishes. Hardly stretching, but he learnt from Barry... not anything gastronomical, but rather Anglo-Saxonomical! Words that Tom would never dare repeat to his mum!

One Sunday, Barry blew his stack, around lunchtime... after rowing with Tobes, following which, Barry walked out, never to return. With no-one to cook anything, washer-upper Tom though this meant an easy life for him. No chef=no food=no washing-up!

If only!

Tobes

Tobes #1

The Brocket Arms... a fine old listed pub in the pretty Hertfordshire hamlet of Ayot St Lawrence. A couple of hundred yards away and you’ll find Shaw’s Corner, and George Bernard was a regular at The Brocket, although apparently he was a teetotaller.

And venture a little further and you arrive at Brocket Hall, erstwhile home of Lord Melbourn, former British Prime Minister and a special favourite of Queen Victoria herself.

Toby was the landlord. He came straight from the ‘top drawer’ and his son Freddie was mates with Prince William. And my sons were both on Tobes’s payroll too.