Chapter 453 – London Holiday

Alan Wilson had seen Roman Holiday, but how he himself didn’t fit the American redneck persona.

And Hepburn, at her age, didn’t fit the princess persona very well either, but none of that mattered; a day trip to London in a relaxed get-together style would do.

There were places in London where Russians lived, which put the White Russian stronghold of Paris in the same light, mostly descendants of former aristocrats from the collapse of Imperial Russia, some were waiters or dishwashers, some drove cabs, a few were soft eaters, and some had managed to bring money out of Imperial Russia to open garage shops or dance halls. On the whole, the Russians in London are hardy and hard-working, and in putting up with the fact that luck is not on their side, can fare much better than the English of the same class.

Most of the people who lived in these areas liked to subscribe to the Daily Times, which was a Conservative paper, very hostile to the Soviet Union, but of course, in the eyes of Labor supporters, the Daily Times was a newspaper that could be read the other way around, and was guaranteed to be right.

Neighborhoods where the descendants of Imperial Russia live are no less likely to be visited by London’s intelligence services because of their anti-Soviet stance. A group like this is plagued by two ideas at the same time: on the one hand, blood is thicker than water, and on the other hand, heretics are more hated than infidels, and they suffer from both sides of the coin.

The advantage of coming to a neighborhood inhabited by the descendants of Imperial Russia is that it allows Alan Wilson to show some of his qualities, such as hypocrisy. Keep in mind that Audrey Hepburn doesn’t technically have British citizenship at the moment either.

“So it’s like this, I can help communicate, in fact, this matter is not difficult in principle.” Alan Wilson listened to Audrey Hepburn’s words about whether or not it was convenient to live there, and punched the bag to wrap it around himself.

Perhaps Alan Wilson’s layers of disguise worked, Audrey Hepburn complained of a bottleneck in her dancing career, because of age and height factors, she had been judged unfit to be a ballerina.

“Oh dear, that’s such sad news.” Alan Wilson made a disappointed look and said, “Audrey is like an angel who fell to earth, but I believe that all roads lead to Rome, a girl like you will definitely find a suitable stage for yourself, one day, you will be as radiant as the sun and as immersed in the human heart as if it were the moonlight, there is no root cause for it, but that’s what I feel. ”

“It’s delightful to have your help Alan.” Audrey Hepburn seemed to have put down the huge stone in her heart, “For my dream, the family financial pressure is very strong, I was wondering whether to look for some other industry, and now I am also in the state of half public and half school.”

“It’s amazing, this kind of thinking is quite admirable.” Alan Wilson nodded to himself, “This is probably the charm that a girl with a dream, has, it’s very tempting to want to help.”

Receiving Alan Wilson’s approval apparently also made Audrey Hepburn quite happy, and sang a couple of shallow sips of the not-so-touched wine, asking Alan Wilson about his work in Newfoundland.

“Newfoundland local problems as long as the financial problems, belong to the aftermath of the World War.” Allen Wilson pretended to be positive, mentioning the measures he had implemented in Newfoundland, of course, mainly to portray a positive image of himself, “The most important thing to be careful about is how to reconcile the relationship between the different ethnic groups and try to achieve understanding. Find ways to live in harmony, and fortunately, so far, there have been no insoluble conflicts.”

Of course there is some of that mixed in, Alan Wilson’s own exhaustive and overworked personal cargo. But this is not all lies, “Oh yes, Newfoundland local government, once in order to shoot a propaganda film, invited a few American actresses, but also left some contact information, if you are interested in the screen above the development of the words, maybe I can also help.”

“Oh, really?” Audrey Hepburn’s eyes lit up, although her cheeks were blocked by the mask, I believe that at this time is also happy, but immediately gently shook her head and said, “I have to discuss with my mother.”

“That’s true, it’s very important to get mother’s understanding.” Alan Wilson nodded seriously and said, “Walk around, I’ll send you back after a while.”

Audrey Hepburn and her mother were living in London in a rather dowdy place, even though they had Arium to look after them.

“Audrey, I’m going to have a get-together with my colleagues in Whitehall, so maybe I can ask out some opportunities. Let’s see if we can help you find a good job.” Alan Wilson sent Audrey Hepburn home, stopping at the door to say, “Wait for my good news.”

Subsequently watched Audrey Hepburn go in, Alan Wilson turned to leave, if his memory is not wrong, in the Soviet Union cultural exchanges, he seems to have helped a lot of Whitehall civil servants stuffed with small actors, involved in cultural exchanges, make the step into the body, to help are each other, this kind of thing there is a come and go to work.

In this he returned to London would have had to party with Whitehall colleagues, ask also just by the way.

The world exists positive and negative sides, upscale hotels are not seen by people, the same figure of the toiling masses, well-dressed waiters, may also have to play two jobs.

Allen Wilson may be looking for uncomfortable habit, before the arrival of colleagues, slipped into the back kitchen of this hotel, in the personnel manager blocked the invalid situation, a visit.

The personnel manager then led Allen Wilson into a cramped basement – actually a basement further down – where there was a sink and a couple of gas ovens, and the room was so low that it was impossible to stand up straight, and the temperature was probably 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

The head of personnel explained to Alan Wilson that the job here was to deliver meals to the hotel’s senior staff, who ate in a small dining room above, and that the waiters also cleaned up after them and washed their dishes.

The men here generally work from seven in the morning until a quarter past nine at night, except for a half hour or so to rest.

They start by washing dishes, then scrub tables and floors in the staff cafeteria, polish glasses and knives, serve food, then wash dishes, then serve more food, then wash more dishes!

It wasn’t hard work, except when it came to serving food in the kitchen. The kitchen was an inferno, red with firelight, deafening with curses and the clatter of pots and pans. It was so hot in there that all the metal utensils were wrapped in cloth except for the stove. The stove was in the center, and twelve cooks scurried around in front of it, sweat dripping from their faces, not caring that they still had white hats on their heads.

They were surrounded by a couple of tables, and on the side a group of waiters and dishwashers bickered with their plates. The cooks, on the other hand, were shirtless, poking at the stoves and scrubbing the big copper pots with sand. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry and tempers were high.

Nine ninety-seven! Allen Wilson sighs, this era of the old imperialism is not easy, he does not think that the service here, than the Chinese workers in Newfoundland easy, can only say that the labor is not the same place, the time is here, there is nothing easy and pleasant.

Was Allen Wilson bad taste shocked by the personnel manager, a brain sweat, this young Whitehall gentleman, will not be dissatisfied with the backstage environment of the hotel?

In all fairness there is a little, but Alan Wilson did not dwell too much on this issue, this era of London catering industry, should be similar, right?

Knowing in his heart that this situation will have to be rectified sooner or later, Alan Wilson left the backstage kitchen and waited for his colleagues to finish work.

An hour later, the hall has been full of friends, well-dressed gentlemen to communicate with each other, the topic from Moscow has been to Washington, from astronomy to geography, every Whitehall civil servants are senior key politicians, what ministers also figure a fun, as long as the rule of the country still have to be reliable people like us.

Of course the topic also involves the current head of Whitehall, Norman Brooke, it is known that Norman Brooke has a special hobby, that is, when not working, this Cabinet Secretary is a carpenter par excellence.

In the mouths of many Whitehall civil servants, it was then that Norman Brooke’s final restructuring of Whitehall when he came to office was called the building of the Cabinet.

Both building a successful showpiece according to his own ideas! Certainly in front of the general heads of departments, Norman Brooke smiled sparingly, and in a completely different way to when he first came to power.

Norman Brooke’s smiles were generally directed at the Prime Minister and Ministers, while at the same time with a smile on his face he made clear the areas of responsibility of the Government and Whitehall, to avoid the Minister interfering in the workings of Whitehall.

“We have respect and fear for Sir Norman now.” The secretary of the Defense Committee gave a long sigh.

“I think you mean by that? Introverted restraint, isn’t that right?” Alan Wilson corrected absentmindedly with his glass.

“Yes, yes, Macmillan just said that our Cabinet Secretary, is a very charming and warm person.” Next to him, Makins chimed in, “We can’t just go along with some unsubstantiated words in the press.”

“Makins, I have a favor to ask you.” Seeing Makins come over, Alan Wilson remembered that he was one of the civil servants who had been in the list of civil servants who had been stuffed into the list of exchanges with the USSR last time, and that the other party’s duties were really able to help him.

“Go ahead, Alan.” Makins 施施施, he sat down very gently, in addition to the same civil servant relationship, Makins has a title on him, Lord Sheffield, our people ……

“Can I trust you?” Alan Wilson asked, lowering his voice.

“Of course, Alan.” As if offended, Makins assured with a straight face, “As long as I can.”

That’s fine! Allen Wilson nodded, indicating that if Makins had any plans for a city promo in his hands, he had a good candidate.

Makins understood in a second, and his attitude became approachable, regarding the favor that he once asked Allen Wilson to do, it seems that it can be written off today.

“The royal territory program, for now, is more realistic.” Norman Brooke, known as the introverted and restrained cabinet secretary, was also talking to Prime Minister Adderley, about what he thought was a big deal.