It’s a good job I wasn’t expecting a deluge of ideas from you lot for Jimmy’s GAP year and just got on with the task myself. It’s not proving easy though. I thought I had made significant progress when a childrens charity I donate to in Thailand ( shades of Tony Hancock there eh?! ) replied that they might well be able to find a position for her up on the Thai/Laos border. It’s how you sell these things to these moody teenagers though isn’t it. I mean I knew the one about finding homes for stray cats in Bangkok wasn’t going to wash with her, so I suppose I may have been a bit complacent in just forwarding, unsanitised, the nice man’s message to me.
We would be very happy to help arrange something for your daughter. Does she have any thoughts or preferences as to where she might like to go to work? I think there are one or two place which might be a bit tough for an 18 year old, so would maybe suggest one of the smaller projects in which there are some rather older but very kind western women.
As poorly as this reflects on both of us, I suppose I can sympathise with her when she says it is the reference to the “rather older but very kind western women” that kind of puts her off. So that’s another idea down the drain. Aside from the possibility of teaching English at a school in Osaka, what are we left with currently? Well Australia really…. Unlike 99% of teenage boys in the early 1980’s, I didn’t go Down Under during my GAP year. I spent mine in scintillating fashion bobbing around the middle of the Pacific on a ship, scrubbing and painting decks during the day and, in the evening, drinking beer in the Filipino crews mess room, accompanying Angelo and his guitar playing Beatles songs on my descant recorder, if you must know. But I was the Australian “specialist” FM for BAM for quite a few years and if that wasn’t always to the benefit of our clients it is paying off today. I’ve tried, through my wine merchant, to get a job for her in a Hunter Valley vineyard. And there’s a couple of journalistic leads I’m pursuing, but today I’m meeting up with the non-exec Chairman and one of the largest shareholders of one of Australia’s largest entertainment companies. Funnily enough I have a feeling they own Seaworld which I told you about only the other day…the story about Flipper the Dolphin having twins….but what a great opportunity this could be. I am going to focus on persuading him that Jimmy is a sensible, diligent, conscientious, hard working and focussed girl who would contribute fully and benefit from a spell working at any of their amusement parks but especially ones on the Gold Coast. And perhaps I will not show him why in particular I think she is fully qualified. She’s the one front right.
No comments:
Post a Comment