A welcome phone call

Yesterday I had a phone call from an old pal whom has known my extended family for years. At first we chatted about this and that – bringing each other up to date on our various relations and offspring – which took an enjoyable and interesting quarter of an hour.

He then said he had another, specific, reason for lifting his phone.

About a month ago, at a dinner party for eight, he had been in conversation with another friend of his (whom I did not personally know at all) and in the course of this had learned that said gent now owned a 38 foot sailing yacht which he currently kept in a marina in Palma.

My pal chipped in with the coincidence that he knew someone who ran a refitting business in Palma – this being my son Barry – and suggested that, if he (the yacht owner) ever needed any work done on his yacht he should give him a ring. The cove then took Barry’s contact details, adding that as it happened he had just received a maintenance review which had set out a long list of items, some of them eye-wateringly expensive, that needed attention. He would certainly give this chap Barry a call – if only to ask him to run his eye over the schedule and give a view.

Time passed.

The day before, the boat owner had called my pal.

[The gist of his thrust was]:

 “I’m just ringing up to thank you for putting me on to [Barry] at that dinner party. He was terrific. I gave him a call, he said he was at his industrial unit outside of Palma but was coming down to the marina later and suggested we meet for a coffee at the marina café in an hour. He arrived bang on time. I was immediately struck by his easy manner, evident expert knowledge and approach. He then said “Well, let’s go and have a look at her …” so we spent about half an hour clambering all over my yacht. Afterwards we had a good chat in which he told me which bits really did need doing and – on some of the really potentially expensive items that I’d been advised to have done – effectively told me ‘Look mate, in all honesty, apart from (one or two things) it’s not worth having the rest of it done on a boat of this age and in this state’ … which – though blunt – was exactly the sort of advice I wanted/needed to have! A very impressive guy …“.

My pal had responded by asking if he’d mind if he told Barry’s father about his experience.

“Certainly, I’d be delighted …”

Which is why my pal rang me yesterday.

As it happens, Barry and I are close but have always had a shall-I-say a sometimes uneven relationship. We’re alike in many ways and both hold strong but often differing opinions which neither of us hold back from expressing. We have talked regularly over the past month but Barry has never mentioned the above episode to me.

All the above said, I don’t mind admitting that I’m still basking in a sense of private family pride this morning.