Malcolm Martin
of Martin & Sons builders. At
least it would be and sons, if either
of the two lazy good-for-nothings would get off their backsides and do an
honest day’s work. My eldest Tim swans around half-asleep all day and seems to
think a job in the local pub is the height of achievement – he took a gap year
and went off travelling, and came back with nothing but debt! Whereas my
youngest Ben has barely finished his exams and seems to think he can be a
professional computer games player. Is it too much to ask for my kids to help
run the family business?
I’m Annie Martin. I run a house, a husband and two teenage boys
(although sometimes it feels like three teenage boys). I also run a small
hair-dressing business from the spare bedroom in Littlewich. Yes, it’s true
about hairdressing – you learn everybody’s secrets, while they’re sitting in
front of the mirror. And believe me there are a lot of secrets in Littlewich …
Tim. What
else do you want to know? All right – Tim
Martin. That better? Happy now you’ve
got a surname? I don’t know why I came back to this place – Littlewich really
is the arse-end of nowhere. None of my mates are here and my dad is forever on
my case wanting to know when I’m going to get a proper job. I’m nineteen – I’ve got the rest of my life to be boring and sensible. And
anyway, Ben is the boring one in our family.
