this is where it ends ..... part 2

So the girl with the love of horse racing had the opportunity of a lifetime, the chance to study to be a vet, 100,000 people applied and the top 1000 were interviewed for 100 places … she travelled to the far north, home of the Grand National and was interviewed and offered a place. The place however came with a catch…. It required a small fortune in tuition fees.
Not being one to accept the impossible, the girl returned to Norwich and worked out a plan. The plan involved working for the man who ran the busiest shop in Norwich. He sent her all over the city, and all over the county to work in betting shops far and wide, and earning as much as she possibly could be. However this wouldn’t be enough, and so inbetween shifts she wrote letters to anyone she could think of who may be able to help her, and as her letters travelled across the globe, she worked all over the county.
She had many replies from all over the world, remarking upon her skill as a letter writer, wishing her well in her endeavours but no sponsorship was forthcoming.
Then one day , an Irish race horse magnate’s PA phoned her to explain that his boss would have happily sponsored her for the total amount required however he had already agreed to sponsor someone else , but wished her well. She’d missed her chance by 1 week but the phonecall spurred her on, this was not so impossible, she was getting noticed.
Late one night she received good news, A princess in a very far away land had agreed to sponsor her. This was definitely possible…. Success would be hers ..
So for one year .. she worked full time for the man who ran the busiest shop, (who in his spare time was also an expert in crocuses) travelling far and wide gaining skills in people management, that she never knew she had.
Then in September 2007 she moved to Liverpool, a totally unknown city, she transferred her position at Ladbrokes to Lime St, ‘ah ‘ she thought ‘ that must be where the railway station is’
From September to February it rained every day … the customers of lime st were all drunk, every day, the pub next door sold £1 per pint from 10am . She would arrive for a 4.30- 9.30 shift and have to step over drunken men, passed out in the doorway. The place was dark , grim , and the times were hard , but the girl grew to cope, in some way with dealing with her situation, and in January 2008 the shop was demolished.
However having become so good at dealing with people, the girl was transferred to Richmond St the busiest shop in the city , 1000 bets were taken every day, and nearer 2000 on a Saturday, queues were common to go around the shop, out of the door and down the street , and the 4 staff grew to be a good team. Every Christmas, Easter, and summer she would return to Norwich to work for the man who ran the busiest shop. But compared to the gambling habits of the people of the north the busiest shop was not so busy, no longer did they reach 1000 bets on a Saturday , so returning to Norwich felt like a holiday… … and through the summer she was able to cover other peoples holidays so everyone was happy.
This happy accident continued for a couple of years, until the girl was transferred to Lord St, a smarter shop, in the financial district of the city , closer to the docks she worked , nearer to the high rollers. Things were good, the shop team was good, the largest hiccup of that year was 2 robberies in 2 weeks, and the arrest of a member of staff. The shop team held strong … time passed until it was time to move to the clinical school, and so to transfer once again over the water, not to Ireland but to the Wirral , to a sleepy shop in a sleepy town, where the same thing happened day after day , Saturday after Saturday. She was bored but it didn’t matter the rest of her time was incredibly busy, and so she felt it was in balance.

2 years after that disaster hit, the course should have been finished, and with it the time at Ladbrokes . Down on her luck and drugged up to kill the pain in her spine, she returned to the man who knew about crocuses , and worked for him, once again driving from East coast to north Norfolk coast , managing shops until she could return to Liverpool.
Once again not being one to allow herself to be too down heartened , she returned to Liverpool, got herself a lovely little flat near the beautiful parks , picked up the pieces of her existence and carried on. Once more she was returned to Lord St, where she stepped back into her old role with ease,
And that was where she stayed until yesterday, when having succeeded in her goal, she did her last shift , took the last papers down, closed her last safe and locked her last shutter.
She was a lot stronger than the girl who started on Headington High St 10 years ago , a lot more forthright, more sure of her own mind, and able to cope with anything that life throws at her.
Whatever the future holds …. She knew she had bottomless reserves to cope with it one way or another.