Day 5 - Mrs Rogers - Free Country: A Penniless Adventure the Length of Britain - page 66

our planned early start had become 10am. We had made good progress, though - consider-
ing the issues with The Falcon - so decided to try for an early lunch, and then embark on a
mammoth afternoon of cycling.
Thorvertonisarelativelysmallvillagewithanattractivelittlegardeninthemiddle.Un-
like usual village greens, this one was an actual garden. It had a stream running through it,
flowerbeds, trimmed shrubs and a bench. We sat on the bench for a few minutes and as-
sessed the twopubsthat wecould see anddecided onThe Thorverton Arms . Wepretended
to lock our bikes in the beer garden at the back and entered the pub.
A sporty looking lady was manning the bar. She was in her forties and gave the impres-
sion from the way she was rearranging the bottles that she was the landlady.
'What can I get you?' she said with a smile.
'Hello.Doyouhaveanyworkthatneedsdoinginexchangeforsomefood?'askedBen.
'What do you mean?'
'We're on a mission to get to John O'Groats without spending any money and thought
we might be able to help you out with some jobs, in exchange for something to eat.'
A large bearded man appeared behind the bar. He looked sporty too, in his own special
way.
'There's some washing up you can do, if you want. One of the lads called in sick today
sotheycoulddowithahandbackthere,'hesaid,asthoughitwasthemostnaturalthingin
the world for two people to walk in off the street and do the washing up. 'Then when that's
done, I'll sort you out with some lunch.'
'Brilliant,' I said. 'Which way is the kitchen?'
The sink was piled several feet high with dirty pans and dishes, but between the two of
us we figured we would have it all washed in no time.
'Then when you've finished all the stuff in the sink there are a few things behind you
that need doing,' he said.
We turned around and every inch of the kitchen's serving station was stacked with
plates, cutlery, pots, baking trays, knives and mixing bowls. On the other side of the
carnage, we could just about make out two guys working away at the stoves.
'Hi, guys. I'm George and this is Ben. We're here to help you with the washing up in
exchange for some lunch.'
'Cheers, dudes,' said the younger of the boys. 'We've been completely swamped and
haven't had a chance to do any all day. We've been washing stuff up as we need it.'
'That technique has worked for me for years,' said Ben.
Their names were Ryan and Matthew. They looked about 17 and 19 respectively. They
were both aspiring young cooks who travelled half an hour each day to the pub, because of
the reputation it was gaining. It won the Newcomer of the Year Award 2006 , but whether
this was a national award, or a competition at the Thorverton Village Fete, I don't know.