The day before the meeting of Regal Mortgage depositors, Madge Thomas was in the kitchen behind the family delicatessen having her first cuppa of the day as she listened to the early edition of AM on the radio.
“There is mounting anger over the collapse of Regal Mortgage and serious allegations of financial impropriety by the [...]
For the second time in a month, Sir Murray St Clair and Elliott Price had a discreet lunch in the private Trophy Room of McDouall’s, the exclusive Gentleman’s club. Once again, Sir Murray ordered the oysters, although a little wary after his last encounter with the delectable molluscs at the club, and Price had the [...]
Raelene Purvis was lying beside the family pool when her mobile rattled with a ring tone that made passing reference to ‘Candy Shop’. Raelene took the call. It was Mrs Clutch, the Lushers School Principal, who firmly asked Mrs Purvis meet with her at the school, “At your convenience of course,” the Principal said, but [...]
The day after the Lushers Girls Rowing Regatta, Peter and Marty visited their rowing coach. They asked if it would be possible for a couple of girls, who were not members of their club, to use one of the pairs for training.
“I don’t think so,” Steve the coach had replied. “This is a serious [...]
By the time Dean Thomas got to Regal Mortgage, the line of depositors stretched from the front door and down the footpath for the whole length of the building. Ten floors above, Sir Murray St Clair stood at the window of his plush office looking down on the ever growing queue of desperation below as [...]
About a week before the news became public, rumours had begun to circulate of trouble at Regal Mortgage. Innuendos about problems at the vainglorious lender of last resort headed by Sir Murray St Clair were whispered in the boardrooms and clubs where the well connected met to trade in finance and gossip. Several of the [...]
The Lushers Invitation Girls Rowing Competition was an important event, not so much for the sport of rowing, but for the students at the school. Held a month or so before the state titles each year, it was an opportunity for the best young women rowers to assess the preparation of their main competitors. For [...]
When Sir Murray St Clair rang suggesting that they meet at the club for lunch, Elliott Price knew he had to accept. There was something in Biggle’s voice, a reticent foreboding not common in a simple invitation.
Sir Murray and Price were both members of ‘McDouall’, an exclusive Gentleman’s club in the city. The club, [...]
The principal, Mrs Clutch, came to address the class personally. In one hand she carried a long brown janitor’s jacket. With a sombre voice, she spoke of one rotten apple spoiling the whole barrel and then asked Ruth and Jane to come to the front of the class. Principal Clutch outlined the special permission for [...]
Twenty years ago this week, my partner Janet and I were in London on holidays. All the news was about the turmoil in Eastern bloc countries following Gorbachev’s announcement that they would be allowed to choose their own path. Increasing numbers of people from Hungary and Czechoslovakia took him at his word and were sampling [...]