The Minister of the House of Lords was holding a document. After he finished reading it, he lowered his head slightly and glanced at the nobles and clergy around him through his reading glasses.
Then, he saw Alan in a red robe raising his right hand, as if he was about to speak again.
The Lord Chancellor felt a dull headache the moment he saw Allen.
This gentleman...it's okay if he doesn't come to meetings normally, but whenever he comes, he will be very active, and what he says...
It really makes people not know how to complain.
"Lord Allen, please speak."
…
"I object!"
Following Allen's righteous objection, many experienced congressmen could no longer hold back their expressions when they heard Allen's conventional remarks.
Every time this person speaks, we know he is just here to cause trouble, but the reasons he gives every time make it hard to refuse.
It feels like a bit of a crooked logic but it is also reasonable.
Many MPs looked at the Lord Chancellor, then at Alan, ready to start watching the show.
“…”
When the Minister of the House of Lords heard Allen's objection, his heart subconsciously skipped a beat.
…
"Since the aircraft carrier construction plan has been approved, is there any need to discuss the name? If we only build one, it would be fine, but now we are building two, do we still need to think about the name? What's the point of holding a referendum?!"
Alan glanced around with great force. Some people who had been happily watching him confront the Minister of the House of Lords were now suddenly caught by his gaze and quickly put away their smiles and sat up straight.
"In my opinion, we should just name the two aircraft carriers Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales. This way, we can show the deep love between Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and also represent that these two aircraft carriers are the core of our Imperial Navy's next step, just like the Queen and His Royal Highness are our core!"
“…”
The Lord Chancellor's mouth stiffened as he listened to Alan's words.
He didn't dare to respond...
If he objects, doesn't that mean he thinks Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince don't have a deep enough mother-son relationship, or that they are not noble enough?
If he agrees...then he just said that he was going to hold a referendum. Isn't this a slap in the face?
This is something for everyone to discuss, but you have just made the final decision. What is there to discuss?
This damn feeling!
It happens again.
This thing obviously sounded unpleasant, but he didn't dare to object directly, even...
The Minister of the House of Lords glanced at the old guys sitting in the front row, and their faces showed expressions of satisfaction with Allen's proposal.
Two aircraft carriers, one is called Queen and the other is called Prince. Isn’t this vulgar?
ah?
Everyone knows that you are a retainer of the royal family, but isn't it inappropriate for you to use this kind of thing to show your loyalty? !
…
Although the Queen basically does not attend every meeting of the House of Lords, there are minutes of the meeting.
Even if she didn't read it, someone from the Buckingham Palace Secretariat would write a briefing for her to review. Proposals like Alan's would always be included in the briefing.
No matter what Alan's character or ability is, as long as he does a lot of things like this, outsiders will think that he is a "loyal" royal retainer. Every time he takes a stand on the side of the royal family, he mindlessly flatters the queen.
As a result, over time, Allen was labeled as a staunch conservative, an old aristocrat, a staunch royalist, or a radical among them.
…
“Hahaha, Alan…are you in a hurry to go back today?”
As soon as the meeting was over, the Duke of Angus, with his big belly, took Alan and walked to the parking lot.
Today's meeting started off well but ended badly. After Alan expressed his opposition with righteous words, one of the most important topics of the day just came to nothing. It was not passed, and no one opposed it... It was put on hold for the time being.
Moreover, after several years of experience in Congress, the Duke of Angus has gained some political acumen. From his perspective, Alan's proposal this time may have some potential.
The reasons he gave were irresistible. Whether it was people from the House of Lords or the House of Commons, faced with such powerful reasons, it was estimated that they would not be able to find any reason to object.
If there is really some idiot who dares to stand up and oppose... I guess by the time he finishes his opposition, his political career will be basically over.
This move is so disgusting and vicious.
…
"Today? I'm in no hurry to go back."
The ban was finally lifted. Although Alan didn't like London very much, he came to London this time not only to have fun in the House of Lords, but also to see how Harrods department store was doing after several months of management by Mrs. Renee.
Except this...
He also made an appointment with the chubby Kate Winslet tonight.
The two of them haven't been together for a long time, and Alan still misses Kate's sexy figure a little.
"Okay, come to my place tonight, we'll have dinner together and have a good chat. It's been a long time since I had a good chat with you!"
The Duke of Angus was in high spirits. Whenever Alan came to London in the past, he would come and leave quickly, much like his father. Since he was not in a hurry to leave this time, he invited Alan to have dinner with him, and have a drink and chat.
…
"To your place?"
Alan blinked, thinking of the Duke of Angus's small house in London, and was a little reluctant to go.
Although the house was in a good location, it was too small. He had used his connections to get it, so it was only suitable for a noble lord like the Duke of Angus, who had some status but was very poor.
"Forget it... Let's go to my place tonight. My place is bigger."
Alan hooked his finger at Xiao Shitou who was waiting by the car in the distance and gave him instructions.
"That's fine."
Where to go... Duke Angus didn't care. He simply hadn't seen Alan for a long time and wanted to just chat and have a meal.
The two agreed on a time in the evening and then went back to their respective homes.
…
Edmund was leaning back in his chair, holding a small lunch box in his hand, and eating his meal slowly.
At this moment, the huge warehouse-style office he was in had only a small area used for office use. On the door outside was a huge blue sign that read "Blue Knight Takeaway, Manchester (Tamside) Station."
The whole of Greater Manchester is divided into ten metropolitan municipalities, which can also be understood as a region. The areas in the south near the river, such as Stratford, were originally working-class areas. Later...
With the Industrial Revolution, these workers became middle class, and later the area gradually became wealthy.
The home of Manchester United Football Club is right here.
Tameside is a large district on the east side of Manchester. It is an area with a mixed race and a low economic level. It is referred to as the "common people's area".
…
Edmund just retired a few years ago. Before his retirement, he served in the navy and was stationed in the Far East with a ship in Hong Kong.
With the advantage of geographical location, and as the ship's cook, the wages of the Hong Kong garrison are generally high, and a large part of the expenses are borne by the local finances of Hong Kong. If you convert it, many years ago, when Edmund had not yet retired, his monthly salary was almost nearly a thousand pounds.
The British pound was still very strong at the time, and earning nearly a thousand pounds in a place like Hong Kong...
Edmund couldn't bear the loneliness, and during the years he served abroad, he had two "concubines" in Hong Kong. One was a woman from the northern mainland who came to live with her relatives, and the other was a Filipino of Indian descent.
Both women gave him a daughter.
In addition to the children in Britain, Edmund also has four children.
Including him, there are ten people in their family!
With his nearly 1,000 pounds and the income of his first wife who takes care of the children at home, the family can live a very comfortable life.
After Edmund retired and returned to Wales, due to the poor economic situation in recent years and the need to support two concubines and two children in Hong Kong, Edmund was under even greater pressure.
…
But Edmund still has a conscience. If it were other sailors, although everyone would find a few lovers while serving or stationed abroad, some people would not be so responsible after having children. Most of them would eventually run away, abandoning the mother and child in a foreign country, and return to their homeland, and no one would be able to find them.
But Edmund is different. He likes children very much, no matter whether it is a boy or a girl. Moreover, he is very responsible. Even after retiring, he never forgets to send living expenses to his two concubines and children in Hong Kong every month.
Although the amount he gave was not right, only 200 pounds per family per month, it was still his best effort.
After coming back, Edmund was able to earn more than a thousand pounds a month by working.
later……
You little brat, you’re going to eat me to death.
The four children in the family have grown up and need to go to school...but the tuition is very expensive!
Edmund gradually found that even with his wife's salary, the two of them could no longer afford the family.
The key point is that Edmund had to hide it from his wife and send 400 pounds every month to his two concubines far away in Hong Kong.
…
Later, Edmund gritted his teeth and made up his mind. He felt that his family could no longer afford to work as an ordinary worker, so he had to borrow some money and opened a seafood fried rice restaurant in his hometown.
With his many years of experience as a ship's cook, Edmund was confident that even if he couldn't make a lot of money, he could still make more than he was working as a part-time worker.
later……
As expected, an accident happened... Because of his poor cooking skills, he still made the ship's taste. Edmund's restaurant went bankrupt. Not only did he not make any money, he also owed the bank a huge sum of 10,000 pounds!
With no way out, the disheartened Edmund could only seek refuge with the most powerful man in Wales - the great Earl Allen, and became a glorious Blue Knight - a delivery man.
…
He specifically applied to be transferred from Wales to England, to a place like Manchester.
There are three reasons. First... this place is far from home, so he can be a little further away from his wife who is out of shape and has a bad temper.
Second... by delivering food here, he can get an extra subsidy. Also, Manchester is a very large city with many food delivery orders. He can earn more money and pay off his debts sooner.
Thirdly... Edmund was a little selfish. In his opinion, being in a big city like Manchester was better than being in a remote place like Wales. On his way to deliver the takeaway, every time he went to a restaurant to get an order, he could chat with the owners or chefs of each restaurant. In the long run, Edmund wanted to secretly learn some skills to improve his navy-special cooking skills, and then after paying off his debts, he would go home and continue to run a restaurant!
So... in Edmund's opinion, he is a cook with lofty ideals and aspirations!
He is no ordinary delivery man!
…
There was the sound of a telephone ringing next to my ears. Not far from Edmund, there were several local unemployed women who had found new jobs. They were sitting in desk booths, drinking tea, eating melon seeds, and answering the phone as customer service staff.
The current operating model of Blue Knight's takeaway is a full membership system. As long as you buy a membership card, you will receive a copy of the latest takeaway subscription manual for this month.
When a customer wants to order takeout, they just need to dial the number in the manual, tell the customer service directly what they want, and order according to the set meal in the manual.
After ordering the food, the customer needs to leave a contact number, address and recipient's name, and the process is complete.
All that’s left is to wait quietly for the delivery man to deliver the food.
Due to the high threshold and slightly severe premium, as well as the recent poor economic environment, takeout orders during this period are generally low.
Their station is responsible for the delivery of takeout orders within a radius of 10 kilometers. There are 5 customer service staff and 7 delivery staff in the entire station.
Each person is responsible for the orders of several restaurants according to the popularity of the orders. Each time, they collect five to ten orders, which are then counted by the customer service staff and handed over to the deliverymen for delivery.
In this way, firstly, costs can be saved as one trip can handle several orders, and secondly, the time customers have to wait for their meals can be shortened.
…
According to the company's requirements, the meal must be delivered within one and a half hours from the time the customer places the order over the phone.
Compared to the outside world decades later, this time is relatively slow, but now...
There is no other way, the efficiency is just like this. There are no smart phones these days, and even computers are not very popular. Everything relies on manual statistics by true artificial intelligence. It is already pretty good to be able to have this efficiency!
"Edmund, get to work!"
A middle-aged woman with a headset shook the orders in her hand and called out to Edmund who was eating.
"Okay Lilith, wait till I finish eating!"
Edmund took a few more bites of food in a hurry, put down the lunch box, and subconsciously wiped his hands on the clothes around his waist. Then, under Lilith's disgusted gaze, he took the five orders.
…
I just got to Smith's Burger Shop and I still have to wait a few minutes before the last order is ready.
Edmund greeted the waiter, sat down at the table in the restaurant as usual, and took out a small standard notebook from his breast pocket.
In this small notebook are simple maps that have been printed in advance, all of which are maps of the Tameside area.
Edmund took out five more orders and marked the five locations in the notebook according to the addresses on the orders. Then he found a relatively time-saving route and tried to deliver them by the shortest route.
When he looked at Order No. 4, Edmund frowned subconsciously.
He had never delivered to this address before. The location was quite remote, one kilometer out of the delivery range, almost reaching the suburban warehouse.
There are a lot of blacks and Latinos there, and it seems a bit chaotic.
…