WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE

James 

Bond

and the

Man

from 

Riverside

                                                                                               

James Bond, he was not. But  the Man from Riverside had an air of mystery and intrigue  that had an echo of the legendary British secret agent. It was an echo that made people wonder what exactly  the Man from Riverside was up to.

On the one hand, he was very ready with some very good advice about how to go about things when dealing with his organisation, Riverside Housing Association.

His very good  advice , he explained- at a meeting  of Riverside tenants- was so very good because it came from the very heart of that organisation, 100 miles away in Liverpool. That was where  the Man from Riverside operated, he said.

On the other hand,  the Man from Riverside seemed to be man with a mission...wanting  to change things  within that organisation. His very good advice seemed to be offered so that  those at the meeting would join his crusade to clean up Riverside.

 It was all very surprising and a bit baffling, particularly when the Man from Riverside said he had been asked to stay away from the meeting.

Who had asked him to stay away, the Man from Riverside was asked.”That, I cannot tell you” was his puzzling reply

The meeting was in Longtown and the Man from Riverside had arrived unannounced. 

He then sat in the back row,  behind 25 Longtown tenants as they discussed forming themselves into a tenants` group.

The meeting was the latest episode in the tenants`two-year fight for proper heating in their homes following a botched Riverside scheme for solar panels in 175 Longtown homes.

During the meeting, the Man from Riverside gave his name and his Riverside job. Then came  his “ very good advice” and his appeal to the  tenants to join his crusade. 

Finally, he promised to attend the next Longtown meeting in a week`s time.

Sure enough, he did attend. But the Man from Riverside was a changed man. He still wanted to help and even offered to bring a Riverside director to help the tenants get answers to their problems.

But  he was aggressive too and went  strongly on the attack when there was criticism of his bosses at Riverside.

The Man from Riverside was  becoming more and more baffling.

But the most baffling episode was still to come.

It came in a phone call excusing himself from attendance at a third meeting- he said he had to go into hospital for heart tests. But the Man from Riverside had good news to relate.

“Riverside is going to put everything right for the tenants” he said. “It will all be underway by the next meeting.”

The news was very improbable and certainly unbelievable.

“ Don`t ask me how I know” he added mysteriously.

Then,  surprisingly, the  Man from Riverside said something  about a drink(coffee) that  seemed to have  another  real echo of James Bond himself. Bond, of course, was famous  for preferring his drink (Martini ) “shaken not stirred.”

The Man from Riverside said: “Riverside has at last woken  up and smelled the coffee”

But by then, the Longtown tenants had smelled something else.