Good for business

73 Good for business

a) Skim this text and say in 2–3 sentences what it is about. b) Scan the text. Does it give you any information about these things? (Say “yes” or “no”.) • Diana’s family • people she works for • British history • the tourist industry

Diana comes from a small town in Wales not far from the sea. While she was still at school, she had a weekend job as a waitress in the café at Redstone Castle, the home of old Sir Clarence. His relatives built the castle centuries ago. “I didn’t earn much,” she says. “Sir Clarence always tells everybody how expensive life in an old castle is for him. But I think he’s just a mean old man. He always wore an awful old school scarf that he had!” A few tourists came to visit the castle, and after the tour people went to the café for tea. “I’m sure the guides weren’t very good,” laughs Diana, “because tourists often asked me questions about the castle. ‘Is there a dungeon?’ (Yes.) ‘Is there a ghost?’ (No.)” After she left school, Diana became an official guide at Redstone Castle and took tourists round the rooms herself. One afternoon she was with a group of tourists in the Great Hall. Suddenly there was a loud shout from the back of the group. Diana went to see what had happened. A woman was lying on the floor. She looked scared. The only words she could say were: “A ghost!” Diana was just getting her mobile out to call for help when there was more bad news for her: The woman’s son was missing. Where was he? Some of the tourists had their own ideas. “He’s gone to get a doctor.” “The ghost has taken him away!” The situation was getting difficult. Diana decided to phone Sir Clarence. “He sounded happy when I told him about the ghost,” she remembers. “That surprised me.” A moment later Sir Clarence arrived in the Hall, then the missing boy came back and told his story: “I saw the ghost, too!” he cried. “It went through that door, so I opened it and tried to follow it.” Then the boy showed everybody an old scarf which he had found on the floor and which the ghost had lost. Some people laughed, others took photos of the scarf. Redstone Castle has now become very popular. “The visitors come to see the Redstone Ghost – that’s what they pay for,” Sir Clarence says. Diana has her own ideas about the Redstone Ghost, but she keeps them to herself.

c) What does the text tell you about Sir Clarence? Collect information and make notes. For example: lives in Clarence Castle – mean old man – … Then write a few sentences to describe him.

d) Writing texts: Write a short play. 1. Make a list of the characters. (Are there roles for other people, too? – 1st tourist, …) 2. Write the dialogues. (Some sentences are in the story. You must think of the rest.) 3. Write about the action. (Describe the scene at the beginning: The Great Hall, what the people are doing. Say what the characters do: X comes in, Y opens …).