Friends & Crocodiles Page #2

- And then there are the windmills.

- Wind power, something I am very interested in.

Am I Don Quixote?

Not quite sure, yet.

I need a little help with this, as you can see.

(WATER LAPPING)

Someone who'll crack the whip.

Get it organised.

(WATER LAPPING)

(LIZZIE GASPING)

And I'm interested in crocodiles, too.

- Why?

- I'll explain later. It's only eighth on the list.

You'll stay?

- Help me make all this come true?

- We'll work normal hours?

Of course. I'm not quite as lazy as I seem.

We'll work ultra normal hours.

The most conventional hours we can find.

- Not too many parties?

- No parties. Definitely not.

I don't want to hold any more. I promise.

Not for a long while.

I thought I might make each project colour-coded.

Give it its own colour,

so we'll know immediately where it is.

It's terrific.

A code in colour.

It's great.

MAN:
(TEASING) She's coming.

The secretary is a-coming.

Lizzie?

Always in such a hurry.

- Morning.

- Hi.

There are eight letters from America...

- and one from Poland.

- Thank you, Lizzie.

Nice day.

(WHISTLING)

Come on.

(PEOPLE CHEERING AND LAUGHING)

(SNORING)

Just got to a difficult part...

in my book...

just struggling with it, as you can see.

Competitive sport's

going to become a thing of the past.

Don't you know?

I'm founding a society dedicated to it.

NOSCP.

"Noscp."

No School Competitions.

REPORTER:
(ON TV)

More than 100 white and coloured youths

fought a pitched battle against the police.

Some were as young as 12,

the oldest no more than 20.

It lasted for eight hours and at the end of it

Merseyside's chief constable

said it was a planned attack.

"We were set up,"he said.

(WHISPERING) Whatever you do,

don't disturb the assistant.

And still the bricks, stones and lumps of iron

were thrown, worst of all, the petrol bombs.

And against all this,

riot shields and visors were not enough.

(VOLUME DECREASING)

Always working.

Always buried in Paul's papers.

Yes, there are some really great ideas in here.

So, you see blue for instance,

is the wind, the windmills.

Everything to do with wind power, that's blue.

We can see where all that is now, at a glance.

It's magical.

Spectacular.

I never thought the room could look like this.

It's great.

So we're ready then, for the next stage?

Making these things happen?

Yeah, we are. Absolutely.

There is just one other colour before then.

- This colour.

- And what's that?

It's my birthday in a couple of weeks.

I thought I'd hold a picnic.

- Come on, Lizzie, don't look like that.

- No.

It's not a party.

No. But you must think I'm an awful killjoy,

which I'm not. It's just that...

- I thought we were going to really start.

- We are, I promise.

After one very small, everyday picnic.

LIZZIE:
It's ready.

(GONG SOUNDING)

(PEOPLE CHUCKLING HEARTILY)

ALL:
One, two, three.

ALL:
Whoo!

My sister's enjoying herself.

Good luck to her.

She's been disabled from birth, you know.

But look at all the rest of them,

snouts in their hampers...

gobble, gobble, gobble.

They can't believe their luck, can they?

I think I will make the toast.

(GLASS TINKLING)

The toast.

Surely the time is right for the birthday toast.

The politician. Of course, it has to be him

who thinks of the toast first.

To Paul, on his birthday.

No number. Don't put a number on it.

His age, very unlucky.

We're all very aware of how privileged we are

to receive such hospitality,

in what must be

one of the most beautiful settings in the world.

We second that.

To Paul, the maestro.

The only patron

that we would accept a patronage from.

I endorse all of that and more,

because if it wasn't for you,

I would still be on the local paper.

This is pathetic. I'll show you how to do it.

What we should be saying...

PAUL:
(LAUGHING) Here he comes.

...is this.

Paul...

you have vision, vision beyond your years...

because with you, there're no structures.

Freedom,

dreamtime,

daydreams and night dreams,

space.

The only thinking environment that makes sense.

You young people here,

do not forget this moment...

because I do not kneel before you, Paul...

but I do teeter.

You are the one and only

and we are truly, truly grateful.

- To Paul!

- ALL:
To Paul!

That's quite enough of that, all of you.

But thank you.

Thank you.

Right. Now, I think you need a bit of waking up.

I've bought myself a little present.

Lizzie.

MAN:
Oh my God!

All aboard!

Room upstairs.

All aboard.

Hurry up!

Hey, you know the route?

Because of the weight of the bus,

we have to keep to the main avenue.

- You do understand?

- I hear you, Lizzie.

Otherwise, it'll get stuck.

- The 98. All the way to Maida Vale.

- Maida Vale!

- Quiet, everyone.

- Well done.

(BUS HORN TOOTING)

(WHOOPING AND CHEERING)

Never has a bus been so full of talent.

What the hell is he doing?

Hold on!

(PEOPLE GASPING)

(PEOPLE GASPING)

That was the best bus ride ever.

It's stuck, Lizzie. Don't worry about it.

(PEOPLE CHUCKLING)

- We can't move it.

- I like it like that.

- Somebody could have got badly hurt.

- I've always wanted to drive a London bus.

I got a bit carried away.

- Some people had fun.

- LIZZIE:
Of course, that explains it all.

I don't belong here, do I?

- I really don't.

- That's exactly why I want you here, Lizzie.

- To bully me, cause me grief.

- That's a really great job, Paul.

Find somebody else to kick your arse.

I am working all the time in here...

going over and over things,

and sometimes I just need to let rip,

so I can start again.

There's a room you have never seen.

Let me show it to you.

Please meet me there tomorrow morning.

I'm here.

- Are you going to stay over there all the time?

- Depends what you've got to show me.

I see you've got him a new tank.

Is that what you wanted me to see?

His new home?

No.

Those shops are the first thing I bought,

at the age of twenty-one.

My father was a Dagenham car worker.

I was determined not to do that, not to work there.

I saw these derelict shops, all along a high street.

I formed a consortium, I bought the lot.

The whole of the empire

comes from that first purchase.

All that work, and now you can drive a London bus

around your estate.

And out there is all the work you've done,

everything beautifully colour-coded.

Would you work with me to bring all that stuff

out there, into here? Into this?

Channel it into an action plan.

You'll know all about my finances.

You'll sit in at meetings

with my financial advisers.

You'll see the way things are prioritised,

what figures are set aside for which projects.

You will be able to read all my thoughts...

in here.

Nobody has been allowed to do that before.

And I'll give you a raise. I'll double your salary.

Come on, why not? I want to show you I can work.

And you'll tell me about the crocodile?

Maybe.

(TYPEWRITER CLACKING)

Coffee. Get me some coffee.

Since you're working, I will.

- One day, Lizzie, you'll run a major corporation.

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