Winner Takes It All Read Online Free PDF

brood who were
academically inclined; none of the others had bothered beyond
A’levels. Alex had excelled at sport in school and had gone to the
University of Essex to study Sports Science. However her first year
hadn’t involved much studying, more getting drunk and sleeping with
the various boys who thought she was gorgeous. She met Tim in the
library when she couldn’t find a book and asked him for help. They
got chatting, he asked her to attend a lecture on the Suffrage
movement, and flattered, she agreed and that was it, her life
changed.
    Tim Bradbury was unlike
any other boy Alex had been out with. His father was Professor of
Modern Art at Manchester University; his mother Georgina Gray was a
well-known feminist writer. He liked Radiohead and Pink Floyd and
introduced her to older indie bands like the Pixies and Throwing
Muses. He was good looking in a sort of geeky way, and Alex had
felt so excited to be allowed into the inner sanctum of the
university intellectuals. Christian was delighted when she asked if
she could switch to Media Studies, pleased that one of his children
was actually doing something academic. Alex suddenly became an
authority on dissecting film and television shows; sitting in
groups with Tim’s’ brainy friends feeling awfully superior to the
students she used to hang around with.
    It all changed somewhat
in 2001 when they graduated. Alex went to work for her father’s
company while Tim remained in academia. They moved into a flat in
Hoxton and Alex would come home from a stressful day at work to
find the place in a mess while Tim was sat at the table writing his
MA in Early Cinema. She hoped it would all stop when he got his
further degree and he would start looking for a job in the ‘real
world.’ However he was offered a position in the Research
Department of the University of North West London, excited because
they were frequently given huge amounts of money by the EU to study
the most ridiculous topics. Alex grew more and more frustrated with
him, wondering when he would finally leave ‘school’ and decide to
become a grown up. After all, he was almost thirty one; by the time
her father was that age, he’d been running Sheridans for eight
years.
    Her feelings of apathy
just made her even sadder given how much this gig meant to the
band. The Amersham Arms in New Cross was quite a prestigious venue
and to be playing here was a big thing. It wasn’t their fault they
had the luxury of not worrying about business and making money.
Maybe a part of her envied them their naivety. The initial euphoria
of being thrown the golden chalice by her father had started to
wear off and she realised she had just under a year to acquire
three hotels. Christian had allocated her a budget to find staff -
just a small team to help her out and because she didn’t know what
she was doing, she had no idea who she was going to take on.
Michael however, was already up and running. He’d gone to school
with Georgiou, a nephew of Mykonos Dimitrious, the Greek shipping
magnate who had lots of fingers in loads of pies and he was at
present holed up in his yacht moored just off Cannes, trying to
schmooze him and help him buy an airline. There was no one Alex
could turn to. For eight years she’d surrounded herself with people
who thought capitalism was evil and would rather stick pins in
their eyes than help her build her empire and she could have done
with staying home and drawing up plans rather than sitting here
listening to Toby droning on about teenage pregnancy.
    Deciding she’d had
enough, she took herself through to the other side of the pub to
get a drink. The bar was packed and in the background they were
playing Smells Like Teen Spirit , reminding Alex of her
teenage crush on Kurt Cobain. She was driving that night so
couldn’t drink and fished around in her jeans pocket for a couple
of pounds so she could buy an orange juice. She waited patiently
amongst the heaving crowd, lost in her own