Eddie Holmes

‘Half-Past-Four-in-the-Morning Tomatoes’

Appears in

Published 1998

About

Eddie Holmes has been up since 4 a.m. He comes into the ramshackle office at the back of the shop at 4.30 to get any overnight orders off the answerphone, and then it’s off to Preston market by 5.30 a.m. to make sure he gets the best of whatever is on offer. He’s a great believer in the early bird, is Eddie Holmes.

‘H. Holmes’ read the large black letters on the green board above the shop. H. Holmes was Henry Holmes, Eddie’s father. Henry Holmes was a florist.

‘When my father was making a bouquet of flowers for a lady for a wedding, ‘e always wanted to see ‘er.’