often fat charlie would wonder if the people on the beach in his imagination , watching the white fingers of the waves as they wriggled toward the shore , listening to the tropical birds whistling in the palm trees , whether they ever dreamed of being in england , in the rain , in a cupboard-sized room in a fifth-floor office , a safe distance from the dullness of the pure golden sand and the hellish boredom of a day so perfect that not even a creamy drink containing slightly too much rum and a red paper umbrella can do anything to alleviate it .