(Part 01)
Neil Etherington was an average man approaching his thirtieth birthday not that he was a bad looking man, he wasn’t, but he wasn’t stunning, sexy or buff, he was strictly middling but his girlfriend
Samantha Barraclough was anything but, she was an absolute beauty three years younger, elegant, daintily petite, intelligent, funny, sexy and with a perfectly beautiful angelic voice, pure Carrington Chase educated perfection, Carrington Chase being Downshire’s version of Roedean, although those in Downshire thought it was the other way around, and it was a voice that made Charlotte Green sound common.
He pinched himself at the start of everyday, especially the ones on which he woke up beside her, just to check he wasn’t dreaming.
Because the good fortune that brought Samantha into his life was the type of thing that didn’t happen to him, and everyone who witnessed them together unanimously agreed that he was punching well above his weight.
They first encountered each other at a business meeting at the Abbottsford Regents Hotel, where she was a potential new client and he was trying to win a new account, but the meeting was unresolved as it was love at first sight.
Neil worked for a firm of architects called New Horizons whose head office was in Sharpington by Sea while Samantha Barraclough was approaching her 28th birthday and was a project consultant for the family business, Barraclough Ventures and the project that Samantha’s company was heading up was the regeneration of the former Industrial Power House of the county, Northchapel.
The love that bloomed between Samantha Barraclough and Neil Etherington in Abbottsford in June went from strength to strength
However things had not been all plain sailing since they had met, though not between the two of them they were completely simpatico.
The problems stemmed from a different quarter entirely and from those who should have been the most delighted for them, their close friends and family.
Neil and Samantha were the victims of snobbery, inverted and otherwise.
Her family thought she had set her sights to low while his nearest and dearest believed he had set his too high.
Her friends thought he was common while his thought she was a snob.
Only their closest friends Jonathon Hardman and Isabelle Decoene stuck by them.
So as a result they had found it difficult to fit inside each other’s worlds, but the couple believed that love will out and Samantha drew a line under the difficulties when she said
“If you can’t live in my world and I can’t live in yours we shall just have to make a world of our own”
If he hadn’t been in love with her already he certainly would have been after that speech
As part of “making a world of their own” and to increase the time they got to spend with each other they decided to plan a holiday together.
Obviously there were certain stipulations, it had to be for at least two weeks, they had to go somewhere they were unlikely to run into any of their friends and ideally it had to be somewhere or something they had never been or done before and Neil left it to Sam to make the arrangements because he knew she would come up trumps.
Samantha gave him no indication of what she had planned, where they were going or what they were doing but Neil didn’t mind in the slightest as long as he was with her.
(Part 02)
It was a pleasant morning as Neil Etherington stood waiting outside his Brocklington cottage for Samantha to arrive and he looked at the sky and hoped it would stay fine.
It was warmer than it had been over the previous week, with the skies a mainly blue expanse, broken only by the occasional passing cloud of fluffy white.
And it was when he was surveying the sky that she appeared in typical Samantha style on time to the minute and was looking as lovely as the weather, and she was immaculately turned out as usual.
She was wearing a large peaked white cap with her blonde hair scraped into a ponytail sticking out the back.
The rest of her outfit was all matching, predominately white with jade trim, Polo shirt, short flared skirt and ankle socks.
Her ensemble was then finished off with white pumps.
“Neil darling” she said as she launched herself at him for a kiss.
“I’m a bit excited”
“Good I like it when you’re excited” he said and she gave him a look
“You look really gorgeous”
“I look gorgeous do I?” she said and kissed him
“God yes” he replied
“That’s just goes to show what wonderful taste you have” She said smugly
Samantha opened the boot so he could throw his bag in and as she rearranged the boot to accommodate it he got a lingering look at the girl he loved so much and as she was bent over he gave her a playful slap.
“You can stop that Neil” she chastised “you can spank me when we get there”
“Well the sooner we get going then the better” he retorted
“Get in the car then” she snapped
“So you want to be punished then” he said
“Just get in the car,” she ordered and smiled, so he did what she said and got in the car and buckled up tight as he knew it was going to be a white-knuckle ride.
Samantha raced out of the side road and headed off away from the village and they sped off across the Vale.
He had no idea where they were headed and every time he thought he knew, she sped past the turning.
It was when they were on the main Abbottsford road when he had convinced himself that that was their destination when Samantha indicated left and turned off into the country where she race along narrow lanes that he was unfamiliar with and they drove for about 45 nerve-jangling minutes until she suddenly turned off into a little car park by the canal and came sharply to a halt.
“We have arrived,” she said
“Where are we?” he asked genuinely not knowing where the hell they were.
Where they were precisely was in a carpark beside The Downshire Navigation, part of the canal network which ran between Nettlefield in the north, down through Millmoor and the Oakhams to Northchapel, Abbeyvale and then to its most southerly point, Abbottsford, where it again headed north, this time to Childean, Purplemere and Finchbottom where it joined the River Finch.
(Part 03)
Where they were precisely was in a carpark beside The Downshire Navigation, part of the canal network which ran between Nettlefield in the north, down through Millmoor and the Oakhams to Northchapel, Abbeyvale and then to its most southerly point, Abbottsford, where it again headed north, this time to Childean, Purplemere and Finchbottom where it joined the River Finch.
“Come on” she instructed and got out the car and opened the boot.
“But where are we?” he asked again
“Shut up and grab the bags” she retorted, and again he did as he was told but they only went about 20 yards along the canal bank before she climbed aboard a narrow boat.
“Hey what are you doing?” he said with alarm and looking around to see if anyone was looking.
“Don’t panic” Samantha said mockingly as she picked up a plant pot and recovered a key that was hidden underneath it.
“This is our boat, come on” she said brandishing the key like a trophy.
“Oh, ok” he said and climbed aboard.
By the time he’d climbed down the companionway with the bags and closed the hatch behind him Samantha was already unpacking the bags that she carried aboard.
“I think I should say right from the outset, as this is our first holiday together, that on this trip I am the captain so don’t get any ideas” she said and laughed
“So what am I then, your first mate?” He asked
“No you’re the cabin boy” she replied and completely disitergrated into laughter at her clever joke
“Well I have just one thing to say to you” he said
“Whats that?” she asked between giggles
“Mutiny” he said and propelled her along the cabin to the sleeping compartment with her giggling all the way.
The barge was moored on a stretch of cut between Abbottsford and Applesford, the latter being a quaint country village, which would at a later date have great significance in their lives.
And for the next week they poodled along the canal enjoying eachother and the stunning downshire scenery, by which time they had reached the Northeast corner of the Finchbottom Vale where they turned around and headed back the way they came.
On the journey back to Applesford Samantha said
“I’ve really enjoyed our holiday”
“Me too”
“I’ve enjoyed being with you all the time” Sam said
“It’s been great hasn’t it?” he agreed
“I wish we could be together all the time” she mused
“You as well?” He asked
“You mean that’s what you want?” She queried and he nodded
“So you want us to live together?”
“I do” he said
“In Tipton or in Brocklington?” she asked
Her house was up in Tipton, although she was rarely in it as she spent more time living in hotels than she did her house so it had never felt like home to her, but she thought it might if she had someone to share it with but Neil had a nice cottage in Brocklington and that would also be lovely so when he replied.
“Neither”
To her question, she was taken aback.
“Neither?” she asked
“I think we should buy somewhere new, a blank canvas, somewhere that will be ours and not yours or mine” he replied and a she exclaimed
“That’s perfect, that’s brilliant, why didn’t I think of that” she said and she hugged him tightly and said
“You’re perfect and I really love you”
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