The Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa – World Naked Gardening Day

 

 

The beautiful Downshire village of Clerembeax St Giles was situated to the west of Abbeyvale located between Grace Hill and Bushy Down and on the outskirts was the Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa which was a popular venue for wedding receptions and the grounds made a great backdrop for the wedding photos, and it was for their expertise on the well-manicured lawns and borders where Grandparents Bob and Carrie Stephens were employed as part of a large team of gardeners.

 

They were lifelong residents of Clerembeax and before the Spa opened they had to travel fifteen miles each way to work every day but now they had a ten-minute walk to do the work they loved so much, but that was because horticulture was also their hobby.

So, on their days off they were often to be found in their secluded garden enjoying their favourite pastime, but on May 5^th they were gardening with a difference because they were both naked, although they were both wearing wellington boots and hats, while Bob also wore a tool belt, and the reason for their unorthodox attire was that it was World Naked Gardening Day.

 

They had pottered around their garden for most of the day, and as they often did when they were enjoying themselves, they lost track of time.

So, it took them by surprise when they heard their grandchildren arrive, which meant that they had seriously miscalculated the time.

Fortunately, they were at the end of the garden beyond the rose trellis, which afforded them some protection, but the thing that saved their blushes were the tell-tale chimes of the ice cream van in the street outside the cottage, and that stopped the grandchildren in their tracks, but they were soon running up the garden again and calling
"Ice cream. Ice cream"

"Just a minute kids" Bob shouted to them and Carrie ducked down low as he dug around in his tool belt, mindful to keep everything from the waist down below the height of the trellis rail.
He brought out three, two pound coins which he tossed over the herbaceous border and landed them expertly on the lawn a few feet from the children.
However as he extended his arm to perform the delivery he almost delivered his manhood over the rail as well but Carrie grabbed it with her gloved hand just in time
"Oh no you don’t" she said

“Thanks Grandpa” the kids chimed in unison "do you want one?"

"No thanks" he shouted back
“What about Grandma?”

“No, I’m fine” she replied and giggled as the grandchildren ran back the way they came.

“That was close” Carrie said still holding onto him

“I’ll say” he agreed “So I suggest you let go of my spuds and we go and get some clothes on”

“Oh yes” she said and giggled again

 

 

Snippets of Downshire Life – On Account of the Gardener

 

In the small but thriving English county of Downshire people go about the tasks of their everyday existence in ways that range from the mundane to the extraordinary as their forebears had done for centuries before, in the varied and diverse landscape, from the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, to the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and the short but beautiful coastline to the east.

But our story is set in and around Turnoak-Under-Hawthorne, a large rambling village, originally settled in the 12^th century on the sparsely wooded slopes on the Northern fringe of the Finchbottom Vale about 5 miles from Purplemere, and it was everything you would expect from a Downshire Village and William Hunter had lived there all his life.

He had spent a week confined to the house as his accountant had been pressurizing him to provide him with all his bills and receipts, so he could submit William’s annual accounts at the end of the tax year.

His business was very successful, and he worked hard, but he was a bit of a scatterbrain and he wasn’t brilliant with the paperwork, and he subsequently always left it to the last minute, so when he got the call from the accountant, it always led to a long drawn out and onerous chore.    

When he had finally finished, four days later, and sent everything to his accountant he thought it was time to end his self-imposed exile, and when he opened his back door he discovered he had timed it to perfection, because when he stepped out into the sunlight he found his gardener, Vikki Hynds, working up a sweat cutting the grass, and she always got his pulse racing, even before she stopped to empty the grass box and bent over in front of him.

But it wasn’t just a physical attraction, he really liked her, but he never did anything about it because he thought she was way out of his league, in every conceivable way.

She stood up from her task and turned towards him and smiled.

“So, you’re not dead then” she said

“No rumors’ of my demise have been greatly exaggerated” he paraphrased.

“So, what have you been up to?” she asked

“End of year accounts” he replied, and at that moment her new apprentice, Daisy, appeared wearing similar work boots and dungarees to Vikki, and was carrying some empty heavy-duty sacks.

“Hello Mr. Hunter” she shouted

“Hi Daisy” William shouted back, then in a lower voice he said to Vikki

“How’s she doing?” and nodding in Daisy’s direction

“Excellently” Vikki replied beaming

“She’s a quick learner, hardworking, eager and reliable”

“Really?”

“I couldn’t ask for better, and she’s a real sweetie” she said “She’s the best one I’ve ever had”

 

He left them to their toil in the soil and made his way into the village to replenish all the essentials he had run out of, and after stocking up at Stephenson’s Supermarket he returned home with his bags of shopping and was looking forward to feasting his eyes on his lovely gardener again, but as he reached the corner his heart sank as he saw Vikki’s van driving away up the road.

 

When William got home and let himself in he went straight to the kitchen, unpacked the bags and started to put everything away, but then he became aware of noises in the house, and he feared that he had an intruder, so he picked up a rolling pin and went to investigate, cautiously.

As he left the kitchen and the sounds became louder he realized they were coming from the conservatory, but when he got there he found that he didn’t need the weapon because he discovered that the intruder was actually Vikki Hynds, and his discovery caused him to stop in his tracks and made his chin hit the floor.

Because she was attending to the many and varied pot plants in the conservatory, but it wasn’t that alone that left him gob smacked, it was the fact that Vikki was going about her task wearing only her work boots, gardening gloves and a smile, while hiding her assets behind a watering can and a potted geranium.

“So, I see I finally have your full and undivided attention” she said “But you’re not going to need a rolling pin for what I have in mind”   

 

A FIRST KISS

 

A first kiss,

Nervous, anxious,

When tentative

And hesitant lips

Lacking confidence

Needing conviction

Miss their mark

And teeth collide

CHOICE

 

She sat on an eternal shore, silent

Calm unexpressive face, still like granite

Contemplating her destiny, knowing

The path she chooses she must take alone

Upon the expected crossroads she came

It arrived suddenly, but then not so

The long awaited, long dreamed of moment

Choices when made can extend far beyond

Like ripples in the water from a stone

Inside herself she must look for the answer

A deep breath, a sigh and she plant’s her foot

Upon the chosen trail to who knows where

With confidence she sets off on her way

Has she made the right choice who can say?

Snippets of Downshire Life – May Bank Holiday

 

Downshire is a relatively small English county but like a pocket battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port, the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see from the Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south, to the home of the Downshire Light infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton in the north but our story takes place in the southern town off Abbottsford which was the biggest in Downshire, its administrative capital and the seat of the Downshire government.

It was also a place of learning thanks to the Downshire University and was a Cathedral City and was also home to Abbottsford Town football club.

 

Charlotte and Philip McDowell were on their way to the Cathedral for a memorial service and as was the norm they walked through Cathedral Park to get there.

It was a busy in the Park because it was a glorious day, as it always was when the sun was shining, and there was always a greater concentration around the boating lake.

They were often in the park, so it was nothing out of the ordinary for but on that particular occasion it was not only a lovely bright afternoon, very sunny and very warm, but as it was a Bank Holiday, so it attracted even more visitors scurrying about.

Even so the McDowell’s expected nothing untoward until Charlotte said

“What’s going on?”

“What?” he asked and tried to follow her gaze, and when he had established he was looking in the same place as she was he saw that there was a girl in a skimpy dress walking towards them who appeared to be causing something of a stir.

“Isn’t that Claire Hammond?” he asked

“Yes, I think so” she replied

Claire was someone they had known for a few years, and they had a mutual dislike for each other, and she was a rather innocuous looking girl certainly more than mildly attractive but not a stunner or of movie star calibre.

She definitely suffered from pretty girl syndrome, and though she was attractive she thought she was far more beautiful than all other women around her, and yet she was causing every head to turn, male and female, young and old.

Men’s jaws dropped to the floor and their eyes stood out on stalks and women looked sternly and shook their collective heads.

But this behaviour was not restricted to pedestrians, cyclist’s, drivers, rowers and Pedalo passengers joined in the ogling.

“What are they all gawping at?” Philip asked

“No idea” She replied also questioning if this unremarkable girl was worthy of all the attention.

But as she passed them, without them acknowledging each other, they continued to follow her with their gaze and the reason for the head turning soon became apparent.

The hem of her skirt had snagged on the bottom of her shoulder bag rendering her rear aspect exposed from the waist downward.

Though it wasn’t that in itself which had elicited the response she had received, that was due solely to the fact she had neglected to wear any pants.

As she continued on and turned more heads Philip asked his wife

“Do you think we should tell her?”

“No way” she replied “Serves her right for being so vane”

 

 

Snippets of Downshire Life – May Day

 

The village of Brocklington was on the River Brooke about six miles downstream from Sharping St Mary in the Finchbottom Vale which was nestled comfortably between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest to the south and the rolling Pepperstock Hills in the north, those who are lucky enough to live there think of it as the rose between two thorns.

One of the Vale’s biggest employers were Brocklington Broadcast International, which is where employee Ross Manning had been  trying to get a date with Marta Gouveia since the BBI Christmas party, but for a variety of reasons it never happened, until shortly before the May Bank Holiday when they were talking and he asked

“Let’s go to Sharpington on May Day”

And in her response there was no prevarication and he was shocked when he heard her say “yes” immediately.

 

The weather in the week preceding the May Bank Holiday had been unseasonably warm, but from Friday lunchtime onwards it gradually deteriorated until by May Day itself it was a grey dismal day with torrential rain accompanied by thunder and lightning.

 

Ross picked her up at 9.30 and the rain hammered down all the way to the coast and he thought that the prospect of the weather clearing was extremely optimistic.

On reaching the traditional seaside resort of Sharpington-by-Sea they parked on the sea front facing the sea and sat in the car and for a few moments they silently looked for a glimmer of hope and simultaneously sighed.

They opened the car doors and the few other visitors that had ventured out, were already scurrying for cover as it was still lashing down with rain and there was a violent thunderstorm accompanying it.

“This is not what I had in mind” he thought as they hurried through the rain to a café.

“It was supposed to be perfect”

 

As they sat at a table in the café they perused the brochures that listed Sharpington’s highlights, its Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, The Palladium ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre and illuminations, all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park.

He looked across the table just as a clap of thunder rattled the windows and said

“Not a very auspicious first date, is it?”

“I guess not” she replied flatly

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be presumptive, I mean, I’d like a second date, but I should ask first”

“There had better be a second date, after a seaside washout, but before we right off today completely, I think we should try to make the best of what we’ve got and go to the Fun Park” she said and reached across the table and squeezed his hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SHE’S LEAVING

I suppress the sunshine, she says

And bring her nothing but rain

Now I’m begging her not to leave

But I know that it is in vain

And I know that if I let her go,

Although that would ease her pain,

I am full of fear of saying goodbye

In case we will never meet again

WHERE, WHEN AND HOW

 Where did it go?

The sense of one

Feeling of togetherness

Of mutuality, symbiosis

Thinking each other’s thoughts

A consciousness shared

Breathing in unison

A single beating heart

Speaking in a single voice

 

When did it happen?

At what point?

Did we separate?

Torn asunder

Split like an atom

Dissected like conjoined twins

To Breath alone

Stop sharing one heart

Speak for ourselves

 

How could it be?

When I looked at her with love

A stranger looked back

Independent and solo

Individual and free

Thinking on a different plain

Breathing different air

Heart pulsing with a different beat

Speaking a foreign tongue

The Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa – The Power of Prayer

 

The beautiful Downshire village of Clerembeax St Giles was situated to the west of Abbeyvale located between Grace Hill and Bushy Down and on the outskirts was the Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa which had become very important to the lives of those living in the village community with St Giles’ Church at its hub.

It was a busy village with all the usual amenities you would expect, in addition to St Giles’ Church there was a village Hall, and primary school of the same name.

There was also the Trinity Methodists Church, Stephenson’s General store, which included an off-license, newsagents and Post Office, and two pubs, Étienne of Normandy and the Saracen, and it was at the Saracen where James Timms and Constantina Mironica worked.

 

Twenty-three-year-old Constantina worked there full time in order to support herself and her lazy good for nothing older brother Emilios, who everyone referred to as Moronica.

James Timms on the other hand was a full-time gardener up at the Palace but worked as many shifts as he could get at the pub because he was in love with her.

He had asked Tina out many times but between the hours she worked at the pub and fetching and carrying for her brother she never had time for a date.

Emilios had made it perfect plain to James that he didn’t like him and that his sister was “off limits” not that James cared what he said or thought, and it didn’t make any difference to the way he behaved around her.

He addressed her as Tina, which he knew Emilios hated, and she called him JimTim, which he also disliked, but he had to tolerate it as he needed the money she contributed to the house.

 

James had been in love her for almost the whole two years he had worked at the Saracen and it looked like nothing would alter the status quo, until one weekend when Emilios had been to the Beer Festival in the village of Mornington-by-Mere and crashed his car on his way home while he was more than two and a half times over the legal limit.

 

As a result of his injuries in the accident he was in a coma for more than three months at the St Bernadette’s Covent Hospital in Abbeyvale and Constantina was constantly at his bedside and James saw little of her, and when he did there was an awkwardness between them that had never been there before, and he later found out that was because she felt guilty, but he didn’t know why.

 

Because of his catastrophic spinal injuries Emilios was destined to be a quadriplegic, but he never regained consciousness and died four months to the day after the accident.

Yet still she could not confide in James or feel at ease with him and he was confused, he wanted to be there for her to support and comfort her, but she pushed him away. 

 

Undeterred he kept a watching brief on her and was ready to step in when she needed him to. 

She kept her distance from him right up until the day of the funeral when her resistance withered, and she allowed him to hug her.

 

He was there to comfort Tina on the loss of her brother, in truth she didn’t really like her brother, he was older than she was and he was never a pleasant man once drink and drugs got their hooks into him and as he got older he got worse, she loved him because he was her brother, and she cried for him when he died, but her tears were for the boy he once was rather than the man he became.

But when James put his arms around her, it didn’t matter to her that she didn’t like Emilios, because she wasn’t about to turn down the opportunity for a hug from a good-looking man that she loved.

And her estrangement towards him following the accident were not borne out of dislike or distrust, she loved him, and she wanted him.

The reason her being distant towards him were as a result of her terrible guilt, a guilt brought on by the knowledge of her actions, because she had prayed on her knees countless times at St Giles’ church for God to grant her wish to spend her life with James, and then came the accident which she believed her prayers brought about.

But as she stood there in the arms of the man she loved she knew that the power of prayer didn’t cause the accident that ultimately killed her brother, she knew that the loving God she worshipped would not answer such a prayer or act in that way.

Her brother died because of his own irresponsible actions, and she was sad for the loss of the boy he once was, but she was content because the future that lay ahead was a bright one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GUARDIAN

 

She was only slight

And petite of height

Her complexion light

Her smile so bright

 

Her hair was brown

Her eyes looked down

She never wore a frown

But a halo for a crown

 

Her eyes were green

And her intellect keen

Her limbs lithe and lean

With the poise of a queen

 

An angel in human form

Protecting me from the storm

Her embrace both soft and warm

From despair I will transform

CHILD OF NATURE

 

She was a child of nature

The most special one

With a smile as warm

As the summer sun

Yet fragile and delicate

Like an early bloom in spring

Bright as a shaft of sunlight

Illuminating the gloom

Spectacular and exiting

As the days first dawning

Yet simple and refreshing

As a clear winter morning

Tempestuous and wild, like

An autumn gale blowing

The most special one

She was a child of nature

ANOTHER

 

Our first year of wedded bliss

Then a second year united

Another year notched up

Yet one more year in concert

Another year together

One more year in partnership

Another year with you

A year of dull and sunny weather

The ninth year still bonded

Another year together

One more year of companionship

Another year of just us two

A year of sad and happy days

Fourteen years now coupled

Another year together

One more year of friendship

Another year chalked up

A mixed year of good and bad

Nineteen years now joined

Another year together

One more year of togetherness

Another year on the sentence

A year of nag and nag and nag

Twenty-four long bloody years

Another year together

What did I do to deserve this?

The punishment didn’t fit the crime

Not even the great train robbers

Had to serve this much time

The Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa – Pretty as a Picture

 

The beautiful Downshire village of Clerembeax St Giles was situated to the west of Abbeyvale located between Grace Hill and Bushy Down and on the outskirts was the Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa which was a popular venue for wedding receptions and the grounds made a great backdrop for the wedding photos, and it was on the well-manicured lawns where photographer Ian Dawes had Carrie Hinds in his view finder and her dark eyes, sultry and steamy flashed him a side ward’s glance from beneath the white lace of her fascinator and in return he gave her a more appraising look altogether, focusing on the curvaceous figure beneath her conservative bridesmaid’s dress.
He got her in the frame of his camera, he was there to photograph the wedding party, but for every photo he took of them he took three of his secret love.  

 

Her eyes flashed up again, a lingering languid glance which spoke volumes of her being very much a woman and not the innocent girl the virginal white attire suggested she might be.
She was the centre of his admiration, and he was hers as they saw recognition in each other’s eyes, no words were spoken everything was intuit and with amative study and libidinous perusal, the girl was his object of pulchritude and he was her beloved swain.

 

All at once the moment was gone and the spell was broken, though only temporarily until their reunion, for they were not strangers first met on those church steps or the Hotel lawn.

However, the last time he had looked in to the eyes of the young woman in the white lace fascinator, she was wearing white silk and lace of a very different kind, and his fascination was not with her headgear, and that night in the Hotel he would be fascinated all over again.

 

I COULD NOT WEEP

 

I could not weep

As I sat at his side

His hand once as strong as atlas

Now to weak to grip

Weak like a babe

More so

 

I could not weep

As I watched the frown

Furrowing his weathered face

Grey, expressionless

And as his frown faded,

As the morphine takes control

 

I could not weep

As he lays motionless,

Breath shallow

Silent, almost

But for the occasional groan

Beneath the morphine

 

I could not weep

At his deathbed

As the monster within

Crept through his organs

Hastening the end

For him and for itself

 

I could not weep

As his muscles relaxed

And the pain was no more

As he exhaled his last

And his soul passed

When he was at peace

 

I could not weep

Not because it wasn’t macho

Nor for lack of love

It was perhaps numbness

Or a need to be strong

For family, others

 

I could not weep

Not when he was diagnosed

Nor when he released his grip on life

Not even at his funeral

I could not weep

When my father died

WE MET AT THE CHRISTMAS PARTY

We met at the Christmas party

And I instantly fell in love with you

The prettiest girl in the room by far

Dressed in shades of Christmas hue

And when I heard your joyous laugh

The blissful love in my heart grew

And though we had never spoken

Nonetheless I somehow knew

That for every Christmas to come

In my future I'd still be loving you

So, I look back, with you in my arms

As my Christmas prediction came true

LOVE IS..... # 4

 

Love is…

The golden thread

Binding us together

Uncanny Love Tales – (21) A Day at the Lido with Maria

 

When I was growing up in the sixties we lived in North London and one of the things I really loved to do was to go swimming and we were quite well fixed for pools in the area, and I would swim until the chlorinated water left my eyes red and sore.

But of all the pools I swam in, the one I loved to swim in most of all was the Durnsford Road Lido, especially during the summer months.

It was only sixpence to get in and for that paltry sum you could stay all day long, which of course I did, and I would spend as many days of the holidays there as I could, playing with friends and watching Mad Jack stunt diving off the high platform.

When I first started to go there it was just a joy to spend all the time in the sparkling water.

As I got older, I would come to appreciate the many delicacies on which to feast the eyes upon, delicacies invisible to the eye of the eleven-year-old boy who first visited the pool.

 

Whenever I arrived at the Lido there was always someone there that I knew, so even if I went on my own, I could quite easily hook up with someone.

Some of them I knew from school others from where I lived, and some were friends of friends.

I always took an old penny with me in the pool, and we would take turns diving down to retrieve it or a group of us would play tag, it was basically the same friends and the same games every visit.

 

On one particular day when I was thirteen, I went with a friend called Keith and his cousin Simon and after spending about an hour diving for a coin we sat on the side of the pool and watched the leathery skinned Mad Jack perform one of his eccentric dives from the high board.

Almost before the ripples had subsided Maria Saunders and her friend Lucy ran up behind us and pushed me and Keith in the pool and a chase ensued resulting in Maria and Lucy being thrown in the 8-foot end and then being thoroughly dunked.

This was the normal exchange between the four of us and it had been the way of it since we were first years.

This time however when the four of us played tag it was different.

I eventually caught Maria after a long chase and during the ensuing grapple something happened that had never happened before during our horseplay, I got a hard on.

I didn’t know why; we had played that game hundreds of times before without as much as a tickle in my trunks. 

My first reaction to this unwelcome intrusion was to let go of Maria and swim away, but the erection merely faded temporarily and as the game of tag continued it returned with a vengeance whenever I got in close proximity of Maria and that afternoon, we seemed destined to be in close proximity most of the time.

After the third attempt at swimming away failed to diminish my woody, I abandoned the tactic.

Afterall holding onto Marias voluptuous form whilst sporting a boner was not an unpleasant experience and if she didn’t mind then I certainly didn’t.

I realise looking back that Maria was well aware of my discomfiture and made sure that she rubbed up against me at every opportunity.

Our clinches lasted much longer than normal, and Maria must have been aware of my erection prodding at her nether regions but she was clearly not repulsed by it, in fact it was her more than I who seemed the most reluctant to desist from our embrace.

And so, like an eager confused puppy humping a stranger’s leg I had my first ejaculation in the presence of another human being rubbing up against Maria Saunders in the pool.

Happily, although it was the first, I am pleased to say that it was not to be the last time with Maria, in the pool or out of it.

Wearing a rather smug expression Maria stayed close to me the rest of the day and afterwards I walked her home.

THE SOUND OF SILENCE

 

When we first started dating

I had no expectation of forever

I was content with the immediate

And enjoyed each moment with her

All the mundane chatter

And flirtatious wordplay

Leading to the longing looks

And the sentimental words of love

Back then time evaporated,

Hours seeming to pass in seconds

And in all those moments

Precluding our life together

The one thing we never had was silence

 

But that was then and this is now

And now the silence deafens me

No more chatter

Words are used miserly

As if endowed with great value

And not to be wasted

On flirtation or sentiment

Words, when used, now bite

With venomous spite

Moments now last an eternity

Clocks that once seemed to race through time

Run now in slow motion

Her contemptuous looks wither me

Longing now for my extinction

ABIGAILS TALE - ONE DAY VERY SOON

 

In the comfort of the coffee shop

Nestled into a sofa

Sits Abigail, homesick and sad

As she reads a letter from home

 

She knows the sadness will pass

And sooner this time than the last

It strikes each time a letter arrives from home

With news from those she left behind

 

Her parents, loving and kind

Her sister annoyingly lovely

All her friends of long standing

And of course, him

 

She left her hometown

The only place she had ever lived

After her marriage failed

So, she is building a new life

 

Away from the people and places

Away from all the familiarity

That reminded her daily

Of her failure and her inadequacies

 

So, she lives in a new town

And is making new friends

Discovering new familiar places

And trying to forget past mistakes

 

She has joined a new church

Where her angel’s voice

Sings in praise to heaven

And she is finding peace within herself

 

One day very soon Abigail will sit

In the comfort of the coffee shop

Nestled into a sofa

And not be homesick and sad

 

One day very soon Abigail will read

A long letter from home

And smile at it contents

And not feel the old pain strike

 

One day very soon

Abigail will let herself be happy

One day very soon

Abigail will forgive herself

LOVE IS..... # 3

 

Love is…

The unspoken,

The unwritten,

All the things

We don’t have to say

Uncanny Love Tales – (20) Party Crashers

 

The party was in full swing when Sinead arrived, she’d had to work late so arranged to meet Ben at the party.

But a combination of bad luck and an awkward client meant that she was even later than she’d anticipated and when Sinead walked into the Village Hall it appeared, she was too late to save her engagement.

As she found her Fiancé Ben otherwise engaged in a very passionate kiss with her cousin Fiona.

If Sinead had been surprised by what greeted her in the Village Hall it was nothing compared to Ben’s surprise when she knee’d him in the balls and there was definitely a look of surprise on Fiona’s face a split second after Sinead slapped it, twice.

With Ben doubled up unable to speak and Fiona with a scarlet handprint on each cheek of her startled face, Sinead stormed out of the hall like a Celtic Goddess with her flaming red hair streaming behind her.

She was like a heat seeking missile and shot straight out into the car park and straight into Sebastian Cooper, who was lost in thought as he walked the other way and they both ended up in a heap on the floor.

“Why don’t you look where you’re going you idiot” she screamed, Seb totally ignoring Sinead’s angry remarks instead chose to look at the striking red head with an appraising eye.  

“Are you ok?” he asked with concern

She looked confused at first and then opened her mouth to launch another tirade at him but dissolved into tears instead.

Sebastian took her in his arms and comforted her while she cried her pitiful tears and as they sat on the tarmac of the car park in the darkness she sobbed and dribbled on his new shirt until their hearts somehow became irrevocably entwined.

WHEN HARRY MET SALLY

 

Harry's mind wandered

As he wends his way

Through crowded streets

He would see her that night

Anna, his new love

He could smell her hair

Feel the softness of her skin

He could even taste her

He longed for her

As he remembered

Her smile, her kiss

Her writhing body

Then Harry stepped off the curb

Oblivious

And was struck

By a car unseen

Tossing him like a rag doll

Depositing him unceremoniously

Between car and gutter

As his body lay broken

And bleeding

Where it came to rest

On the unforgiving street

The last image in his mind

Was not the killer car

But his Anna, His new love

As his life ebbed away

His heart beat its last

The paramedic's best efforts

Were to no avail

A moment's carelessness

Had cost a young life

His heart beat no more

In his broken body

Only to beat once more

And reanimate

In another's chest

To bring new hope

To rekindle another's existence

Bringing a new beginning for Sally

Which like a phoenix

Rose from the ashes

Of another families grief

LOVE OF HER LIFE

 

Young and beautiful

She looked at the life ahead

With hope and optimism

But a life was planned for her instead

A loveless marriage

With a distant stranger

Arranged by her family

She decided was not for her

 

She gave her heart

To the love of her life

 

She listened to her heart

And not her fathers voice

She simply fell in love

With a man of her choice

 

She wanted too make a life

With the love of her life

 

The consequence of this love

So precious to her

Was shame on her family

And death for the dishonour

 

She risked her life

For the love of her life

 

Her cries for help

Went sadly unheeded

The cruellest punishments

For the love she needed

 

She gave her life

For the love of her life

Her father wanted to arrange her life

And cursed the love of her life

Her father took her life

Because of the love of her life

She wanted to live her life

With the love of her life

Make her safe in paradise

God protect her in the afterlife

IF WE HAD MET AT A DIFFERENT TIME

 

 

If we had met at a different time
I would have asked out Charlie
Charlie the beautiful young brunette
Whose voice alone was sufficient to arouse
Hazel eyes that could mesmerize
And her heady perfume was hypnotic
Just to look at her curves stirred my loins
Those perfectly round buttocks
The swing of her hips
And the movement of her breasts
Charlie the beautiful young brunette
With the impossibly long legs
That could have encircled me
In our passionate embrace
She could so easily have been mine
But I stepped away
And I distanced myself from her beauty
Because she was half my age
And because I was not free
I did the right thing
But I still think of what might have been

TRIANGLES

 

It’s so good to be loved

To be essential to someone

To be the breath of their life

The beat in their heart

The fire in their blood

Seeing love in their eyes

Knowing you are the one

Being in their every thought

It’s so good to be loved

Except when you love another

EMPTY

 

The empty ache of loneliness

A hollow emptiness

A desperate want

For their caress

To fill the void

Left by invisibility

Butterflies flutter

When you meet their gaze

Knees weaken, just for a second

As they brush past

Then light-headedness

When you smell their scent

Then later

In the quiet of the night

The empty void of want

Loins aching for them

Then hollow emptiness

The constant companion

The loneliness

Of unrequited love