The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (016) A Wonderful Little Holiday

 

The first week in October, George was at the house to receive delivery of the restored furniture while Danny and Molly were in Abbottsford, shopping for things for the house, cutlery, bed linen, and pots and pans, all the basic stuff.

When they returned to the island they were on the same ferry as the Here, There & Everywhere Domestic and Business Removals trucks carrying all of Molly’s possessions from Colorado, so they drove in convoy to Cliff Haven.

 

The following two weeks were spent putting everything where it belonged, including George’s belongings, as it was always part of Sir Avery’s plan that George was to have a place to live with them, if required.

 

The very last thing to arrive at the house arrived in the middle of October, a Lean-To Greenhouse, not that she had any interest in horticulture, she wanted a greenhouse because her mum had a green house.

 

Finally, with everything done and everything at the house that needed to be, and a full week until Molly’s 23^rd birthday, and therefore moving day, they decided to go to the mainland for a short holiday.

As they had to take the VW campervan back to the hire company, as it was no longer needed, Danny suggested they hire a car and visit some of the places that Molly knew her mum had been to after seeing Katie’s photo albums.

So, they took the Expressway to Finchbottom and did some shopping, then onto Abbottsford for the galleries, museums, theatre, and more shopping.

From there they stopped briefly at his flat in Applesford for another suitcase full of clothes, then took a short drive to the Dancingdean Forest and spent the night by Teardrop Lake.

Another short drive took them to Mornington by Mere, onward through the Dulcets, and ended up in Sharpington-by-Sea.

Danny loved Sharpington because it was a traditional seaside resort, with its Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, Palladium ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre, and illuminations, has all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park.

All though it was end of season, and many of the attractions were closed, there was still plenty to do, because the Fun Park, which was the first purpose-built amusement park to open in Britain, remained open until the end of October for the Halloween Fright Nights.

 

They were too early for Halloween but there was still an assortment of rides to enjoy, like the Ghost Train, the Rotor and the Wild Mouse, The Cyclone, the Caterpillar, and the Morehouse Galloper, all very tame compared to 21^st century roller coasters, but still fun.

The weather was too cold for sandcastles and paddling in the sea, but there were plenty of arcades to entertain them, and of course Bizzoni’s Ice Cream Parlour on the Pier.

However, it wasn’t just his love of the place, or the fact he wanted to share it with Molly, he had another motive for being there at that particular time, he had commissioned a special present for her birthday and the craftsman lived and worked in Sharpington.

But as she was constantly by his side, stuck to him like sticky glue, and he wanted it to be a surprise, his problem was getting the gift from the maker unnoticed.

Not that he didn’t like having her beside him, he did very much, but he didn’t want to spoil the surprise.

They stayed at the Seaview Hotel, not as grand as the Beaumont Manor, but nonetheless very pleasant, and it was on their last morning at the hotel while Molly was in the suite enjoying a room service full English that he took the opportunity to meet Sam Archer on the pretence of going out for a newspaper, as he had arranged for him to bring it to the hotel.

He emerged in the lobby and looked around, but as he had never met the guy, he had done everything on the phone and email, so he not only didn’t know what he looked like, he didn’t know how old he was, his ethnicity, or anything about him at all, so looking around the lobby was never going to help.

So, he went to the reception desk and asked if anyone had been looking for him and he was directed to a young man sitting in the lounge, and he would never have picked him out of a crowd, he was younger than him by a couple of years with shoulder length straw coloured hair.

“Sam Archer?”

“Yes” he said and stood up “Mr. Nightingale?”

“Danny” he responded and shook his hand.

“Pleased to meet you Sam.”

They sat down and Sam handed him a parcel from the seat beside him.

“I hope this is ok.”

Danny opened the box and smiled.

“Wow, that is amazing, you are a genius, she is going to love it.”

“You’re happy with it?”

“Couldn’t be happier” he replied.

“That’s great” Sam said, “That’s just leaves one formality.”

Then he smiled as he handed him a book and a pen.

 

When he got back to the suite Molly had finished her breakfast and was in the shower so he snook into his room and hid the gift in his suitcase.

After dressing they attended the morning service at St Lucy’s Church, her grandfather was keen on her keeping her faith, and he supported her, and afterwards decided to take a walk along the promenade as it was such a lovely day, they had ice cream at Bizzoni’s Ice Cream Parlour on the Pier, then spent the rest of the day in the Fun Park.

They were worn out by the end of the day and the walk back to the hotel was much slower than the one the other way.

“Would you like to spend another night here?” he asked.

“Oh yes please” she said taking his arm “I’m pooped.”

                                       

So, they stayed another night at the Seaview Hotel and had another full English the following morning before driving to Pipershaven in time to catch the 2pm ferry.

They left the Hire car at the ferry terminal and travelled across with George who met them on the mainland side so they could transfer all their purchases into the Landrover.

Once on the Island he drove them to the Beaumont Manor and after spending a couple of hours catching up with each other’s news, he took all their shopping to the Cottage.

While they returned to the suite and began their preparations for moving to Cliff Haven on Molly's birthday which was only two days away.

“That was a wonderful little holiday” Molly said.

“Yes, it was, wasn't it” He agreed “But now we need to pack.”

“Do we have to?” she whined.

“Yes, we do.”

“Ok Uncle” she said which was what she always called him when she had to do something she didn’t want to do.