Snippets of Downshire Life – Shrovetide – Nippy Hug Day

 

Sharpington-by-Sea is a traditional seaside resort complete with a 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.

The Fun Park was the first purpose-built amusement park to open in Britain, which had an assortment of rides, like the Rotor and the Wild Mouse, The Cyclone and the Morehouse Galloper, all very tame compared to 21^st century roller coasters, but still fun.

It was also a popular resort for retirees and boasted a number of static caravan parks and one of them was the Whitecliffe Hill Caravan Park which overlooked the tow, and just beyond the Park was the Jubilee Heights Industrial Estate and one of the biggest companies on that estate was Martlesham Merchandise.

Martleshams had begun life as a mail order catalogue goods business in the 1960’s, but in the 21^st century they were exclusively an online company and Claudia Strohmeier was the Human Resources manager and Laurence Dalby was the Finance Director.

 

It was the seventh day of Shrovetide, shrove Friday also known as kissing Friday or Nippy Hug Day.

In bygone days the men of Leicestershire could demand a kiss from any woman of his choice on that day and by custom and if she was to refuse he could then pinch her bottom.

But after World War Two it quite understandably fell out of favour so in 21^st century Downshire Kissing Friday no longer applied or is even remembered for that matter, and in the case of Claudia and Laurence it was something that they were blissfully ignorant of and if they had known of it they would have been horrified by it.    

 

Claudia and Lawrence both lived in the grand neighbourhood of Granite Hill, which in a nod to San Francisco, the locals had nicknamed Nob Hill, she in the huge house she grew up in, and he in the home he bought with his wife when they were newlyweds.

Apart from the fact they both worked for the same company and lived on Nob Hill, they were also both thirty-eight years old, both single parents to two children, her because of divorce and him because of breast cancer, their children attended the same schools, and they moved in the same social circles, but despite the fact that they had so much in common they didn’t really connect on any level.

Which is why the events of the evening of Nippy Hug Day took them both by surprise.

 

It was one of the rare occasions when either of them got to have a couple of days of grown up time but even rarer for them both to get a weekend off at the same time.

Laurence had taken the Friday off and drove the children to Highfinch to spend the weekend with their grandparents and then met friends for a round of Golf at the nearby Lily Green Hollows Golf Club.

Claudia meanwhile had a pampa day, with her sister and they had a full day’s beauty treatments at Mazzone’s in the Dulcets, facials, manicures, pedicures, waxing etc. in fact the whole nine yards.

 

Laurence played his first round of Golf for more than a year so as a result by the time he got back to Granite Hill at the end of the day he was exhausted, unfortunately when he got to the house he needed to go straight out again to walk the dog.

Claudia on the other hand was feeling totally relaxed when the taxi dropped her off, thanks to a combination of the pamper day and the 6 cocktails that followed it, in fact she was so relaxed she had the taxi drop her off outside the wrong house.

 

Laurence really wasn’t in the mood for a walk, but it had to be done, his neighbour had taken him earlier, but he always got a walk in the evening, come rain or shine, it wasn’t Pongo’s fault that his master was tired, but it was only going to be a ten-minute walk.

It had been a very pleasant day earlier but by the time he got back to Sharpington a mist had rolled in off the sea so when he set off from the house visibility wasn’t great and the fog was diffusing what light was being emitted by the street lamps.

Added to that was the fact that he was fatigued and didn’t really want to be walking in the fog, so those things combined contributed to his walking blindly around a corner where he was violently knocked off his feet by a figure coming in the other direction out of the fog.

He had no time in which to brace himself and he finished up horizontal on the ground and his assailant ended up laying on top of him,

In that instant a car turned the corner and the headlights illuminated the face of his assailant and he was surprised to see that it was Claudia Strohmeier, and the surprise was echoed in her face just before she kissed him full on the mouth.

 

When Claudia got out of the taxi and realised her mistake, she walked briskly to where she actually lived, and wasn’t watching where she was going when she bumped heavily into another pedestrian and they both fell to the ground with her victim on their back and her on top of them, and when she was lying there nose to nose with them the smell of their aftershave was delicious and when the car headlights shone on him and she glimpsed the face of Laurence Dalby, a man she had never looked at twice, who nonetheless looked gorgeous, smelt delicious, and was right there beneath her, so in her cocktail fuelled state she kissed him and he kissed her back, and it was lovely.

 

When it was over she said

“Well that was unexpected”

“I’ll say”

“I should say I’m sorry” Claudia said “but I’m not”

“Nor am I” he agreed “But I think we should get up now”

“Yes, yes” she said “I’m sorry”

“Don’t apologize” Laurence said “I just think we should get up, so we’ll be more comfortable when we kiss again”

“Oh ok” Claudia said as she got gracelessly to her feet and then he got up as well and took her in his arms and they kissed again in the fog.

Snippets of Downshire Life – Shrovetide – On Kissing Friday

 

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

 

It was the seventh day of Shrovetide, shrove Friday also known as kissing Friday or Nippy Hug Day.

In bygone days the men of Leicestershire could demand a kiss from any woman of his choice on that day and by custom and if she was to refuse he could then pinch her bottom.

But after World War Two it quite understandably fell out of favour so in 21^st century Downshire Kissing Friday no longer applied or is even remembered for that matter.

 

Two of the first-year English students at the University were lifelong friends Joshua Aldridge and Henrietta Perkins who had been so since preschool and even their parents were the best of friends, so no one batted an eyelid when they both wanted to study the same subject at the same University after all they had mirrored each other their whole lives.

They were also study buddies and had always helped each other with research and revision so it was no surprise to find them studying at the Learning Resource Centre or the Library and it was on the seventh day of Shrovetide that they had been most of the day at the LRC when the two BFF’s went to the coffee shop for a break.

Once they had their drinks they sat on one of the comfy sofas and turned their attention to their respective tablets, Josh opened Twitter while Etta looked at the BBC news feed

“It says here that its Kissing Friday” she said

“Really?” he retorted and leant in to read the article and he was suddenly aware of her smell, a hint of fruit in her hair, coconut on her skin and the subtle fragrance of her perfume.

“Wow” he said, and she turned to look at him “Kissing Friday, well I don’t mind if I do”

And then he kissed her mouth and to his delight she kissed him back, and when it ended he exclaimed

“OMG what just happened”

“I don’t know” she replied “But please make it happen again”

Snippets of Downshire Life – Shrovetide – Kissing Friday

 

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 Nation 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 begins in the West, to the south of Northchapel, in the beautiful village of Chapel Hill.

There was an expanse of green at the center of the village complete with duckpond and a weeping willow tree.

On the north side of the green was the pub, The Woodcutters Tavern and attached to the side of the pub there was a Stephenson’s general store and post office, across the green from the pub was the church, St Peter’s, with the vicarage to one side and a row of shops ran alongside the road on the West of the green, Buckley’s Greengrocer and fruiterers, Addison’s Bakery, Harvey’s Pharmacy, Bizzie Lizzie Florist, Mazzone’s Hairdressers, Harrisons Hardware and Boddingtons Butchers.

It was the seventh day of Shrovetide, shrove Friday also known as kissing Friday or Nippy Hug Day.

In bygone days the men of Leicestershire could demand a kiss from any woman of his choice on that day and by custom and if she was to refuse he could then pinch her bottom.

But after World War Two it quite understandably fell out of favour so in 21^st century Downshire Kissing Friday no longer applied.

 

There were a number of Robert Harvey Pharmacies across Downshire started by their namesake in the 19^th century in Abbottsford and the business was thriving.

The Chapel Hill branch was run by another Robert Harvey, who was very distantly related to the original, and his wife Lisa, and their daughters Georgina and Roberta.

In addition, they employed two other staff, Petra Joli, who stacked the shelves and manned the till, and Kenny Adams who was in charge of the stock room and made the deliveries.

 

Fridays were busy in the shop, so they were all there before opening time getting ready for the early rush, when Robert said to his wife

“Come on then woman where’s my kiss or do I have to pinch your bum”

“What’s that?” Petra asked, and Lisa laughed and then explained

“In Leicester, where I’m from, there was an old tradition, that on kissing Friday, which is today, a man could demand a kiss from any woman he chose, and if she refused he could pinch her bum”

“That’s assault that is” Roberta pointed out

“That’s an opportunity too good to miss” Georgina retorted “and was there a limit to how many men you could snog”

Everyone in the shop laughed except Roberta who tutted.

“They don’t do it anymore” Lisa said

“Good” Roberta affirmed

“I think it’s a shame” Georgina stated

“I agree” Petra muttered to herself not that it would have made any difference to her situation.

She had someone very firmly in mind who would fit the bill in the kissing department, in the shape of Kenny, but as yet nothing had come to fruition.

Kenny was two years older than her and was relatively new to the area and she was besotted with him and had been from the first moment she saw him.

She thought he was gorgeous, he was tall and muscular with sandy coloured hair and thoughtful eyes, the only downside was that he was painfully shy.

Twenty-year-old Petra was a bit of a self-confessed tomboy and she wasn’t quite sure if he liked that she wasn’t a girlie girl and didn’t present with all the usual girly paraphernalia.

If that was the reason she would gladly try and be more of a girl, but the truth was she didn’t know if he had any strong feelings either way, all she knew was that he was single and lived in Chapel Hill with his brother and his wife.  

It wasn’t that they didn’t talk, they did every day at work, and they got on very well, but he was at his most communicative talking about work or generalities, like the weather or sport, it was the more personal stuff that eluded them, and kissing Friday was no exception.   

 

Such as the fact that she never carried a hand bag, instead she had a back pack with her at all times, she also wasn’t fashion conscious, which was another plus for him, she always wore a loose fitting black dress, black tights and coloured baseball shoes and wore her long red hair in plaits.

He really liked everything about Heather, her prominent chin which she thrust out proudly, her green behind thick framed specs and her broad smile that made her nose wrinkle.

In short, he thought she was perfect, he just needed to work up the courage to ask her out, which is where he hoped the mistletoe would come to his aid.

 

At the end of the day when the shop closed everyone went through there well practised routine and then one by one they said good night and left, and while Robert Harvey secured the pharmacy, Kenny and Petra went in the back room to change into their street clothes.

Neither of them worked on the weekend as the shop used Saturday staff, that was how she started, while she was still at school, so if anything was going to happen it would be while they got changed. 

“Are you looking forward to the weekend?” she asked as she slipped off her flat shoes and replaced them with her boots, and she winced as that was the best she could come up with.

“Yes” he replied, and she started to panic as she couldn’t think of anything else to say as she watched him change his footwear her mind went blank for a moment before she regrouped and asked

“Are you doing anything special?”

“No not really” he responded, and she despaired because it was hopeless, getting information out of him was like getting blood from a stone.

What she didn’t understand was that his limited responses were due to him trying to summon the courage to ask her out.

All she actually knew was that she had waited for him long enough and as she didn’t want to spend another Friday night at home wishing he’d asked her out she decided to change tack.

It was when he had bent down to tie his shoe lace that she chose to act.

“Do you remember what Lisa was saying earlier about that funny old tradition?”

“Um…” he responded as he sat up again and he found Petra standing above him.

“Well as we live in the age of equality I am demanding a kiss on Kissing Friday” she said, leant forward and kissed him, and what a kiss it was, a long awaited, and it was even better than the one either of them had imagined.

“Wow I like that tradition” he said

“Me too” he agreed and then added

“In fact, I liked it so much that I demand a kiss on Kissing Friday”

Then he pulled her onto his lap and they kissed again.

Snippets of Downshire Life – Shrovetide – Mardi Gras Carnival

 

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.

Abbottsford was also the location of the 10^th annual Mardi Gras Carnival which was growing in popularity and getting bigger every year and ran along a five-mile route around the town and had even surpassed the popularity of its biggest rival in Downshire, the Sharpington Day Parade.

Even though Sharpington had the benefit of holding theirs on the August Bank Holiday.

Like Sharpington the parade was predominantly a means of raising money for good causes, but it was also a way for local business and commerce to promote themselves, also social and cultural minorities used it great effect, as well as environment groups, political parties, the emergency services and of course the Gay and Lesbian community were a big presence, and the Arts were well represented.

It was a very busy and very noisy event and was well attended with all the schools and colleges in the county closed for the day, and a large number of pupils and students converged on the City for the big event.

Two of the second-year college students from Northchapel were among them.

They were lifelong friends, Kristine Perrin and Lily Parsons, Krissy was the eldest by two weeks and was a very slim, very pretty girl with dark brown pixie cut hair, while Lily was a small skinny girl with long curly chestnut hair.

Neither of them had particularly happy home lives so they were naturally drawn together from an early age.

So, they did everything together and were seldom ever home as they were always off on some adventure or other.

In fact, they spent all their spare time together and they also worked together evenings and weekends at Stephenson’s Supermarket.

Most of their adventurous escapades were during the holidays and they chalked up a lot of happy times and their friendship was their most precious possession and they loved each other, and they complimented each other.

 

Although there were similarities between them, they were both pretty for a start, their likes and dislikes, their sense of humour, but really, as individuals they couldn’t be more different.

Kristine had no fear whereas, Lily would tremble in the shadows on her own.

Krissy was an extrovert, confident, self-assured and brave, though not cocky in any way.

Lily on the other hand, was shy and she lacked self-confidence but being with Krissy made her feel more confident, daring to do things she would never have done alone, such as spending the night in Abbottsford.

 

Because Parade day was so busy they got the bus over the night before, so they could get a prime spot for the parade, however their finances wouldn’t stretch to them staying somewhere so they planned on roughing it and had sleeping bags in their backpacks. 

 

Unlike previous adventures, which were normally meticulously planned, they had no idea when they stepped off the bus, quite where they were going to get their heads down, somewhere safe, Krissy would make sure of that, she was very protective towards Lily, because the love that she felt for her skinny little friend was not restricted to mere friendship, but she was resigned to the fact that she would probably never speak to Lily about the unquenchable love she felt for her. 

Because the confident bubbly Krissy was holding back, not because she didn’t want more from their relationship, her problem was fear, and she was afraid that if she told Lily how she felt, and she didn’t feel the same it would ruin the perfect friendship that they had and create an awkwardness between them.

The time she spent with Lily was so precious to her that she wasn’t prepared to do anything to jeopardize it, after all their special friendship was better than nothing and that had been her opinion for the three long years since she first admitted to herself that she was in love with a girl, and her best friend to boot.

So, she chose to remain silent and patiently waited for Lily to fall for her.

 

Because they had no plan as such they had to dress for the worst-case scenario, so because of the time of year warm clothes were essential, nothing pretty, feminine or girlie.

Wrapped up warm they wandered around Abbottsford for about an hour and after a meal at a Burger Bar they carried on exploring until they found a large number of floats parked in the Football Stadium car parks and after closer inspection discovered there was only the scantest security.

“Guess where we’re sleeping tonight” Krissy said  

 

They sneaked into the car park and looked for a suitable float that would suit their needs and after about 15 minutes they found it.

It was the Abbottsford Town float, they were both fans of the Knights so as soon as they laid eyes on it there was no way they were going to pass up the chance to climb aboard.

On either side of the float, there were large LED screens mounted that would play goal highlights during the parade while Abbottsford Town players would wave to the crowd from the platform below.

They were going to sleep on the platform and began unpacking their bags, but then they heard someone approach, so they had to hide until the security guard passed by.

After the coast was clear they emerged from their hiding place and Lily said

“Where are we going to go now?”

“Up there” Krissy replied and pointed upwards because behind the LED screens was a large void which would more than suit their purpose by hiding them from prying eyes.

 

Krissy climbed up onto the cab, and Lily handed the bags up and then Krissy took her hand and pulled her up, then they repeated the process until they dropped down into the void behind the screens and then she turned on a torch to check out their surroundings

“This will do nicely” Krissy pronounced “They won’t find us up here”

And then she shone the light on Lily and noticed she was dancing a little jig in the darkness.

“What are you doing?” she asked, “why are you dancing?”

“Sorry Krissy but I can’t help it” she said very childlike “It’s exciting”

Krissy’s heart melted anew

“You’ll do nicely too” she thought to herself and then she heard herself saying out loud

“I really love you Lily”

As she made the declaration she still had the light on her, but she didn’t react she just continued her jig, but just to be on the safe side she decided to focus her mind on something else.

“Let’s get the sleeping bags out, it’s getting late”

“Ok” Lily complied

 

As they lay side by side in their sleeping bags Krissy was satisfied that she had got away with her declaration, either Lily missed her meaning, or she was pretending in order to spare her feelings.

She smiled to herself in the semi darkness of the moonlit night as she recalled how wonderful it felt to say out loud

“I really love you Lily”

Nonetheless she pledged never to say it again, but she would never forget how sweet it felt.

 

She had been in her sleeping bag for half an hour and was still awake, partly due to thoughts of Lily but equally so because it was colder than they had anticipated and five minutes later Lily called quietly

“Krissy?”

“Yes babe”

“I’m cold” Lily replied

“Me too” she retorted and unzipped her sleeping bag

“Get in with me and we’ll keep each other warm”

“Cool” she said accompanied by the sound of her unzipping herself, then she quickly slipped in beside Krissy.

Fortunately, the two girls were skinny Minnie’s, so they had plenty of room to zip themselves in with Lily’s sleeping bag draped over them like a duvet they soon began to warm up, despite the fact that Lily was a fidget and wouldn’t stay still

“You’re such a wriggle arse” Krissy said and laughed

“Sorry” Lily said but didn’t stop her squirming until they were nose to nose.

“I love you too by the way” she added which was when Krissy leant towards her and kissed her and more to the point she kissed her back.

When their lips parted they looked at each other in the moonlight and almost telepathically communicated that they wanted to do that again, so they did.

It was a wonderful kiss, and as perfect as they had imagined, not that they had anything to benchmark it against, as it was the first time either of them had been kissed and having that first kiss with the person they loved made it even more perfect and wonderful.

 

“I’ve wanted to do that for so long” Lily said as they cuddled together in the post kiss bliss.

“You have?” 

“Yes, but I didn’t think we ever would” she explained “But then you said you loved me, but the way you said it I didn’t think you meant you loved me like a sister or a friend, so I decided to take a chance”

“I’m glad you did” Krissy said “I was too scared”

“But you’re the confident one, brave and fearless, I’m the wimp whose afraid of her own shadow” Lily pointed out “You’re not allowed to be scared of me”

“I was afraid of scaring you away” Krissy said

“You’ll never get rid of me” Lily reassured her, and they kissed again, then she wriggled onto her side with her back to Krissy and said over her shoulder

“Now hold me in your safe strong arms”

“Anything you say bossy knickers” Krissy responded as she complied, and they spooned and were so comfortable they didn’t move again until morning.

 

The contented couple slept soundly in the sleeping bag all night and when Krissy woke up the float was moving.

“Wake up Lily” she said

“What?” she said sleepily

“Wake up” she said “We’re on the move”

“What! Why what time is it?” Lily retorted

“Late” Krissy retorted

“That was the best sleep I’ve ever had” Lily said and turned over, so she was facing her

“It was nice wasn’t it” Krissy agreed “but we need to get moving”

“No, we need to have our good morning kiss first” Lily pointed out

“You’re being very assertive for a wimp” Krissy said

“Yes, I am so pucker up”

“I love you Lily” she sighed and a second later they were kissing and when it was over Lily said

“I love you too”

 

Five minutes later Krissy reminded her that it was time to get moving so they wriggled free of the sleeping bag and packed their stuff away in the back packs, just in case they needed to make a quick getaway and then stopped to eat the sandwiches they bought the night before and to have a drink.

With breakfast done and the bag packed Lily rushed into the corner of the void and leant over so she could see the spectators.

“We’re just coming up to the Phoenix Centre, we’ve missed half the parade” Lily said and giggled

“I don’t know why you’re so happy about it” Krissy said “We missed half of what we came for”

“Oh, I got what I came for” Lily retorted as she glanced coyly over her shoulder

Krissy was behind her and buried her face in the crook of her neck and kissed her soft skin.

“Cuddle me from behind so I can watch the crowd as you hold me” she urged

“You do know that they won’t be cheering you babe” he pointed out

“I think you’ll find that they are” she replied “Because they’re happy that I’ve got a girlfriend.

 

Snippets of Downshire Life – Shrovetide – Pancake Day

Sharpington-by-Sea is a traditional seaside resort complete with a 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.

Which was the first purpose-built amusement park to open in Britain, which had an assortment of rides, like the Rotor and the Wild Mouse, The Cyclone and the Morehouse Galloper, all very tame compared to a 21^st century roller coaster but it was still fun.

It was also a popular resort for retirees and boasted a number of static caravan parks.

It was on one of those sites overlooking the town, the Whitecliffe Hill Caravan Park, that 30-year-old divorcee Penny Van Der Zelden lived.   

 

It had belonged to her parents and was where the family spent many summer holidays and weekend breaks, and they had spent a lot of time there, especially in the school holidays.

So, it was a place that held very special memories for her and after her marriage ended acrimoniously she couldn’t envisaged living anywhere else, it made her feel good to think of those happy days, and she wasn’t sure why she stopped the happy jaunts to the seaside.

But living there soon reawakened those happy memories and in the Twelve months she had been living there she had made new memories, some very good friends and perhaps more importantly she had met John Hart.

 

He was a tall muscular thirty-two-year-old with sandy hair and a weathered complexion, who was project managing the renovation of the small Bluebird theatre at the southern end or the promenade.

And he was the complete opposite of her, he was tall she was short, he was lean, and she had a fuller figure, he was tanned, and she was pale, but regardless of the differences they were a perfect match.

The only problem was that she lived in Sharpington and his home was the other side of the county and with the theatre finished all bar the snagging he was likely to be leaving town really soon.

And that was the thing on her mind as she made her way to the Pier Pancake Palace located by the entrance of the Pier opposite Bizzoni's Ice Cream Parlour.

She was meeting her three closest friends Sarah Whitmarsh, and sisters, Rachel and Kay Wilkinson, and the reason they were going there was because it was Pancake Day.

“Happy Pancake Day” Penny said as she pushed open the door

“Happy Mardi Gras” Rachel retorted

“What’s that?” Penny asked

“It’s what the American’s call Pancake Day” Sarah replied  

“I thought they called it Fat Tuesday” Kay added

“Fat Tuesday? Why did you say that? Why would you say that?” Penny asked with panic in her voice “Do I look fat? I look fat, don’t I? I knew I shouldn’t have worn these trousers, I knew I should have worn a dress”

“Calm down” Kay said and hugged her “you look gorgeous, now sit down and eat some pancakes”

 

So, they sat and ate far too many pancakes than were good for them and talked about what was going on in their love lives and the last one to speak was Penny who told them how happy she was, and that prompted Kay to respond       

“Aren’t you forgetting about the elephant in the room Penny?”

“What elephant?” she retorted and looked over her shoulder

“What Kay is referring to is the fact that the Bluebird theatre opens next week” Sarah explained

“And ….”

“And?”

“And what about John?” Sarah confirmed

“I don’t know” Penny replied

“Haven’t you asked him?” Rachel asked

“No” she winced

“Oh Penny, you need to get a wriggle on” Kay said “or you’re going to let him slip through your fingers”

“I know, but I just haven’t been able bring myself to ask him” she said “I’ve just concentrated on enjoying being with him”

“Well here’s your chance” Rachel said and nodded towards the door and Penny stiffened.

“Hello ladies” John said as he approached the table and then he leant down and kissed Penny’s cheek, and she smiled but said nothing.

“So, no work this morning?” Sarah asked

“No, I’ve finished” he replied

“What half a day?” Rachel added

“No, I mean I’m all done at the theatre” he said “Everything has been signed off, so my work there is done”

Kay was studying Penny, s face as he spoke and saw the look of horror that swept over it.

“Well as you’re a man of leisure why don’t you join us” Kay said “The pancakes are wonderful”

“I’m afraid I can’t” he said checking his watch “I have to get going”

“What?” Penny exclaimed “Your leaving now?”

“I’m afraid so” he replied

“where are you going?” she asked, unable to hide the panic in her voice “When will you come back to Sharpington to see us?”

“Erm, we’re having dinner tonight remember” he said and smiled

“Yes but…”

“and I’m not leaving town, I’m only going to the Council Offices for a job interview”

He added and kissed her

“I’ll see you later”

  

Snippets of Downshire Life – Shrovetide – Collop Monday

 

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 Nation 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 begins in the West, to the south of Northchapel, in the beautiful village of Chapel Hill.

There was an expanse of green at the center of the village complete with duckpond and a weeping willow tree.

On the north side of the green was the pub, The Woodcutters Tavern, and attached to the side of the pub there was a Stephenson’s general store and post office, across the green from the pub was the church, St Peter’s, with the vicarage to one side, and a row of shops ran alongside the road on the West of the green, Buckley’s Greengrocer and Fruiterers, Addison’s Bakery, Harvey’s Pharmacy, Bizzie Lizzie Florist, Mazzone’s Hairdressers, Harrisons Hardware and Boddingtons Butchers.

 

It was the third day of Shrovetide, known as Collop Monday, which was ironic for several reasons, firstly because it was named after Collops of bacon, which were traditional served on the day when it was known as Shrove Monday, and our tale is set in a butcher’s shop and the butchers name was collop, Terry Collop, and that day was of particular significance to him as he had a date that evening, his first date with Elaine.

He had been a long time coming and he had asked her out countless times and she had always said no, but he persevered, and he eventually got his reward.

 

Elaine Buckley was 28 years old, single and happy to be so, she had studied business at University, but after graduation she still ended up working in the family Greengrocers.

When she was in her first year at University, she had her heart broken very badly, and again in the third year, and the second time nearly cost her, her degree, so he resolved to have no more truck with love, and that was why she was single and glad to be so.

It suited her living and working in Chapel Hill as she could live at home in the flat above the shop and didn’t have to interact with people, other than the customers who went into the shop, and even then, she spent as little time as possible interacting face to face.

When she wasn’t at work she hid away in her room, it meant that she spent a lot of time on her own, but she didn’t mind that as she was happy in her own company and she was a voracious reader.

 

Elaine had taken a bold step by agreeing to go out to dinner with Terry, and open herself up for disappointment again, for the possibility of heartbeat, but she couldn’t help herself, she had tried to resist, she had rebuffed his advances so many times, saying no every time she wanted to say yes, but no one was more surprised than she was when she said yes, but once it had happened she found herself looking forward to it more than she could ever have imagined.

But if she was going to make the most of it she had to make the most of herself.

When she had no interest in relationships she dressed down to make herself invisible to the opposite sex, she found that if she made herself look undesirable men tended to leave well alone.

 

Not Terry Collop though, he saw through her disguise, he had also had his heart broken, just the one time for him though, but it had also left him cautious, but when he saw Elaine for the first time, he knew that she was his soul mate.

 

As it was five years since her previous date and she had been dressing down for all that time she didn’t have anything remotely suitable for a date, so she was in Northchapel all day shopping for girl clothes.

Terry spent his day fending off questions from his boss Jason Boddington, about where he was going and who he was taking.

 

Terry was sat at the bar of the Woodcutters Tavern a full half an hour before he was supposed to meet Elaine and he was ridiculously nervous, he hadn’t felt like that since he was 14 and he was waiting outside the bowling alley for his first ever date with Jenny Hack, however he was soon thinking it was a mistake to arrive early as his stomach was doing somersaults.

 

Elaine was second guessing herself and as she stood in front of the mirror wearing the outfit she had spent all day searching for.

Her long brunette hair was down, and her face was, subtly made up, it had been a while since she had bothered with makeup and the face she was wearing had taken three attempts, she wasn’t one hundred percent happy with the result, but she was running out of time, so the third one would have to do.

“Why on earth did I say yes?” she asked her reflection

“Because you wanted to” she replied out loud to the mirror

 

When Terry turned around and saw a brunette in a black skirt and pale-yellow blouse walking towards him, he couldn’t stop himself from saying   

“Wow”

And Elaine smiled

“I was expecting a tomboy” he said, and she laughed

“I decided I should make an effort” Elaine said as she sat on the stool beside him

“I thought this might be more appropriate for a date”

 

The evening passed by really quickly, and they were so absorbed in each other’s company that they completely lost track of time, to such an extent that they both jumped when the last orders bell rang, and neither of them were ready for it to end but end it must.

Unfortunately, the walk from the pub to the Greengrocers was less than one hundred yards and even walking very slowly got them to her door in a very short time and for the first time that evening they struggled for the words that would secure them another date.

“I really enjoyed this evening” she said

“Me too” he agreed “I’d like to do it again”

“That all depends on whether you’re a good kisser or not” she said cockily

“Well I like a challenge” he retorted and kissed her and when it was over she added “Well?”

“I don’t know” she said “It was adequate”

“Adequate?”

“Yes, I think there’s room for improvement, so you may take me out again tomorrow” she said and kissed him again

Snippets of Downshire Life – Shrovetide – Nickanan Night

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, a Cathedral City and was also home to Abbottsford Town Football Club.

Abbottsford was also the town where Lennie Hine lived and his life changed on the third day of Shrovetide.

The day was also known at one time as Collop Monday, but when the evening fell it became Shrove Monday evening or Nickanan Night which was a time when in days of yore, boys could commit petty crime and get away with it, of course in the 21^st century those youths, so inclined, don’t need to have a special night as they commit crime at will, and Lennie had fallen in with one of those groups.

He was 16 years old and wasn’t a bad lad, he had just lost his way after his father died and his mother had taken refuge in a bottle, he just needed an anchor.

In the three months following his father’s early death he had fallen in with a bad crowd, fortunately not a drug taking crowd but nonetheless a bad lot, petty crime mainly, as well as vandalism, harassment and general mischief making,

On that particular night they had been making a nuisance of themselves by targeting a church youth club that they had been excluded from for unruly behaviour.

They rode around the car park on their bikes shouting abuse at the occupants, and had been asked to move on several times, it was all very childish for the most part, but John Riggs, who was the leader of the group, wasn’t happy with that so he decided to up the ante and encouraged the ten members of his posse to start throwing stones at the windows, so they all dismounted their bikes and armed themselves, Lennie wasn’t really comfortable with it so he picked up the smallest stones he could find, 

They then took it in turns to ride past the main widows and throw their missiles which made no impact at all because it seemed as if the rest of the group had no more appetite for the task than Lennie did, 

“What the hell was that?” John snarled, but no one responded

“I said throw stones, like this” he shouted brandishing a chunk of concrete which he then launched at the main window which shattered immediately to his great delight

“That’s more like it”

Then he rode his bike onto the bonnet of the youth leaders car violently enough to set off the alarm and when he appeared from the church hall shouting, John lingered long enough so he could see the culprit and then rode off laughing.

Most of the others dispersed at the first sound of breaking glass, Lennie was the last one on the scene and looked on in disbelief, until he realized he was in peril of capture so he too made himself scarce leaving shouting and cursing in his wake.

He decided he should put as much distance between him and the church hall as possible and chose Park Road as his escape route.

What he didn’t realise was that his route took him past a popular watering hole for the local police, which he was approaching at breakneck speed.

He saw two figures cross the zebra crossing in the distance ahead of him but he was confident the lights would change before he got there and they did and there were a number of people chatting on either side as they waiting to cross, unfortunately the lights changed again before he got there as he raced down the inside of the waiting cars and swung on to the crossing narrowly missing a pedestrians foot and weaved his way between the approaching pedestrians without even reducing his speed.

“Look out!” Shouted the man

“Sorry old man” Lennie responded over his shoulder, not knowing that his close call was with a Chief Superintendent.

In no time at all Lennie was a way down the road, until a car cut him up and he had to go on the pavement.

He was rapidly approaching the two men who had crossed before the lights change, who were off duty police Sergeants, one of them had heard the commotion and had already turned round to see what was happening.

“Stop him sergeant” The Chief Super yelled.

So he then tapped his companion on the shoulder with one hand and held up his warrant card with the other.

On seeing the man standing with his warrant card out in front of him Lennie swerved to avoid him and as he passed him he smiled to himself but was totally unaware that the other one was waiting to strike.

As he stood up in the saddle to get up a head of steam the other Sergeant wrestled him sideways off the bike and on to the floor, but they separated on the deck and Lennie managed to role away before the Sergeant got back to his feet, and managed to remount his bike and was away again and headed through the southern entrance to the Park

 

Jodie Higgs had been to the cinema with friends and was taking a shortcut through Cathedral Park to get home, she was also 16 but she lived in a very different park of town and attended a different school.

Lennie entered from the south and would exit on the northside, whereas Jodie entered through the east gate and was headed to the west, and both of them would be skirting the boating lake on their journeys, and when she was in sight of the Cathedral Spire she glanced at her watch and smiled because she was ahead of time and then disaster struck, because hurtling along in the opposite direction was Lennie, and she saw him fractionally before he saw her, so she swerved and her front wheel hit a park bench and she was suddenly airborne

“Ahhh” she screamed as she went over her handle bars, over the park bench and plunged into the lake.

 

Lennie glanced over his shoulder just in time to see the splash and pulled hard on the brakes.

He jumped off his bike and as he ran back along the path he could just about see her thrashing about in the gloom, but he could clearly hear her yells and as he reached the spot where she went in he jumped in without hesitation and swam towards her where she was splashing around and appeared unable to swim.

He was breathing hard from the riding as he closed the distance between them, which wasn’t more the five or six yards but he made slow progress because of his warm clothing and as she was similarly hampered she struggled to stay afloat and the water splashed all around her.

He swam as fast as he could and managed to reach her just in time as she kept ducking under the water.

But that proved to be only half the problem as reaching his initial goal only brought fresh problems, she had stopped moving so getting her to the bank was a struggle.

He got a good hold on her, but she was fully clothed, so she was a dead weight and it was with some difficulty that he swam her to the bank.

Unfortunately as soon as they reached the bank it was apparent that he couldn’t get her out of the water so he pushed her against the bank and checked her pulse in her neck, and couldn’t find one so with some manoeuvring got her head tilted back and was about to give her mouth to mouth, when she suddenly opened her eyes.

“What are you doing?” she exclaimed

“Sorry I thought you had drowned” he said defensively

“Fainted more like” she admitted “I do that if I get in a panic”

“That’s not helpful if you’re in the water” he said

“I know” she said “Thank you for rescuing me”

“There’s no need to thank me” he said

“I think there is, I would have drowned otherwise, so thank you”

“You shouldn’t thank me when it was my fault you were in here in the first place”

He said and pulled himself up the bank with relative ease and then reached down and pull the featherweight girl from the lake. 

“Thanks, I’m Jodie by the way”

“Lennie”

“I don’t blame you, it wasn’t anymore your fault than it was mine”   she said

“That’s not the point I still blame myself” Lennie said “and I’ve wrecked your bike”

Just at that moment and before she could reassure him further, they became aware of voices and bright lights in the darkness.

“Here they are” one man said

 

A dog walker had witnessed the near collision and Jodie’s aerobatic entry into the lake and had raised the alarm so the two of them were marched off to a waiting ambulance where the paramedics checked them over and declared them unscathed.

But they had to wait in the ambulance wrapped in blankets until someone came to pick them up, Jodie was waiting for her dad, and Lennie didn’t want to say that his mum wouldn’t come for him because she was likely to be in a drunken stupor at that moment, he would wait until she had safely been picked up and then he would slip away. 

 

They sat there for half an hour talking about a variety of things before her dad arrived

“Jodie, are you ok?” he said fussily and kissed her

“This is Lennie” she said “He’s a hero”

“I’m really not” he protested

“Ah and modest to boot” Mr. Higgs said and shook his hand “But the general consensus is that you are a hero”

There was then a brief conversation between Mr. Higgs and the paramedic and Jodie slipped off her blanket and said

“Thanks again Lennie” and then she hugged him.

“No problem” he said and slipped off his own blanket

“And where do you think you’re going, Andy Mason the paramedic said “We haven’t been able to get hold of your mum yet”

“Like I said she works shifts so she’s probably still asleep” Lennie replied “I can get myself home I’m only ten minutes away”

“We can take him” Mr. Higgs suggested “it’s the least we can do”

“Thank you but I have my bike”

“No problem I can fit both of them on the carrier” he insisted

“Come on let’s get you home”

“Ok thanks”

 

Lennie turned his back on John and his posse after that adventurous evening and he and Jodie became inseparable, he knuckled down at school and with her help he passed his exams with the grades he need to go to college.

She always called him a hero for saving her life that night but the truth of it was that it was his life that was saved and when they shared their first kiss neither of them were fully clothes or in a freezing cold lake.

Snippets of Downshire Life – Shrovetide – Quinquagesima Sunday

 

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 begins slightly further south equidistant between Nettlefield and the Oxley’s, in the beautiful village of Heathervale.

It was the second day of Shrovetide, known as Quinquagesima Sunday, which in the Christian church calendar marked the fiftieth day before Easter.

But for Grace Woods it marked a 50 of a very different kind, her 50^th birthday.

Most people thought it was a special birthday, but it was of little significance to her as she had no one special in her life to mark it with.

When her husband was still alive he always made a great fuss of her.

But there had already been five birthdays in his absence before that year’s landmark and she hadn’t enjoyed a birthday since his untimely demise.

And to add insult to injury her milestone birthday fell on a Sunday, which was their favourite day of the week, the early service at St Giles, followed by a lazy morning reading the newspapers and a roast dinner.

As she lived alone, in the same huge house that backed onto the common, she didn’t bother with Sunday lunch, not because she couldn’t cook, she was a very good cook, she just didn’t bother for herself.

In fact, she had only done Sunday lunch a handful of times since graham had died.

She still went to St Giles every Sunday, but she was in no hurry to return home afterwards, so she would stay for coffee in the church café and invariably there would be an invitation to lunch from some other lonely soul.

 

It was just after the Sunday morning service had ended at St Giles’s when Mike Kemp spotted Grace and thought, not for the first time, that for a woman of her age she had a particularly nice figure.

He remembers vividly the first time he saw her, she had just come down the church steps and had stopped briefly to converse with friends.

He was a Christian but was not himself a regular at St Giles’s because his work for Transglobal Oil kept him away from Heathervale for several weeks at a time but when he was home he never missed a service or an opportunity to see Grace.

When he did attend he was normally sat at the back and was then able to get a seat at one of the tables in the Café when the church emptied.

He knew her slightly, through her late husband as they were both members of the same Golf club, but he wanted to get to know her better and he had almost asked her out for lunch a couple of times but he either lost his nerve or was beaten to it by someone else.

 

He was reluctant in part because he was concerned that she might not think him a suitable luncheon companion, although they were equals in most things, she was a very wealthy woman by all accounts, and he was a millionaire, in fact they both came from “old money”.

Which was self-evident by the way they both dressed, everything Grace wore was real quality and she was always immaculately turned out, though her financial status was of no interest to him, in fact nothing concerned him when he looked at her other than the fact that he was eight years younger.

Unfortunately, on that Sunday he got cornered by an old school friend and was trapped while Grace was standing chatting with friends in the middle of the Café and while his boorish friend wittered on endlessly he was reduced to admiring Grace from afar,  

the neat figure, the shape of her legs and the exquisitely tailored clothes, she looked so lovely to him that he struggled to take her eyes off her while trying to give the impression to his old friend that he was paying as much attention to him. 

 

When the congregants began to disperse, he knew it was now or never, because as the crowd dispersed there was a real danger that Grace would go with them, so it was at that point he decided to give his friend the slip and chance his arm, as her conversation appeared to be over, he got up and went over and intercepted her before she reached the door.

“Hello Grace” he said

“Oh hello” she replied, “its Mike isn’t it?”

“Yes” he said “it’s so nice to see you again”

“Yes” she agreed “it’s been awhile”

Once he had her attention they chatted for a while, small talk mainly.

“I hear that it’s your birthday today” Mike said, “Many happy returns, how are you enjoying it so far?”

“Yes, thank you” she responded “So far it’s just like any other Sunday”

“Really? How disappointing”

“I know but I don’t feel any different today that I did when I was 49” she said

“You are never 50” he whispered “That’s not possible”

“Oh, dear me” she said all flustered “I don’t know about that”

And having duly flattered her to the point of blushing he said

“I suppose you have big plans for today”

“No nothing actually, my daughter Jane is still at MIT, so she couldn’t get back” she said sadly, but added more positively “we will do something when she comes home on spring break”

“Well that won’t do” he said “Allow me to treat you to a birthday lunch at the Holly Tree”

He wasn’t confident that she would agree, and he held his breath while she considered his offer.

She was very flattered of course, a woman of her age would be when a younger man asked her to lunch, especially one 8 years younger than her, and even more so when that young man had been flirting with her.

But she thought it would be imprudent to lunch with him, so no one was more surprised than she was when she graciously accepted.

 

They enjoyed a very pleasant lunch, which consisted of three courses, a bottle of wine and an abundance of flirting, at the Holly Tree Inn and after several coffees he drove her home.

“It was a very nice lunch Mike” she said as he pulled up on the drive outside her very large house. “Thank you”

“It was my pleasure” he said “perhaps we could have dinner one evening at somewhere a little more salubrious”

“I would love to” she replied

“Great” he retorted trying to conceal his pleasure and failing “Would tomorrow be too soon?”

“No not at all” she lied, concerned that she wouldn’t be able to get an appointment at Mazzone’s at such short notice, but then she smiled because the fact that she cared about making the best of herself for him was significant, and it dawned on her that she wasn’t going for dinner with a friend, it was a date, and that realization made her smile.

“I will look forward to it”

“Excellent I’ll pick you up at 7.30” he said “see you tomorrow then”

 

By the time Grace’s daughter came home for spring break they had been on countless dates and were very much a couple and Jane couldn’t have been happier.