Downshire Diary – (39) The Plumber’s Tale

( Part 01)

The Finchbottom Vale is 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.
The Vale was once a great wetland that centuries earlier stretched from Mornington in the East to Childean in the west and from Shallowfield in the south to Purplemere in the north.
But over the many centuries the vast majority had been drained for agriculture, a feat achieved largely by the efforts of famous Mornington Mills, of which only three had survived to the present day and even those were no longer functional and were in various states of repair.
There were only three small bodies of water left in the Vale now one in Mornington, one in Childean and third of course was Purplemere which was to the north of the Vale, in the lee of Pepperstock Hills, lay the modest town of the same name.
On the western side of the town was the residential area known as Hill Side, and in one of its many quiet road, was the home of Pennant’s.
And it was the day before Dave Pennant’s 15th birthday when he first saw Louise Spry and he thought to himself
“That’s what I want for my birthday”
She was two year older than he was and as it turned out she was in the 6th form at the same school as him, but she was two classes above him in every other respect as well as age.
Dave had a half-brother, Andy, and Louise Spry was his new girlfriend.
“Lucky bastard” Dave thought to himself
Andy was two years older than him as well and they didn’t like each other very much, in fact they didn’t like each other at all.
They had nothing in common other than sharing a mother, they didn’t even share a surname, he was Pennant and Andy’s was Bates.
He was better at sports than Dave, he was more academic than Dave and he was better looking as well.
But not only did they not like each other it was a dislike that would stand the test of time for them both.

After Andy and Louise had been going out for a few weeks she started staying over at his house on Friday or Saturday night, sometimes both.
On the second or third occasion, which was a Friday night, when she arrived at the house she dumped her coat and hand bag on the hall table.
Well not so much a hand bag, it was actually more like a holdall, it was enormous, but the clasp on it was a bit iffy and as a result it was gaping open.
Which was how Dave spotted a splash of red in her bag as he walked down the stairs.
It aroused his curiosity somewhat so he decided it should be investigated and on closer inspection it turned out to be where she kept her clean underwear and the flash of red turned out to be a pair of red lace knickers adorned with little satin ribbons.
The effect on him was instantaneous and it was no longer just his curiosity that was aroused.
It had a profound effect on him and reinforced his feeling for his first crush.

( Part 02)

Over the six months his despicable half-brother Andy and the lust of his life Louise were going out together Dave’s feelings for her deepened and that situation would doubtless have continued indefinitely but for the fact that his arsehole half-brother decided to play away with some skanky tart from behind the bar at the Crown and Anchor.

Dave couldn’t believe Andy had cheated on Louise with some sad old slapper when he had a quality bird like Louise at his side.
He was absolutely devastated when Andy broke up with Louise and the realisation sunk in that he wasn’t going to see her again.
He consoled himself with the fact that it wouldn’t have lasted much longer anyway as they both went off to University that September so his opportunities to see the lovely Louise at close quarters would have diminished anyway.

Dave was never the academic type so college and then University was never going to work for him so he left school the following year and managed with the help of his father to get an apprenticeship as a plumber at a big local firm called Drakes.
His parents were very supportive and they appreciated that he had his own path to follow and that path brought him his own relationships and his own lovers along the way, although they never quite measured up to Louise Spry, and it was when he started at Drakes that he met Mark Jordon and they instantly became best mates.
When they got talking they found that they had quite a lot in common, he also had a step sibling, although in his case it was a half-sister called Scarlet and he got on really well with her.
He was also the youngest of two and he sucked academically too, while Scarlet was brilliant and was going to sail through her degree and follow it with a Masters.

Mark’s Dad, Danny, had bought an old wreck of a house just before he met Marks mum, Nicole, and it had always been very much a work in progress.
And although he had completed 90 percent of it he wouldn’t have really considered it finished until the extension was done, and more to the point nor would his wife.
So he had decided that 20 years on a project was more than enough so he decided to get Mark and Dave to help him as they were in their fourth year at Drakes, and there was plumbing to do.
The shell was up and the electrics and some of the plastering was done but as the two story extension was to house the new kitchen and bathroom he wanted the boys to help him with the plumbing.
So on the Easter weekend Dave was staying in the spare room at the Jordan’s so they could get as much done over the holiday weekend as possible.

( Part 03)

It was Good Friday and they were up early and Mark’s mum Nicole made them doorstep bacon butties for breakfast to give them a head start.
Nicole had poured herself a bath and they were just waiting for Scarlet to finish in the shower so they could turn the water off and drain the system down before they could crack on.
Danny and Mark then went off to the builders and plumbers merchants to buy some more materials so they wouldn’t have any holdups over the weekend, and they were all hoping to have a lazy Monday before they went back to work on Tuesday.

While Danny and Mark were out Dave started carrying stuff up to what was going to be the new bathroom.
The only access was via a ladder from the kitchen to be, they hadn’t cut the doorways through to the house yet to cut down on drafts as the winter was barely over.
There were one or two sizable holes where the old air vents used to be but other than that it was sealed.
When Dave had climbed the ladder and he was in the new bathroom he could tell Nicole was in the bath already as he could hear her through the wall splashing about in the tub.
He stacked the tools in the corner and was just about to head back down the ladder for another load when he heard someone open a door and step heavily onto the landing.
Dave knew it wasn’t Nicole as he could still hear her through the wall so he thought that it must be Mark’s elusive sister Scarlet, who he still hadn’t met at that point, so intrigued to finally lay eyes on her he thought he would look through the hole where the vent used to be and see what she looked like, Mark was always going on a about her, saying how perfect she was, so he thought he’d judge for himself just how special she was.
His first sight of her was as she walked into the toilet, she was only wearing a bra, pants and tights, and he assumed she must have been taken short before she’d finished dressing.
He had to admit that even from behind she looked pretty special.
It occurred to him to tell her there was no water to flush with but then she turned around and his jaw dropped, the semi naked girl was Louise Spry and the thought to alert her to the water shortage left his mind.
And by the time it returned she had closed and locked the toilet door,
It wasn’t an unusual occurrence as a plumber to happen upon naked or semi naked women, sometimes by accident and others by their own design, though when they wanted you to see, it wasn’t quite the same level of excitement.
But what Dave Pennant had seen walking half naked across the landing wasn’t just any girl, it was Louise Spry, the object of his lust, she was the Holy Grail of his desires.
It was only after she had reappeared through the bathroom door that he wondered why Louise Spry was in his best mates bathroom entertaining the plumber.
Shortly after his ponderings went unresolved he heard the front door close, so he hurried down the ladder but by the time he got outside all he could see was the back of Ford Fiesta disappearing through the gate.

( Part 04)

They worked really hard on the extension and so he didn’t get to see the illusive Louise Spry again until two days later on the afternoon of Easter Sunday.
They had taken a break from their labours and were sitting on the patio drinking tea and enjoying some of Nicole’s delicious fruit cake
“Hi Scarlet” Nicole said over Dave’s shoulder so he half turned around to look at her and he nearly choked.
“Hello” Louise replied
“This is…” Mark began
“I know you” she said “you’re David”
“That’s right” He replied “Dave, but I remember you as Louise”
Everyone laughed at Dave’s observation and then Mark explained
“Scarlet is a family name, Dad used to call her “Miss Scarlet” when she was little because she blushed all the time”
Dave smiled but what brought a smile to his lips was the thought of how much she would have blushed if she’d seen him watching her through the airbrick.

The next day they still hadn’t finished everything they had planned to do, despite the best efforts of all involved, and it was apparent that they wouldn’t even if they worked at it all day.
So Nicole prepared one of her cooked breakfasts, and they would have a leisurely start to the day and then get on and do a bit more, even Scarlet/Louise did a bit.
But they had only been working for about two hours when Mark fell off the ladder in the extension and broke his arm.
Danny and Nicole got him in the car ready to take the wounded soldier to A&E at The Royal Downshire Hospital.
“I don’t want you working up there on your own Dave” Danny said
“Ok” Dave replied “I’ll just reconnect the water, and tidy up a bit”
“Thanks lad” he replied
“Text us” Dave suggested
“Will do” Danny said and drove off
Dave did as he had promised and Louise cleared the breakfast things and got the kitchen straight.
And despite not planning on doing a lot, another two hours had passed before he was stepping into the shower.
After he’d showered and dressed he packed his bag and went downstairs to the kitchen and grabbed a cold beer from the fridge.
It was while he was sat at the kitchen table drinking his second beer that Louise walked in.
“Hello Dave” she said
“Hi …” he began “Do I call you Louise or Scarlet?”
“Louise is fine” she replied as she poured herself a glass of wine.
They sat at the table for over an hour chatting about anything and everything and were both on drink number three when he said
“I’m flattered you remember me by the way”
“Oh I remember you very well” she said and he was rather pleased that he had made such an impression on her and then as she sat opposite him she continued
“You used to go through my hand bag when I stayed over at your house, looking at my knickers?”
“No I didn’t” he responded indignantly
“Oh yes you did” she contradicted
“So come on let’s hear you admit it”
“Oh ok” he said resignedly after five minutes of badgering “I did do it, but it was only one time”
“I know you did” she said very definitely
“But how did you know?” he asked
“Because I saw you do it” she said with a smile
“Oh”

( Part 05)

“I know you did” she said very definitely
“But how did you know?” he asked
“Because I saw you do it” she said with a smile
“Oh”
“Yes I looked down over the bannisters and your hands were in my bag, but I didn’t see exactly what you were doing” she said “I thought perhaps you were looking for my fags”
“I see”
“But when I went to put my pants on the next morning I soon realised what you were really up to” she explained
“How come?”
“Well I always pack my knickers inside out, it’s one of my quirks, but when I went to put them on they were the right way round”
“Oh”
“So are you sure it was only once?” she asked “And before you answer remember that I know exactly how many times”
“Yes, just the once” he replied adamantly “but I was tempted”
“Ok I believe you” she said “I did only noticed the onetime”
“So why didn’t you say something?” he asked
“Because I was rather flattered” she said “and I thought it was quite sweet, endearing really, in a way”
“Really?” he asked doubtfully
“Yes” she replied “You were just a boy after all”
Dave sat silently fearing the next question
“So I have to ask, because I’ve always wondered” here it comes he thought
“Why?” she asked
“Do I have to answer that?” he asked
“Yes” she insisted
“Really?”
“Oh yes”
“Oh God this is embarrassing” he said
“Come on out with it” she urged
“Because I had a crush on you, big time, and they were just there” he said “and I couldn’t resist”
“You little perve” she said in mock horror “Did you do the same with his other girlfriends?”
“No I didn’t” he said with real horror “I’m not a pervert”
“Well you are a bit” she pointed out refilling her glass
“Well I’m not that kind of pervert then” he said
“Are you sure?”
“Yes I’m sure, I had no interest in his other girls” he said very definitely “I only had eyes for you”
“I thought you did” she admitted “I liked you too, but I was older and more sophisticated so it was never a possibility”
“Oh I didn’t realise you were sophisticated, I just thought you were hot” he said “Certainly too hot for me”
“Maybe then” she said and then Louise stood up and walked around the table and when she reached him she leaned down and kissed him
“Wow I’ve been wanting to do that since I was sixteen”
“Did that meet with your approval then?” She asked
“Oh yes” he said
“Come to think of it I’ve been waiting to do that since you were sixteen too” she mused
“You perve” he said and laughed “I was just a child”
“Really?” Louise said as she perched on his knee “Are you seriously going to call me a cradle snatching paedo or shall we just kiss again”
“Oh another kiss I think”
“Good choice” she said and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
For all those months when she was dating Andy he had dreamt of kissing her, but the reality far exceeded the dreaming.

( Part 06)

As Louise sat on Dave’s lap in the kitchen of her parents’ house the kissing became increasingly passionate and soon moved on to another level and both of them tried to get in each other’s clothing with a more than modest amount of success.
But just when things were really hotting up he slipped out from beneath her, and then she plopped down hard on the chair.
“No don’t stop” she said
“I’m sorry but I have work tomorrow” he said and slipped on his jacket
“No don’t go” she pleaded and stood up and rubbed her buttock and then her jeans fell down to her knees and she tried to close the distance between them but her low slung jeans caused her to waddle which meant he could easily keep out of her reach and he sidestepped through the kitchen door and out into the hall and thus avoiding the sexy waddling Louise
“I’m sure I’ll see you again soon” he said over his shoulder
“Wait” she called after him
“Bye” he responded
Louise kicked off her jeans in frustration and they flew across the kitchen and landed half in the sink, and then she sprinted after him.
“Please don’t go” she said and tried to kiss him but he drew his head away out of the reach of her lips
“How do I know it’s not the wine talking?” he asked
“It’s not” she exclaimed “I promise”
“But you would say that wouldn’t you?” Dave said
“But it’s true” Louise insisted
“So you want to kiss me now then?” he said
“Very much” she said and Louise’s face cracked into a smile and then she blushed as she took a step forwards and their lips met again.

He kissed her forehead and left Louise sleeping beneath her Duvet and then walked home with a spring in his step and it suddenly occurred to him that he finally had something in common with his half-brother Andy other than their mother.

When the Jordan’s returned home from the hospital, with the wounded soldier with his arm in a cast, later that night to find the house in darkness they were none the wiser as to what had occurred in Nicole’s kitchen or Louise’s bedroom.
Her mum did query why her daughter’s jeans were half in and half out the kitchen sink but that was all.
They remained unaware of the couple’s ongoing sexual exploits for a further three months.
The two of them didn’t want to announce they were together until they knew for certain sure there was more to their relationship that the very satisfying sex, plus Dave was concerned that it might have affected his friendship with Mark when he found out he’d been sleeping with his perfect sister Scarlet.
When they were ready to tell, the news was greeted with all round approval and Mark said he was hoping they would get together.

Dave never told Louise he had seen her walk across the landing in her underwear when she was on the way to the toilet and despite the fact they married two years later, which pleased his best mate and best man Mark no end, and thoroughly pissed off his half-brother Andy, those very first sexy images of Louise in her pink scanties stayed in his memory for ever.

Tales from the Finchbottom Vale – (38) Christmas at the Seaview Hotel

(Part 01)

Six months had passed since Francine Delise and Iain Akhurst made love in his room at the Seaview Hotel in Sharpington and two days short of six months since she said she wasn’t sure that they could be together.
Not that she didn’t love him or enjoy being with him, and it was fairly obvious on the evidence of the weekend in June that it wasn’t because she didn’t enjoy making love with him.
Nor did she think it was a mistake, a moment of madness or because she had drunk too much.
“I don’t regret it for a second” she said as they lay entwined beneath the duvet
“I just have doubts”
Francine wasn’t sure if she could or should give over her heart, soul and life to a man 12 years older than herself.

Iain couldn’t deny that he was disappointed and he wasn’t altogether happy about it but he wasn’t angry with her in fact he agreed with her up to a point, and he wanted her to be as sure as he was.
After all he had no words to convince a 29 year old woman to give her life to a man the wrong side of 40 and nor would he have wished to have used them if they were in his possession.

“I love you Iain but I just have to be certain sure” she said the moment before she drove away.
It was heart-breaking to watch her drive away because Iain had no such doubts.
For him that first night together was the blissful culmination of eight years of hope and desire.
Not just the love making, which he thought was wonderful, but to hear his declaration of love returned in word and delicious deed.
It had been pretty much love at first sight for him, but then she was a beautiful sight to behold.
For her it was a more gradual falling and one that she desperately fought against tooth and claw whereas Iain simply surrendered to her.

Even before their chance meeting at the Seaview Hotel, Francine had agreed to take a six month secondment in Sharpington where she could be close to her sister and the twins so she suggested they take that time to think.
And in that time she would either get over him or know for certain sure he was the one.

While she was away he convinced himself almost on a daily basis that it was over, and rightly so he thought at times.
If the worst came to the worst he consoled himself with the thought that he would always have the memory of that wonderful weekend when his love for her was finally validated.

Though in his darkest moments he did question if it was indeed a moment of madness that brought the gorgeous young Francine to his bed.
Though he was glad for that madness if that’s what it was.
But if Francine did resolve that it was a mistake and that it was over he would at least have the memory of that wonderful weekend to sustain him forever.
He preferred to think that it was fate that brought them together on that wonderful weekend and not an error of judgement.

(Part 02)

He would have liked to have exchanged the occasional text or email with her but Francine had asked for total separation.
As a result all he could do was throw himself headlong into his work totally and fill his every waking moment with thoughts of anything and everything that wasn’t her.
Impossible of course but if in the unlikely event that he could exclude her from his thoughts for a single second he couldn’t stop her invading his dreams.
When he slept he dared to dream, so in the small hours of the sleepless night he resorted to the only thing that prevented him from being driven insane.
He wrote in a diary, which he called a dream diary, it was where he wrote every detail, every thought that filled his troubled sleep on a nightly basis, thoughts of love for the girl of his dreams.
The closer the end of the six months got the more intense the dreams became and evermore vivid with each passing day.

It was the day before Christmas Eve when he got the long awaited phone call, so he took a deep breath and hit the button.
“Hello, Iain Akhurst” he said
“Hey Iain” she said
“Francine?” he asked “God it’s good to hear your voice”
“Ditto” Francine replied “Where are you?”
“I’m in Abbotsford” he replied “Are you still at your sisters in Sharpington?”
“Yes and No” she replied enigmatically
“I’m at the Hotel, the Seaview”
“When are you back?” he asked
“I don’t know yet”
“Oh” he responded disappointedly
“Can you come down?” Francine asked
“When?” he asked
“Tonight” she replied
“Sure, but I don’t know what time I’ll get there”
“That’s ok but I want to meet” Francine said
“Alright I’ll leave now” he said “Have you made a decision?”
“Yes I have” she replied
“And?” he enquired trying to keep the anxiety out of his voice
“I don’t want to say on the phone” she answered “I want to do it face to face”
“Ok” he said not knowing if that meant it would be good or bad
“Come straight to the Hotel” she said
“What time do you think?” she asked
“Around eight” he replied
“I’ll leave a note at reception in case you’re late”
“Ok, I’ll see you tonight then” Iain said
“Ok, bye”

The journey out of Abbottsford was an absolute mare and consequently he was significantly late and it was nearly 10 o’clock when he drove onto the promenade at Sharpington-by-Sea.
It was a bit different from when he was there last, back in June but it still made him smile as it always did when he visited the traditional seaside resort.
Sharpington still boasted a Victorian Pier, The Palladium ballroom, and of course the Sharpington Fun Park which were considerably quieter than at the height of the summer.
He liked it because it was like stepping back in time with the illuminations, crazy golf, and the amusement arcades in fact all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside.
He parked the car and walked briskly along the promenade and unlike his last visit he didn’t pause to sit in the well maintained gardens and look out to sea or muse over all the happy hours he spent in the Sharpington Fun Park, on the Rotor and the Wild Mouse, The Cyclone and the Morehouse Galloper.
He was in too much of a hurry to reach the Seaview Hotel.

(Part 03)

Since her phone call his stomach had been in absolute knots and arriving in Sharpington late didn’t untangle it in the least.
He wondered if she would be sat at the bar surrounded by admirers or sat alone in a corner the worse for drink and coiled to strike with venomous words on his tardiness.
He only hoped she was still there and hadn’t got tired of waiting.
As he sat in the pre-Christmas traffic he tried to ring her to warn her of his delay but his phone died.
So he stood in the foyer trying to summon up the courage to go further, he was so desperate to know her answer but equally terrified of what it might be, yes or no.
“Yes” meaning she was sure and she would give all of herself to him unreservedly
Or
“No” and they would never be together.
He reran the earlier conversation through his head and tried to read between the lines to find some hidden meaning or some indication as to her decision.
He checked in the bar and there was no sign of her
“Shit” he exclaimed and unzipped his coat and walked up to the reception desk.
“Hi” he began “Do you have a message for Iain Akhurst?”
“I’ll just check for you Sir” the receptionist said
“Oh yes here we are” she added and handed him an envelope
“Thank you” he said and when and sat down to open it.

He slowly opened the envelope and withdrew a sheet of note paper which he unfolded and read the few lines
“What kept you? I thought you were impatient for an answer,
I’ve gone up, use the key, and I’ll see you when you get here”
Frankie x
“Well that was all cheerful and light hearted” he thought to himself “but it still doesn’t tell me anything”
So he tipped up the envelope until the key card fell out and he saw it was for one of the posh rooms on the top floor and walked towards the lift.

Iain slowly opened the door and stepped inside.
“Hi Francine” he called “I’m sorry I’m late the traffic was hell”
But there was no answer.
He closed the door and walked into the room and expected to find Francine asleep having got fed up of waiting for him.
But it was just a dimly lit little lounge area, which was empty.
Although hung on the back of a chair he noticed a coat.
“She is here” he said “But where?”
There were two doors leading from the lounge so he opened the first one which proved to be the bathroom, he hoped the other was to a bedroom and not an adjoining door to the next room.
Then he questioned whether or not she would even be in there, the fact that her coat was there meant nothing she could just have left in a huff and forgotten it.
But then something caught his eye, tied around the door handle he saw a black stocking.
“Well she wouldn’t have gone without that” he said
Iain slipped off his coat and threw it onto the armchair and walked towards the door and that was when he noticed something else attached to the stocking, it was a gift tag.
He opened it and read the words inside
“Happy Christmas Iain
All my love
Francine”
And beneath her signature there were three letters
“PTO”
And when he turned the tag over there was only one word
“Yes”

Mornington-By-Mere – (38) On Account of a Surgeon

(Part 01)

Mornington-By-Mere is a small country village lying in the Finchbottom Vale nestled between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest and the rolling Pepperstock Hills.
It is a quaint picturesque village, a proper chocolate box picturesque idyll, with a Manor House, 12th Century Church, a Coaching Inn, Windmills, an Old Forge, a Schoolhouse, a River and a Mere.
But Mornington-By-Mere was not just a quaint chocolate box English Village it was the beating heart of the Finchbottom Vale and there were a number of cottages and small houses on the Purplemere road and Dulcets Lane which formed the part of Mornington Village known as Manorside and 41 year old Rhonda Kane lived on Dulcets Road at Marigold Cottage.
She was a solicitor with Bramstock, Goodman, Crossfield and Bushe in Abbottsford.
Normally she lived alone but at that time her younger brother Brian was staying with her following his divorce.

Brian was a 39 years old Accountant with Brady and Clare, in Abbeyvale, although in the six months since the divorce he had been working out of the Sharpington office.
But on a bright Wednesday morning in May he had the day off and decided to take a walk into the village.

He walked past the brewery and then through Manor wood and then crossed the bridge into the village.
He wanted to cook his sister something special for dinner as a thank you for putting up with him.
He went to the Legg’s Farm shop first and bought some eggs and fresh vegetables, then Norman’s General Store for some wine, Boddingtons Butchers for some bacon and a nice bit of liver and finally he headed for Addison’s Bakery to get a French stick.

Just as he stepped inside the door he heard Chloe Addison call
“Happy Birthday Kate”
And a tall dark haired woman replied
“Thank you” and not looking where she was going she walked straight into Brian as she was leaving the shop, dropping some of her bags.

Kate Pottinger was a local girl and also lived in Manorside at number 5 Brooke Side Cottages with her brother Gary.
And apart from living together they also worked together as tree surgeons, who like their father and uncles before them, worked exclusively for the Mornington Estate which kept them busy enough tending to the health and welfare of upwards of 25 thousand trees.
Kate was in the village to do a bit of shopping while her brother was at the doctors and then Gary was taking her for lunch at the Old Mill Inn for her 38th birthday.

“I’m so sorry” Brian said gallantly even though it wasn’t his fault
“Don’t be silly” she said to the tall, slim, good looking man with neat black hair, more than a little flustered.
“Are you ok?” he asked as she gathered herself
“I’m alright, but I think you squashed my baps”
She said and realising what she’d said she burst out laughing which set him off.

(Part 02)

Kate Pottinger and Brian Kane stood outside Addison’s Bakery laughing and flirting for about 10 minutes.
Working outdoors in a physical occupation Kate was well tanned well-toned but despite that was well groomed.
She was not as tall as Brian, which she liked, she stood five foot eight, a full inch and a three quarters taller than her brother, which was something she never let him forget and always referred to him as her “little brother”.
Despite the height difference they were alike in almost every other way blue eyes, chestnut coloured hair, broad smiles and infectious laughs.
And Kate was exercising that laugh to great effect that morning.

She could see over Brian’s shoulders when Gary left the surgery and she could also see he was looking flushed, though at that time she didn’t know why.
Gary spotted his sister outside Addison’s Bakery where he could see she was still laughing and joking.

He crossed the road and approached the laughing pair.
“Hi Kate are you ready for that lunch” he said and the man looked a little crestfallen.
“Hi Gary” she said “I just need to get some stamps from Norman’s”
“This is my brother Gary” she said and the man’s expression lifted
“Gary this is…”
“Brian” he responded and shook Gary’s hand “Pleased to meet you”
“Likewise”
“Well enjoy your lunch and the rest of your birthday” Brian said and shook her hand and it was long and lingering.
“Thank you, goodbye” she said and headed towards the Post Office & General Store to buy stamps but Gary noticed she kept glancing over her shoulder.

Brian watched the Pottinger’s walk away although in truth it was only the taller half that he was really interested in.
He had sworn off the opposite sex when he first split with his wife and that morning was the first time he had met a woman that he wanted to do more than pass the time of day with.
And as he walked back home after buying his bread he wished that it was he that was taking her for her birthday lunch instead of going back to his sisters to make her liver and bacon.


They sat at a table in the Old Mill Inn and he said
“He seemed nice”
“He was alright I suppose” she replied coyly
“Only alright, you were flirting with him like it was an Olympic sport”
“No I wasn’t” she retorted
“And he was flirting back” Gary said
“He was not” she said “Was he?”
He smiled and made her blush and then she changed the subject
“So how did you get on at the doctors?”
“Excellent” he replied “A clean bill of health”
“That’s great news” Kate said “They must have really put you through your paces, you looked very flushed when you came out”
“Ah there’s a very good reason for that” Gary said and then he went on to tell her all about the attractive doctor and his embarrassing arousal and she roared with laughter.


Gary and Kate sat at a table in the Old Mill Inn and he said
“He seemed nice”
“He was alright I suppose” she replied coyly
“Only alright, you were flirting with him like it was an Olympic sport”
“No I wasn’t” she retorted
“And he was flirting back” Gary said
“He was not” she said “Was he?”
He smiled and made her blush and then she changed the subject
“So how did you get on at the doctors?”
“Excellent” he replied “A clean bill of health”
“That’s great news” Kate said “They must have really put you through your paces, you looked very flushed when you came out”
“Ah there’s a very good reason for that” Gary said and then he went on to tell her all about the very attractive doctor and a combination of very exotic perfume and a glimpse of expensive pink lingerie made him behave in such a way that he had experience since he was a teenager.
And the resulting arousal had been responsible for his looking flushed.
On hearing his full uncensored account of his embarrassing arousal she roared with laughter.

(Part 03)

It was the first Friday in June and Kate and Gary were going up to Abbottsford for a few days.
They had a big family christening on Sunday at St Dunstan’s Church when their cousins triplets were being baptized.
So it was one not to miss, but as it was at the 9.30 service and they didn’t want the hassle of traveling up on the day so they decided to put up at the Abbottsford Regents Hotel the night before.
However Gary was then given a ticket to the Downshire versus Surrey one day match at the Abbottsfield cricket ground so he suggested going on Friday and staying two nights so they would have the whole of Saturday in town so he could go to the match and Kate could go shopping at the Phoenix Shopping Centre and she jumped at the chance, but not to spend the day at the shopping mall.
What she wanted to do was to visit the Castle Hill Museum and Art Gallery.

Gary and Kate were not the only Mornington residents planning a weekend away, the Goman-Smiths and the Kane’s were also going to be in Abbottsford for the whole weekend though not all for the same reasons.
So when the Pottinger’s set off after work on Friday evening their fellow villagers were already there.

Brian Kane travelled up to Abbottsford early on Friday with his sister, he had an important meeting with a client and then he was meeting Rhonda for lunch.
Because of the importance of the meeting he had allowed a three hour window but as it turned out it was concluded in under two.
So he went for a ridiculously expensive coffee at the Espresso Phoenix to kill some time and then made his way to Bramstock, Goodman, Crossfield and Bushe to meet his sister.

He walked into reception and exchanged pleasantries with Sandra, the receptionist, and then took a seat and a few minutes later Sandra delivered him a coffee.

He sat there about half an hour reading a magazine when he heard Rhonda’s voice which grew progressively louder as she got closer.
He looked to his left and he could see her talking to a male client who had his back to him as they shook hands
“I will be in touch in due course” she said
“Thank you Ms Kane” the man said
“Please call me Rhonda”
“Call me Rhonda?” Brian said to himself “She never lets her clients call her Rhonda, this one must be important”
But when the man turned around he saw that he knew him and said
“Daniel”
“Hello Brian, what are you doing here?”
“I’m here to take my sister to lunch” he replied as the two men shook hands.
“Kane, der, I didn’t make the connection”
Meanwhile Rhonda, who had turned to go back to her office turned on her heels and joined them.
“You two know each other?” she asked
“Yes we were at University together” Brian said
“Are you a bean counter as well then?” Rhonda asked with a smile
“No I’m a Doctor” he replied
The following few minutes of the conversation completely excluded Brian who just looked on in from the sidelines in amusement.
In fact it only came to an end when the receptionist, Sandra, interrupted with a message.
“Mr. Bishop phoned to say he can’t make his appointment but can you squeeze him in at 2 o’clock”
Rhonda looked at her watch and replied
“Yes that’s fine”
After Sandra had left them she said
“We will have to make it an early lunch Brian”
“That’s fine with me”
“And perhaps Daniel would like to join us” she added
“I’d love to” he replied to her

(Part 04)

They had lunch at an Italian Restaurant called Roberto’s just around the corner from her office.
“So was it just Rhonda that brought you too Abbottsford?” Brian asked
“No it wasn’t, but I would have made the trip just to see her” he thought but out loud he said
“No I’m in town for the weekend, at the Regent’s, Sarah and I are going to the cricket tomorrow”
“We’re putting up at the Regents as well” Brian said
“Never mind that who the hell is Sarah?” Rhonda asked herself and then as if he had heard her internal question Brian explained
“Sarah is Daniels ex-wife, but they’re still friends, in fact they still share a house, how odd is that?”
“I think it’s quite nice” she said

The food at Roberto’s was excellent but the lunchtime service was very slow and unfortunately Rhonda had to excuse herself before desert.
“I’m sorry but I have to go” she said “I really love the desert’s here as well”
“Perhaps we might run into each other over the weekend” he said
“I hope so, that would be nice” she said then she said goodbye to her brother and left.
“Are you going to talk to me now?” Brian asked and laughed but Daniels thoughts were elsewhere.
After leaving the restaurant Brian and Daniel went their separate ways but arrived at the Hotel within ten minutes of each other.

The Pottinger’s got stuck in the Friday night traffic and finally arrived at the Hotel at 9 o’clock by which time the Kane’s and the Goman-Smiths had already gone out for the evening.
Brian and Rhonda were dining at a trendy nouvelle cuisine restaurant off Castle Street called The Wooden Slipper which served high flavour, low-calorie, and substance lacking dishes, where minor celebrities are known to dine.
The food was good, if you like tiny artistic arrangements the size of a Hors d'oeuvre, on a slab of welsh slate but there wasn’t enough to live on.
So when it was time to leave they were almost hungrier than when they arrived, so they went into town and shared a kebab.

The Doctors Goman-Smith meanwhile went to The Empire Theatre to watch a revival on An Inspector Calls followed by a fish supper.
But back at the hotel, Gary and Kate ordered sandwiches from room service and got an early night.

On Saturday morning everyone was up early and availed themselves of the full English breakfast but due to a miracle of timing all three couples managed to avoid each other.

Gary was ready to go far too early so left for the cricket ground on foot while the Goman-Smith’s left an hour later in a cab.
Kate who planned to spend much of the day in cultural pursuits had a measured start to the day and as she was leaving the Hotel Brian Kane was just walking into the gym with his sister Rhonda.
After a good workout he had an hours swim and she had a sauna and then she spent the rest of the day being pampered and preened, massaged, manicure, pedicure and hair in fact you name it and she had it.
Brian though had coffee and read the papers before he went out.

(Part 05)

Brian Kane spent the first part of the day rummaging in bookshops and antique shops of Abbottsford’s old town district and then he indulged his penchant for ridiculously expensive coffees in the trendy coffee shops.

Kate spent the morning in and out of every museum in Abbottsford and had lunch in one of the same coffee shops that Brian drank in and they only missed each other by minutes and in the afternoon she headed for the Art Gallery which housed one of the best collections of artwork outside of the capital.
The bulk of the collection was made up of pieces donated by the Trotwood Estate.
She paid deference to all the exhibits, even the cubists which she didn’t really like, she was really just filling the time until she got to the section she wanted to see the most, The French Impressionists.
She loved them all Camille Pissarro, Emile Schuffenecker, Eugène Boudin, the Bracquemond’s, Caillebotte, Cézanne, Forain, Stanislas Lépine, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac and her personal favorite Frédéric Bazille.

It was when she was sitting on a bench studying a lesser piece of Bazille’s when a tall, slim, good looking man with neat black hair sat down next to her.
“Do you like Bazille?” he asked
“Very much” she replied and turned to look and a smile spread across her face as she recognized his face.
“Hello Brian” she said all at once unable to return her eyes to the art
“What a lovely surprise”
“For me too Kate” he said

They spent the rest of the afternoon together, enjoying the art and each other’s company in equal measure and even revisited the exhibits she’d already seen on her own and as they stood in front of a magnificent renaissance canvas he said
“Are you free for dinner tonight?”
“I can be” she replied without hesitation and then she added
“Could I choose the restaurant?”
“Of course”

At the end of the afternoon Kate and Brian went back to the Hotel to change and met downstairs in reception again an hour later where Brian made a phone call and Kate left a message at reception.

She chose the Pig and Whistle in Little Trottwood and afterwards they took a walk in the countryside.
They left the village and headed towards Trottwood Manor and they paused before crossing the bridge and turned to look across the lake and they were amazed at how natural the scene was when considering that little more than a 100 years earlier it was a boggy field.
That was before a Victorian industrialist named Josiah Tiplady, who, having made his fortune amongst the smoking factory chimneys of Lancashire, was seeking a country retreat in which to enjoy his fortune as well as the considerably fresher air, so he purchased the old Trottwood Manor.
He famously said he chose the Trottwood Estate as it had everything he was looking for, but not apparently a lake complete with fountains and an island bird sanctuary.
But as they viewed the scene on that glorious June evening it was clearly money well spent.
“This is really beautiful” she said
He agreed and then they turned and continued onto the bridge and halfway across Brian paused and turned to face Kate and kissed her.
“And now it’s even more beautiful”

Downshire Diary – (38) The Girl in the Red Lingerie

(Part 01)

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 21st century roller coaster but it was still great fun.
It was also a popular resort for retirees and boasted a number of static caravan parks.

It was at one of the static Caravan parks where a group of friends were staying for the Spring Bank Holiday Weekend.
Although in actuality it wasn’t just a group of friends, they were more than that and just to clarify the point they were a group of friends plus Waldo and they were staying at the Whitecliff Hill Caravan Park close to Sharpington.
There were 8 of them altogether split between three caravans, Mark Tonks shared with Dave Maslen and Andy Pike, Marks sister Lorraine shared with Louise Spry and Charlotte Kay, while Samantha Perry shared the third caravan with her boyfriend Waldo Pienaar.
They were all in their early twenties, apart from Waldo who was pushing 30 and with the exception of Waldo they had been friends since forever.
Caravan holidays weren’t really Mark’s cup of tea at all, as he doesn’t like caravans or tents for that matter but that was probably because he was 6ft 4, so of course caravans didn’t really cater for people of his height.
The only reason he went at all was because Samantha Perry was going to be there, and the fact she was going was very important to him because he loved her, he always had, and he always would, which was sad really because she didn’t love him, because if she did she wouldn’t have kept going out with a succession of complete pillock’s like Waldo.
But he figured if he couldn’t have her to himself he could at least be around her and enjoy her company and it wasn’t the first time he’d tagged along on such outings.
So he had no misgivings about seeing her with another man, it didn’t make him miserable on such occasions, he still had fun he just didn’t have Sam to himself.

He also loved Sharpington-by-Sea, and his earliest memory was of Sharpington and he had returned time and time again and it never lost is magic for him.
Mark had his first kiss on the Pier with Katie Brown when he was nine and his first proper kiss with Pamela Owen on the Ghost Train in the Fun Park when he was 15.
He just loved everything about the place,
Sharpington Day Parades, Halloween Fright Nights, Firework displays, Candy Floss, Ice creams, chip suppers and kiss me quick hats.
The only thing that could make him love it more was if he could walk hand in hand along the promenade with Samantha.

(Part 02)

The group arrived at the Whitecliff Hill Caravan Park late on Friday night in the pouring rain and they were all exhausted, in fact they only had the energy for a quick drink and then turned in early.

Saturday started grey and damp and the evidence of the previous days deluge was everywhere to be seen, but the sun burst through mid-morning and they got to spend the rest of the day on the beach.
Which was where Mark got to see the sight that drew him to the beaches of Sharpington in the first place, the most beautiful girl he had have ever known wearing her yellow bikini.
It was a lovely afternoon and they had great fun playing volleyball on the sand, only his sister Lorraine noticed that he spent more time watching Sam than he did the ball.
The evening though was a massive let down for him as Samantha and Waldo didn’t join the group, Waldo wanted them to go out on their own while the rest of them went to the pub and the evening really dragged for him.

He was up early on Sunday Morning of the Whitsun Bank Holiday weekend, and he was preoccupied with the thought that no one seemed to call it Whitsun anymore, his mum and dad always did, and he couldn’t understand the fad for calling it the Spring Bank Holiday instead.
The rain had returned in earnest during the night and the park was very quiet, he walked around for a while squelching between the puddles and then he approached caravan 17a.
The pretext was to speak with Waldo about a mechanics question, as that was his profession, but in truth he wasn’t looking for him at all the only reason he was going over there was to see Samantha.
He knew she was an early riser so he was sure she would be up and about and that the kettle would be hot.

He knocked on the door and got no answer, which was strange, so he knocked once more and still there was no answer.
Mark looked around and noticed Waldo’s car was gone, so he knocked again and he was beginning to think there was no one in and then he heard the faintest response of
“Come in”
Mark opened the door and stepped in to caravan 17a and found Samantha propped up in the corner on the bench seat, there was an empty glass on the table and two empty wine bottles on the floor.
“Good morning sunshine” he said
“Is it?” she replied without opening her eyes.
She was sitting with both feet on the seat with her knees drawn up in front of her and she leant forward and rested her elbows on her knees while her hands pushed her beautiful thick chestnut brown hair off her forehead away from her bleary eyes.
He sat down on the opposite end of the bench so he was looking straight at her and he was very grateful.
The reason for that was that Samantha was in a state of undress apart from matching red silk bra and pants and a pair of red lace topped stockings, matching suspender belt and a wry smile on her lovely face.

(Part 03)

He sat down on the opposite end of the bench so he was looking straight at her and he was very grateful.
The reason for that was that Samantha was in a state of undress apart from matching red silk bra and pants and a pair of red lace topped stockings, matching suspender belt and a wry smile on her lovely face.
“Where’s Waldo?” he asked
“He’s gone” she said sadly
“What this early?” he asked
“No, last night” she replied coldly “he dumped me”
“What? He shagged you and then dumped you?” he asked angrily
“No, he dumped me and didn’t shag me” she said in disbelief “I got all kitted out for him as well”
“I can see that babe” Mark said
“What?” she asked and screwed up her face in a puzzled expression as she tried to decipher his words.
Samantha then opened her eyes to their fullest extent and looked at him for clarification and he nodded in her direction in answer to her enquiry and her state of undress suddenly dawned on her
“Oh God” she exclaimed and shut her thighs like a bear trap and scrambled for her blanket
“You pig” she shouted “Why didn’t you tell me I was almost naked”
“Are you kidding me?” he said “and pass up the chance to glimpse a gorgeous girls treasures”
He realized the moment the words left his lips that he had shown his hand.
“Perhaps she’s too hung over to have noticed” he said to himself optimistically
Her treasures were now well and truly buried beneath the hastily positioned blanket and the only visible parts of her were her bright red face above, and her red stocking covered toes, peeping out from below.
“Since when did you think I was gorgeous anyway?” she asked from the safety of her hiding place.
“What do you mean?” he said cursing himself for letting his guard down, apparently she wasn’t as hung over as she appeared
“You said you wouldn’t pass up the chance to glimpse a gorgeous girls treasures” she said “so when did you start thinking I was gorgeous?”
And that was a question he was never in his wildest dreams expected to be asked.
Faced with a direct question he couldn’t back track, so he took a deep breath.
“Well let me see that would be since about the time you were seven” he replied
“Since I was 7?” she exclaimed in disbelief
“What did I do when I was seven that had such a profound effect on you?”
“You showed me your knickers in Belldon Wood”
“I did not” she protested
“Yes you did” he said adamantly, “they were white with little blue periwinkle flowers on them”
Samantha gasped and said
“I remember those knickers”
“So do I, vividly”
“Oh God I did show you my knickers didn’t I?” she said, she would have gone red at the remembrance had she not still been crimson from almost showing him everything else.
“Yes” he confirmed

(Part 04)

“So it was actually my knickers you thought were gorgeous” she said
Mark hesitated before answering, he could have just agreed with her and simply laughed the whole thing off, because if he told the truth then the genie would be out of the bottle and he wouldn’t be able to unsay it.
“That’s not true” he replied deciding to bite the bullet
“I think you’re gorgeous now and you’re not wearing them”
“Don’t remind me” She said blushing crimson again and hiding her face behind her blanket.
“So you’ve fancied me ever since I was seven?”
“Pretty much” he confessed
“You really fancied me all that time?” she asked
“It’s worse than that I’m afraid!” he admitted
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked emerging from cover.
“I never knew how” he replied
“I was just a passing fancy then” she said dismissively
“Not at all” he corrected her “I’ve always wanted you, but because you’re so special to me, and you’re such a good mate I didn’t want to risk losing that, if you didn’t feel the same about me”
“So did you ever get close?” she asked softly
“Once or twice”
“And?” she queried
“You were in between completely unsuitable boyfriends who didn’t deserve you at the time” he said
“But I dithered around for too long so I wasn’t even able to catch you on the rebound”
Once the cat was out of the bag he thought he might at least get closure, for good or bad, but as it turned out he didn’t get to hear her response.
Samantha’s mouth opened but before she could speak there was a loud bang on the door.
“Who is it?” Sam yelled crossly
“It’s Loz you grumpy bint”
How ironic that his sister of all people would turn out to be the killjoy, she had been encouraging him for years to tell Sam how he felt.
“The door is open” Sam said
Lorraine opened the door and walked in and he was the first one she saw.
“Hey Mark, I’ve been looking for you” she said and then her eyes fell on Samantha
“Oh dear me, you look really rough” Lorraine said and laughed
“Shut up and have some respect for the dead” Samantha responded
“Well I suggest the corpse gets its zombie arse into the shower and then get your glad rags on” Loz instructed
“Why what’s going on?” Sam asked
“We’re all going into Sharpington for lunch” Lorraine replied and then turned to me
“And you, we leave in an hour, come on”
She started out the door and was expecting me to follow.
But he stood in the doorway and turned to look at Sam
“I liked it when you called them my treasures” she said
“You’re the real treasure” he responded and she smiled and just before he closed the door he said
“Wear your lemon dress, you always look stunning in that”

(Part 05)

When Mark had closed the door and walked down the steps he found Lorraine was waiting for him around the corner.
“Did you know Waldo did a runner last night?” she asked
“Yes” he replied
“So?” Lorraine asked
“So what?”
“So now’s the time to get to her before she gets tangled up with some other loser” Lorraine said
“What do you think I was doing in there when you interrupted?”
Lorraine stopped and grabbed his arm
“You told her?”
“Yes” he replied and started walking again
“So how did it go?” she shouted
“How do you think it went” he snapped “I’m out here with you”

Sam and Mark travelled to Sharpington in separate cars and as he was in the car Andy was driving they arrived in town ten minutes behind Louise and the girls despite the fact they were right on their bumper when they left Whitecliff Hill Park and the reason for that was because he drives like an 80 year old woman.
They were further delayed due to the fact that he is totally incapable of parallel parking, so by the time they reached the Ancient Mariner the girls were already seated at the table and Mark ended up with Lou and Lottie between him and Sam.
It was a long and frustrating lunch, finding himself so far from the woman he loved, and the service was diabolical.
On that particular day of all days it didn’t help and although he was delighted to see that she was wearing the lemon dress as he suggested, every time he caught her eye she looked away immediately.

After lunch the weather brightened so they all walked down to the seafront, Mark walked slowly behind the pack with his hands stuffed in his pockets and cursed his stupidity for making his declaration to her.
His worst fears had been realized, he had shared the secret he had kept to himself for 17 years and as he always knew would be the case if he spoke up, and instead of winning her love he had now lost her friendship.
“Why did I do it?” he said to himself and then he felt an arm slip through his, when he glanced sideways to see who the arm belonged he fully expected it to be Lorraine but he was amazed to see it was Samantha.
“I have a confession to make” she said
“Oh yes” he replied
“I think I chose totally unsuitable boyfriends who didn’t deserve me because I couldn’t have you” she said and then they came to a stop
“And now?” he asked with bated breath and Samantha, who had turned to face him, said
“I choose you”
And then she kissed him.

They walked the length of Sharpington seafront in the warm May sunshine, hand in hand and talked like they had never talked before.
And by the time they returned to the others it was almost evening.
“Come on you two” Lorraine called “We’re going to the pub as soon as we get back, you in?”
“Count us out we’ve got plans” Sam said
“Oh where are you two going then?” Lottie asked and he turned to look at Sam because he didn’t know what plans they had either and Samantha squeezed his hand and smiled at him.
“A treasure hunt” she replied and they both giggled
Everyone looked completely bemused by her answer and his response to it but suffice is to say they were in Samantha’s caravan until midafternoon on Bank Holiday Monday treasure hunting.

Tales from the Finchbottom Vale – (37) Still Waters Run Deep

(Part 01)

Gwen Quinton-Smith had lived in Sharpington her whole life and had no desire to live anywhere else.
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 21st century roller coaster but it was still great fun.
It was also a popular resort for retirees and boasted a number of static caravan parks.

She was just the wrong side of 60 and by her own admission a rather plain looking woman, she was quite small and slim and choose to dress in the twin set and tweed style.
Her mode of dress was to most people a little old fashioned but she was always beautifully turned out.

Although she was of retiring age she wasn’t really retired as in truth she had no job to retire from.
She had never been employed because she had an inheritance from her grandmother which was left to her to ensure her independence and in her 30s she inherited her parents money.
But despite her unemployment she was not an idle person, in fact she worked more hours a week than most wage earners.
She did a surfeit of Charity work, fund raising, hospital volunteing, Womens Institute, Church Warden at St Lucys and she was Chairwoman of the Sharpington Day Parade committee to name but a few.

Gwen was imensely popular in Sharpington because she was filled with such great possitivity and she had an enormous heart.
Gwen was an only child and was also a spinster but the latter was mainly by design.
She did have a a great passion while at University but he let her down badly so she drew a line under such diversions.

Her decision was always a bone of contention between her and her mother and every three or four weeks she would be summoned to the family home like the prodigal daughter.
There would be a grand meal, no fatted calf, but no expense was spared, and served up as part of the meal was a totally unsuitable suitor.
This went on right up until her parents deaths and she went along with it with a happy heart because she loved her parents dearly.
The suitors, not so much, and except on very rare occasion she never saw them again.
Some of them she would meet again if it happened that they had a shared interest but not one of them inspired any romantic feelings on her part and given her plainness she always had the feeling they were trying too hard to please her because they had one eye on her monetary worth.

She had been raised as a Christian by her parents, but they were High Church which Gwen found a little too stiff and fussy.
So when she first stepped through the doors of St Lucy’s she felt immediately at home.
She wasn’t sure what prompted her to attend St Lucy’s rather than one of the other dozen or so churches in the town, maybe she was being guided, but whatever or whoever had influenced her compass she had never been disappointed with the chosen destination.

(Part 02)

On a beautiful day in June she had an early meeting with a Council Official, David Jamieson, regarding maintenance works on the Pier as they were trying to renege on their commitments.
Fortunately the Sharpington Pier, along with the yacht club, the Fun Park and the Seaview Hotel had all been saved and protected by the Mornington Estate, the head of which was Gabriel St John.
Very refreshingly, like his father before him, Gabriel conducted all of the estates affairs in the spirit of philanthropy and he was a man of honour and he had no truck with people who behaved dishonourably.
He was also a man with a sense of history and his stewardship of the Mornington Estate wasn’t restricted just to the land and properties within the Finchbottom Vale.
So when Gwen had phoned him to inform him of what was afoot he had no hesitation in volunteering himself and the estate solicitor, Rizalina Pugay, to attend the meeting with her.

When they got there they found that they were not meeting with one man as David Jamieson had told her and they were actually in front of the complete Council Finance Committee with assorted other minions on the periphery.
It turned out to be a very short meeting as Gabriel and Riza tied the council committee in knots and at the end there were a lot of red faces on the Council side and they were all looking daggers at Mr Jamieson.

After the meeting she had coffee with Gabriel and Riza before they returned to Mornington and then she had an hour to kill before her next meeting at St Lucy’s Church so she decided to take a walk on the very Pier that had been the subject of the first and kill time until her second.
About half way along she sat down on a bench and just enjoyed the view.
“That was very impressive in there” A man said
“Excuse me?” she asked when she turned to look at the lean upright figure in front of her
“You were very impressive in front of the committee”
He said
“Were you there then?” she asked
“I watched from the gallery” he confided conspiratorially
“Why?”
“Ok let me explain, May I?” he said indicating the empty seat beside her
“Of course”
“Thank you” he said “I’m Dennis by the way”
“Pleased to meet you” she replied and added “Gwen”
“I’m a retired police Inspector” he said “and just to keep my mind alert I do a bit of Security Consultancy, and I had a meeting at the council this morning myself”
“I see”
“Well afterwards I was using the facilities when two men entered the gents taking about you” he said
“How unsavory” she said and laughed “What were they saying?”
“Well I won’t give it to you verbatim but the gist of it was that they were expecting to bully “The frumpy middle aged busy body”” he said
“Charming” Gwen said
“Their words not mine I might add” Dennis said
“I certainly didn’t see you like that when you went into the chamber”
“Oh, thank you” Gwen said
“So I thought I would sneak into the gallery and see you in action, and I wasn’t disappointed” he said proudly
“And the looks on their faces will live with me forever”
They were both laughing when Gwen suddenly stiffened on hearing the Church clock and she realized she was late.
“I’m sorry I have to go” she said and meant it “but it was very nice to have met you”

(Part 03)

Gwen had really enjoyed their converse on the Pier but unfortunately Gwen had to leave for her next meeting.
It was only a short meeting but it was an important one but during it she found her mind wandering to the lean upright figure of the friendly and jovial ex police Inspector Dennis Simmons.

The meeting lasted about 35 minutes and when she emerged into the bright June sunshine she squinted and she was quite thoughtful and the thing that she was thinking about was primarily being referred to as a frump.
She would have to admit that she wasn’t trendy but she was stylish and she would rather be considered frumpy than be seen as mutton dressed as lamb.
She was a rather plain and middle-aged woman, the wrong side of 60, and she did generally choose to dress in the twin set and tweed style, with sensible shoes, but only because they were practical.
On that day in June she was wearing a lighter weight fabric dress and as she was quite small and slim she wore clothes well.
She was concerned however that someone had referred to her behind her back as a frump and it reminded her of a time she overheard a rival of hers for the Chair of a particular committee describe her as a prudish old spinster and then she and her friend laughed.
She was surprised that the laughter still hurt her after more than ten years.
Then with her eyes still becoming accustomed to the sunlight, she was making her way along the promenade when she was almost knocked off her feet by a figure in the glare.
“I’m so sorry” she said
“Oh that’s ok, I wasn’t watching where I was going” the man said and then added
“Oh hello again” Dennis said
“Oh hello” she said pleasantly surprised, she estimated he was a couple of years older than she was, and well turned out, a bit of a dandy in fact and she liked that.
“So are you all done?” he asked “Meeting wise”
“Oh yes”
“Perhaps we could go for a coffee then” he suggested
“That would be nice, but I’m expected at my friend’s” she said with real regret and added
“Another time though”
“I will hold you to that” Dennis said “In the meantime would you mind if I walked with you part of the way”
“Not at all” she said affably “That would be nice”
So they walked together congenially and chatted, generally about Sharpington and how much they loved it, for about 20 minutes until Dennis stopped.
“Well this is me I’m afraid” he said and pointed “My next appointment is that way”
“Oh what a shame” she said “Thank you for your company”
“It was a pleasure to accompany you and it was a pleasure meeting you” he said and kissed her hand
“How gallant” she thought
“I look forward to that coffee date you promised” he said and darted across the road.
“What a lovely man” she thought as she watched him disappear round the corner of an art deco edifice.
Not that she held any romantic notions of him, that ship had sailed long ago for her, but she did have a coffee date.
And the word “Date” caused her to blush and she was still blushing when she walked into Hemmings General Store.

(Part 04)

As she was going to Leslie Maher’s for coffee she had intended to pick up some pastries from Addison’s Bakery but after meeting Dennis it completely went out of her head so as Gwen didn’t want to arrive empty handed she decided to call in at Hemmings General Store to pick up a box of prepacked cakes.

One of her close friends and neighbour’s David Goodman was at the counter talking to Sabr Hemming, who was running the business while her mother was ill and as she reached them David raised the question of full time or part time work for a girl called Wendy Corney with the two of them.
Gwen had heard about Wendy and how David caught her in his garage, but he was an exceptionally good judge of character and if he thought she was worth helping then she was in.
She had always held the belief that no one was beyond redemption.
“I will certainly ask around the ladies at the Women’s Institute” Gwen said “but in the mean time I do have some odd jobs about the house that desperately need doing”
“You are a saint” David said and then Sabr also promised to give Wendy a few hours in the shop while her mum was ill.
Gwen bought a pack of Bakewell Tarts said her goodbyes and set off for Leslie’s house.
Gwen chose to live at the southern end of Sharpington, which was popular with retiree’s, because it was a quiet and peaceful place to live but was close to the town.
With a large proportion of her inheritances still providing her a healthy income she could easily have afforded to live in the grander neighbourhood of Granite Hill, which in a nod to San Francisco the locals nicknamed Nob Hill.
But Gwen was not an ostentatious person and she lived in a very nice four bedroom house, which was too big for her, so she liked where she lived among her good friends and neighbours
She walked the short distance to Leslie’s house and knocked on the front door.
“Sorry I’m late” she said and brandished the cakes
“Shop bought cake! What would the Women’s Institute say?”
Leslie teased
“Yes I’m sorry but I was distracted by a man”
Gwen said in her defence.
“Oh goody tell me everything”

So Gwen told her the tale of the morning’s events and was very forthcoming, but before she got to elaborate on the future coffee date they were interrupted by a knock at the door which turned out to be David Goodman, and his arrival heralded the end of her tale about Dennis as the conversation then revolved around his mornings work finding employment for Wendy Corney, not that she wasn’t interested.

It was a shame really because had she mentioned Dennis Simmons name in David’s presence she would have found out he was his brother in law and she would have had a way in which to contact him which would have spared her the frustration of the following month when he failed to materialise for the coffee date and over that month she repeated the mantra
“You should have got his number”

(Part 05)

There was a very good reason why Gwen hadn’t seen or heard from Dennis and that was because he had been out of the country.
His oldest friend who he had known since police training school had suffered a severe stroke.
He and his wife and moved to Spain when they retired and it was in a hospital there that he spent the first two weeks and then he stayed on for the funeral.

During the month following her meeeting with Dennis, Gwen had put Wendy to work helping her sort out the junk that had accumulated in the 38 years she had lived in the house.
And they got on like a house on fire, Wendy was willing and hardworking and very good company and over the weeks she became like a daughter to her and by extension due to the age difference, a granddaughter.

Dennis’s first day back in Sharpington was a Saturday morning, the first Saturday of July and furthermore the Gods had delivered to the folk of Sharpington a very hot day, the hottest day of the year so far in fact.
And while Gwen and Wendy were sorting out one of the spare bedrooms Dennis was walking along the beach and when he looked up he saw his brother in law David standing on the Pier looking over the railings so he gave him a wave and he received a wave in return and then both men continued on their way.

When he left the beach he walked along the promenade for a while and looked at some of the attractions and finally decided to take a stroll along the seafront in the same direction he took with Gwen the month before.
After walking up to the point that they said goodbye he decided to go and have a pint at The Ancient Mariner across the road before he returned home.
As he walked through the beer garden he spotted his brother in law again sat alone, people watching, while enjoying a pint of Mornington Ale.
“Well bless me, I thought you were dead” he said
“You knew very well I’m not dead you saw me on the pier this morning Dennis”
“I know but you did look a bit pasty” he said
“Do you want another?”
“Yes I will, thanks”

Dennis went to the bar and was surprised by the amount of people he knew in there but alas Gwen wasn’t one of them and while he waited for his order he muttered
“I wish I’d got her number”

As they sat quietly enjoying their beer David asked.
“Are you going to the Yacht Club Dinner Dance?”
“I wasn’t planning on it” he replied “Are you?”
“Yes, you could come as my plus one” David suggestion
“Why don’t you take a lady instead?” Dennis asked
“The lady I would choose to take is going with someone else” David explained
“Don’t tell me you’re still carrying a torch for that neighbour of yours?” Dennis asked and David nodded
“I don’t blame you though she’s a lovely woman”
“That she is” David said wistfully
“Ok” he said “I’ll be your wingman”
“Thanks mate” he said
It was no hardship he liked to dance in fact he was an exceptional dancer and there was always the chance he might see Gwen there.

(Part 06)

The Yacht Club Dinner Dance was on the 18th of July and as Dennis
dried, perfumed and powdered himself before he changed into his dinner suit, complete with cummerbund and bow tie, he was feeling rather nervous as he stood before his reflection and tied his tie for the fourth time and wished he worn a clip on.
“She probably won’t be there anyway” He said to himself “and you’re a confirmed bachelor for God’s sake”.

David arrived in a taxi to pick him up and they made it to the Yacht Club with minutes to spare.
The ante room was jammed with an array of stunningly turned out women but he couldn’t see Gwen anywhere.
However while he and David stood on the periphery of the throng Gwen Quinton-Smith appeared looking anything but plain and frumpy and was in fact looking very presentable indeed in a rather elegant retro fashion way.

Her heart skipped a beat when she first saw Dennis’s dapper upright figure walk in with David she didn’t know they knew each other.
“Hello David” She said warmly “thank you so much for finding Wendy for me, she’s been an absolute Godsend”
“I’m glad she’s been useful” he said and then he noticed she was no longer making eye contact with him but was looking at Dennis instead.
“Gwen, this is my brother in law Dennis” he said
“Hello Dennis” Gwen said
Just then a waitress arrived with a tray of drinks, Dennis took one and handed it to Gwen and then took one for himself and David grabbed a glass just in time before the waitress snatched the tray away.
And as she left Leslie joined them, looking very shapely and David’s heart skipped a beat.
“What are you lot talking about?” she said
“Gwen was just telling me what a little gem Wendy Corney is weren’t you Gwen” he said but she and Dennis appeared to be oblivious to their presence and then the waitress stepped through the crowd to offer Leslie a drink

Gwen and Dennis suddenly became aware they were not alone and then the small talk ebbed and flowed before they wandered over to the seating plan to find out who their dining companions were.
“Great we’re on the same table” David said
“Really?” Leslie said “how funny, who else have we got?”
They studied the plan for a few minutes and then David said
“Well that’s probably the best table in the room”
“I agree” Leslie said proudly
“So who do you think we need to thank?” he asked her
“Gwen obviously” Leslie scoffed “She always does the tables”
Then she stuck her arm through his and said
“You may escort me to my table peasant”
“Yes’m” he said tugging his forelock

David and Leslie were right about it being the best table in the room, they had a good mix and there was a lot of jovial banter although for the most part Dennis and Gwen were happy with only each other’s company and didn’t pick up on the tension between Leslie and her husband Frank.
Frank made no secret of the fact that he was totally bored with the whole affair and Leslie made no secret of that fact that she was displeased with him.
When the dancing started Dennis and Gwen headed straight for the dancefloor so they didn’t notice Frank Maher deserting his wife to go and drink with his mates at the bar.
Nor did they witness Leslie storming out muttering “Intolerable, completely intolerable”
They were also oblivious to David following hot on her heels.

(Part 07)

At the Yacht Club Dinner Dance, Dennis and Gwen were on the dancefloor from the first dance to the last and were oblivious to what was happening around them until just after midnight David tapped him on the shoulder and told him that he and Leslie were heading off.

But they returned to the dancing again and he didn’t see David and Leslie leave and nor did Gwen and when the music stopped and the lights went on Gwen said
“Is it that time already?”
“It must be” he replied
“Well that’s disappointing” she said
“Yes it is”

Gwen and David ambled disconsolately outside into the balmy night air with the other hangers on and then Dennis said
“I’ll go and get us a taxi”
“Oh no” Gwen said
“You don’t want a Taxi?” He asked and she shook her head.
“Would you mind if we walked?” Gwen asked “I’m in no hurry to get home”
“Nor am I” he said “and it’s such a beautiful night”
They walked arm in arm along the promenade in their finery with a gentle breeze blowing off the sea and reminisced about places in the town that held special memories for them.
Dennis had his first kiss on the Pier with Katie Pomery who wore a red dress with white dots.
Gwen had hers with Owen Collier on the Ghost Train in the Fun Park.
Sharpington Day Parades, Halloween Fright Nights, Firework displays, Candy Floss, Ice creams, chip suppers and kiss me quick hats.
But they were all individual memories of times before they met and they would have preferred to have had shared memories to talk about.
But that night at the Yacht Club Dinner Dance dancing the night away would live long in both their memories.
But they enjoyed the slow walk home and were in no hurry for it too end.

As they reached The Ancient Mariner, Gwen said wistfully
“This is where you kissed my hand”
“Yes it was” he agreed “but that was in the bright glare of the sun”
“Yes it was a beautiful day” she mused
“However…” he began
“However?”
“However I think I can do better in the moonlight” he said
“Really?” Gwen said and then he kissed her and the most perfect night was made more so by the most perfect kiss.

When the kiss had ended they sat on the sea wall at the Southern end of the promenade with their arms around each other and watched the sunrise and they felt like teenagers again.
And that dawn was symbolic, it was a new dawn and a new beginning for a confirmed bachelor and a frumpy spinster.

Reluctantly with the dawn fully broken they continued on their journey this time holding hands like a pair of school kids.
He walked her to her front door still holding her hand
“I really enjoyed tonight” Dennis said
“Me too” she said
“I will never forget tonight, thank you”
“And nor will I” he said and he added “and I think we should make another memory” then he kissed her once again.

Mornington-By-Mere – (37) Three Days of Christmas

(Christmas Eve)

On Christmas Eve Siobhan Chapman and Bryan Williams were stood in the old wooden bus shelter on the Shallowfield road opposite the Old East Windmill just after the last bus had gone in the depths of a passionate kiss.
They both lived in the village of Mornington-By-Mere which is a small country village lying in the Finchbottom Vale nestled between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest and the rolling Pepperstock Hills.
It is a quaint picturesque village, a proper chocolate box picturesque idyll, with a Manor House, 12th Century Church, a Coaching Inn, Windmills, an Old Forge, a Schoolhouse, a River, a Mere and of course at least one bus shelter.
Siobhan and Bryan had only met recently at a mutual friends 18th birthday party at the end of November although they were not strangers as they had both gone to the village school but at the age of 11 Bryan had gone to Shallowfield Grammar School.
Siobhan and Victoria Crockford had been right through the school system together and had been friends since forever.
Bryan on the other hand knew Victoria from University which was why he got his invite to her party.
When Cass introduced them at the party they hit it off from the very first second and from that night on they were virtually inseparable.

On Christmas Eve they had been at the Williams house for the evening and it was as he was walking her home to Windmill Cottages that they diverted into the seclusion of the bus shelter.
“I have a confession to make” Siobhan said a few minutes after Bryan had un-cupped her breasts.
“What’s that?” he asked her without relinquishing his hold on her pliant breasts.
“My uncle is the village policeman” she said
“Really?” he asked
“Really” she confirmed
“Well it’s a fair cop” he said and gave her breast a squeeze and then laughed uncontrollably because he was copping a feel of the village Copper’s niece.
“So you think they’re fair do you?” she said
“Yes” he replied “I mean no, er I don’t know”
Inexplicably, to Bryan’s way of thinking, she put her breasts away and slapped at his hand as he tried to free them again.
“They are better than fair” she said sharply “by a long way”
“You’re absolutely right” he said grovelingly “They’re fabulous”
“Humph” she exclaimed and zipped up her coat
“Oh come on Siobhan” Bryan said “Don’t hide your lovely boobs away”
And he tried again to regain access to her goodies but Siobhan sidestepped his lunge and snapped a pink fluffy handcuff on his wrist.
“Bryan Williams I am arresting you for inappropriate laughter during a sexual act”
Bryan’s reaction was to try and escape but Siobhan’s Uncle had trained her in self-defense and restraint techniques and she applied the latter on his wrist and almost made him cry out in pain.
“Ok, ok” he begged “I surrender”
“Good boy” she said patronizingly
“Where are you taking me?” Bryan asked
“To my house of course” she replied
“Can’t we stay here instead?” he asked
“No we can’t” she replied
“Why?” he simpered
“Because my Mum and Dad have gone to midnight mass so you don’t need to be groping me in a bus shelter” Siobhan replied
“When you could be doing it in my bedroom”
“So why did you tell me about your uncle being a policeman?” he asked
“Oh that was just to give me an excuse to use the handcuffs” she replied with a giggle.
“So are you going to come quietly sir?” she asked and kissed his cheek
“It depends on what you plan to do” he said hesitantly
“Well if I tell you it will spoil the surprise” Siobhan said
“Ok I promise that I won’t offer any resistance” he confessed

(Christmas Day)

On Christmas Day Bryan and Siobhan woke up with more than the normal joy of a Christmas morning after having made love for the first time the night before.
Brian thought it was a very special night even though he had to climb out of her bedroom window in the small hours and nearly broke his neck in the process while Siobhan watched him all the way and giggled.

Christmas morning began with a frosty glaze decorating the rooftops and lightly dusting the evergreens and as the bells rang out to celebrate the birth of the Lord the joyous faithful of the village arrived under a clear blue sky.
It was a most glorious Christmas morning and Bryan’s spirits were high after the early exchange of Christmas presents in Siobhan bedroom.
He was with the rest of the Williams clan as the faithful answered the call of the bells, but he waited outside the church while the others took their places until Siobhan and the rest of the Chapman family arrived and he met Siobhan outside St Winifred’s
“Happy Christmas” he said
“Happy Christmas” she replied and then the two of them just stood and looked at each other with inane grins on their faces and then they were only brought back to the moment by a shout from Siobhan’s Dad telling her to get a move on.
So Bryan kissed her lovingly in the sunshine on the steps of the Church before they both went inside to join the rest of their families.

It was an excellent service with Peter Cockcroft on his very best form, but Bryan and Siobhan didn’t really follow preceding’s very closely as their minds and eyes were elsewhere.

Afterwards it took some while for the Church to empty as everyone wanted to share their best wishes with each other.
After they eventually left the church Bryan walked with her to Windmill Bridge where they shared a Christmas kiss, said their goodbyes before they went their separate ways.

As they had become inseparable in the weeks since they had first met, the days preceding Christmas there had been much debate as to where the couple would spend Christmas day but in the end they decided to have Christmas dinner at their respective homes with their own families and met up at hers in the evening although there was no repeat of the previous night’s excitements.
Instead they ate too much and drank too much and when he left the Chapman’s it was quite late.

(Boxing Day)

On Boxing Day Siobhan and Bryan were once again in the Shallowfield Road bus shelter sharing a kiss when she suddenly said
“I have a confession to make,”
“Not another one?” he said “I’ve still got the bruises from the last one”
“No not that kind of confession” she said
“Oh, what then?” he asked her “You’re not married are you?”
“Not that I remember” she replied “and I would hope if I were married I wouldn’t be standing in a bus shelter kissing another man”
“No, that’s a very good point” he said
“And furthermore if I was married I don’t think I would have handcuffed you to my bed on Christmas Eve, would I”
“No” he admitted and wondered what the confession might be on that boxing.


They were on their way to the Old Mill Inn and the reason they were on their way there was because they showed live football in the bar and Abbottsford Town were playing Abbeyvale Borough and Bryan was an Abbottsford fan and not only was it a derby match but it was important match because it was a top of the table clash.
Although to be honest it was always an important match when Town played Borough.
But despite the importance of the game they still stopped in the bus stop where she was making another confession.
Bryan was pleased that she wasn’t married, she could have been married for all he knew, he hadn’t known her long and they’d only been dating for a month so there was a lot he still didn’t know about her, but she was only 17.
Her name was Siobhan Chapman and she was born and bred in the village, he also knew where she went to school and who her parents and siblings were.
He knew that he liked the look of her from the first minute and asked her out a minute later and he had seen her every day since.
So as they were on their way to the pub on Boxing Day to watch the football and she suggested they stopped for an intimate interlude in the bus shelter, how could he resist.
It was kind of an instant attraction thing, certainly for her, and since the first attraction it had gradually deepened and now he was head over heels in love with her.
“What then?” he asked still unaware what her confession was.
“Oh God I’ve been dreading saying this” she said and he was really worried, she may not have been married but she could still have been engaged or had a boyfriend.
But as worried as he was he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to know.
But Siobhan took a deep breath and he braced himself
“I’m an Abbeyvale supporter” she said and closed her eyes and grimaced but it took a moment for the full implications of her statement to sink in.
“I think I would have preferred it if you were married” he said and Siobhan moved close in to him and asked
“Do you mean you would prefer it if a married woman was in love with you rather than an Abbeyvale supporter?”
“She loves me” he said to himself and he wasn’t sure if that shocked him more than the fact she supported Abbeyvale Borough.
“I'm sorry,” she said “Not much of a Christmas present for my new boyfriend I’m afraid”
But she couldn't have been more wrong about that it was the perfect Christmas present.
Siobhan Chapman loved him and everything else paled into insignificance compared to that and he made sure she knew that.

Downshire Diary – (37) Age Appropriate

(Part 01)

The Finchbottom Vale nestles comfortably between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest to the south and the rolling Pepperstock Hills in the north and those who were lucky enough to live there think of it as the rose between two thorns and at the eastern end of the Vale were the Dulcets which were a collection of villages and hamlets comprising of Dulcet Meadow, Dulcet-on-Willow, Dulcet Green and Dulcet-on-Brooke, to name but a few, and of course Dulcet St Mary which was where the chair of the Sharpington Day Parade Fundraising Committee, Jayne Keeling, lived.
Jayne Keeling was a tall elegant woman in her late fifties and spent a lot of money on, Spa’s, beauty treatments and manicures and the like to keep herself looking that way.
She lived alone in a large detached Georgian country cottage in a well-heeled leafy corner of the village and it was a bright early autumn morning when she lay cosily beneath her duvet and reflected on what had been a very interesting and eventful summer.
Jayne was over fifty, well, well over fifty actually, in fact she was not only the wrong side of that particular milestone she was fast approaching the next one and she was divorced to boot.
But she wasn’t a lonely divorcee, because she had a wide circle of friends, but no special someone.

Although five years earlier there was someone, she had a lover, a young lover, more than 30 years younger to be precise which she supposed made her a cougar.
Jayne had just come through a rather bitter divorce when they got together, not that she was particularly heartbroken by the ordeal or needed picking up from it.
In fact she didn’t really mind being divorced, she hardly ever saw her husband Graham when they were together anyway, he was always on the golf course or in the 19th or more often than not he was with his secretary.

But when the affair began with her young lover, Kenny, it opened her eyes and showed her that she was still an attractive woman, still a sexy woman for that matter, still a desirable woman and her ex-husband Graham clearly never appreciated that.
Her lover was her next door neighbour’s son, 25 years old with the body of an Adonis, the face of a catalogue model and a brain the size of an avocado and incredible stamina.

She was immensely flattered to still attract male attention at her age, she had had so little attention paid to her by her ex-husband that she had forgotten how attractive she was and Kenny was very attentive, very considerate and extremely vigorous.
A session with him was like Zumba and Pilates combined with mild electrocution.
After a weekend with him she was quite literally shagged out and needed the best part of a week to recover.
Not that she wanted to seem ungrateful, as many women in her position, or positions, would have been quite envious if she’d ever told anyone about him and what he did to her and how often, they certainly would not have been sympathetic if she enlightened them.
After all there was a lot to be said for being orgasmed to the point of unconsciousness at any age, but for a very much over fifty even more so.
It was just that sometimes she would have been quite happy with an early night and a cuddle.

(Part 02)

If her affair with Kenny went on too long she wasn’t at all sure that his vital and sustained attention wouldn’t shag her into an early grave.
Plus the fact she was no teenager anymore and getting ready for a date that would end with her being stripped naked and well and truly ravished took a lot longer than it used to do.
As a teen, a squirt of perfume and some lippy and she was good to go.
Now she needed 24 hours’ notice a good night sleep and five hours to prepare.

At the time she and Kenny got together she wasn’t looking for a man of any description and she certainly wasn’t looking for a toy boy, she hadn’t even asked to have her grass cut, he had volunteered, so she truly was an accidental Cougar.

It all began one early summer’s day when Kenny’s mother, Emily, volunteered her Estate Agent son to spend his day off cutting her not insubstantial lawns.
It was a very hot day, which got all the hotter for Jayne when Kenny took off his shirt and his muscular well-toned torso glistened with sweat and by the end of the day she was at boiling point and when he had finished all the lawns and was ready to abandon his horticultural endeavours and focus his prowess towards attending to her.

Jayne was in the kitchen getting him a beer from the fridge when he walked up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist and began kissing her neck.
And before she could even protest he had turned her around and kissed her mouth and then she didn’t want to protest anymore.
Jayne was still holding the beer in one hand and a glass in the other and then the next thing she knew they were in her bed.
She knew it was wrong but she hadn’t had a man’s hands on her for two years and all she could do was hope he didn’t stop.

That early summer afternoon was the first of many such occasions when she was on the receiving end of some youthful loving.
But as Jayne lay beneath her duvet one morning she wondered if it was worth it, well obviously when she was in her bed it was clearly worth it.
But sex with Kenny, although really marvellous, was also very exhausting.
What she really wanted was someone of her own age, who would appreciate her for what she was when she wasn’t glammed up, someone she could be herself with.
Not that useless article of an ex-husband though, someone kind and considerate.
But what Kenny had done more than anything that summer, was to remind her how much she enjoyed sex and once she had tasted the sweet sensual nectar of lust once again she had an appetite for it that she needed to quench.

So as she lay beneath the duvet she made an important decision, she wouldn’t see Kenny again, because his stamina really could have been the death of her so she would instead seek out a less vigorous partner and with the momentous decision made she snuggled down beneath the duvet and went back to sleep and dreamed of someone to cuddle.

(Part 03)

The Vale was once a great wetland that centuries earlier stretched from Mornington in the East to Childean in the west and from Shallowfield in the south to Purplemere in the north.
But over the many centuries the vast majority had been drained for agriculture, a feat achieved largely by the efforts of famous Mornington Mills, of which only three had survived to the present day and even those were no longer functional and were in various states of repair but in one of them, Dulcet’s Mill, was where Robin Jeffrey lived.

He was one of the two senior partners of Jeffrey and Teague veterinary practice but he was now retired.
The 64 year old widow, whose children were all living independent lives chose the solitary existence where he could spend his time enjoying the two thing that gave him the most pleasure, birdwatching, which he could do from his vantage point in the top of the mill and fishing which he could do in the River Brooke which ran no more than twenty yards from his front door.

He was fifty seven years old when he was widowed, living in Purplemere, and immediately after his wife’s death he seemed to suddenly appear on the radar of the local spinster’s, widows and divorcees in and around his own age.
In fact it all started at his wife’s funeral where he was buttonholed by two well-presented mourners who made it perfectly clear he could avail himself of them if he chose to do so.
But it was many months after his dear wife was laid to rest and only after repeatedly rebuffing the endless advances of even the most attractive of the local pursuing vamps that he finally decided out of desperation and loneliness to dip his toe in the water and began dating but his heart was never really in it.
But he would probably have continued trying nonetheless but for a providential collision.
When quite by chance on one damp miserable day he met Wendy in Stephenson’s Supermarket car park after a minor fender bender.
She was a very beautiful woman, tall and willowy with long light ginger hair, and a smiling freckled face.
Wendy was a much younger woman than Tom had of late been involved with, in fact she was a considerably younger woman than he, whom at the time he looked upon her merely as a casual observer, although he thought she was attractive and shapely with her Lycra outfit doing nothing to hide her assets, he completely overlooked the fact that he was a man and she was a woman, because he believed she couldn’t possibly be interested in an old man like him.
And although they laughed and joked and she flicked at her hair flirtatiously he was flattered but for him it was a nonstarter, the stuff of cheap fiction, or so he thought at least, but in time he was to find out that he was wrong.

(Part 04)

It was a warm summer Saturday afternoon a few days after the accident when Wendy knocked on his door.
“Oh hello” he said doing a double take when he recognised the beautiful smiling young woman, not dressed in Lycra or with her hair up this time, but her ginger tresses flowed free and she was wearing a summer dress, and very little else as far as he could tell.
“Hi Robin” she said and flicked her wayward hair off her face.
“This is a surprise” he said
“I wanted to make sure you were ok” Wendy said and proffered to him a bottle of wine “And apologize again”
“There really is no need” Robin insisted
“I thought there was” Wendy retorted
“Well this is very kind of you” he said “but I can’t accept it unless you join me in drinking it”
“I thought you would never ask” she said
“Well you make yourself comfortable on the patio and I’ll get some glasses” he said

So Wendy walked out through the French doors while he went into the kitchen and got two glasses from the cupboard and after opening the bottle of Pinot he poured two generous glasses of the wine and headed towards the patio.
He stepped outside with a glass in each hand but his uninvited guest was nowhere to be seen, at least not at first.
Robin had assumed she had just taken a turn around the garden while she was waiting and was about to put the glasses down and go in search of her when she suddenly came into view.
“You see I made myself comfortable” she said as she stood on the edge of the patio with the greenery of the garden behind her wearing a bracelet on her wrist, rings on her fingers and a smile on her face and absolutely nothing else.
He returned her smile and then his eyes began to view her in detail beginning with her ginger tresses, streaked with gold from the sun which he followed as they hung down to her naked white shoulders and then every inch of her topography down to the ground.
“So I can see” he replied still holding the wine glasses, and then she began to walk towards him.
Well if the vision of her standing naked had mesmerised him it was nothing in comparison to the view of the naked Wendy when she set her gorgeous body in motion as she walked slowly and deliberately getting the maximum movement into each delicious step until they were standing nose to nose and she kissed him.
And so began a long and torrid relationship between the 57 year old vet and the 23 years old fitness instructor.

He felt faintly ridiculous having a 23 year old girlfriend and had a feeling of extreme amazement and delight, though more amazement if he was completely honest.
His wife Mary would have laughed like a drain if she could have seen him with a girl whom she would have considered a child, he really missed his wife.

(Part 05)

Robin thought that the sex with Wendy was amazing and it made his toes curl, she was supple, agile and pliable in fact she was really quite exceptionally bendy, he even called her bendy Wendy, and she had near inexhaustible stamina.
But even though Wendy was really sexy and a more than accomplished sexual partner she was unfortunately duller than ditch water.
She was “fun” to be with when he was benefiting from her expertise, but her company wasn’t stimulating other than in the obvious way.
Any red bloodied man not in his position would have thought him quite mad for wanting to end it.
But she had no conversation and was the very definition of vacuous.
Gorgeous, sexy, horny as hell and truly accomplished in the sexual arts, but as dumb as a stick.

The truth was that Wendy did not meet all his needs other than the physical.
What Robin wanted was someone like his wife, someone who loved him and who he could love and more importantly talk too.
Someone who knew that Muffin the Mule wasn’t a sexual offence, someone who didn’t think Mr Pastry was a 1960 version of Paul Hollywood and a woman who remembered a time when you had to get up to change the TV channel.
Wendy was not the answer to this want.
Nor could she fill his desire for some nice gentle love making and an affectionate cuddle, some grown up conversation.
Wendy was not someone he could fall asleep in front of the TV with so he decided to end it.

It was a difficult conversation when Robin ended the short breathless affair with the 23 year old fitness instructor.
What he couldn’t tell her was that one of his biggest gripes about having such a young girlfriend was the dullness of her pillow talk.
Wendy was born into a generation that had so many means of communication at their disposal yet she still had nothing meaningful to say.
There was a lot to be said for being with a woman who was wrinkle free and supple, but it was what was said afterwards that he craved.

So in the time post Wendy, and being on his own, truly on his own he had harked back to his youth and the days before his six pack became victim to too many six packs.
His middle aged physique tended more towards the party seven than a six pack.
He smiled at the thought of the party seven, because Wendy wouldn’t have got the joke, it would have gone right over her head.
He also reflected on his old girlfriends of the day with their firm buttocks, flat stomachs and gravity defying breasts which stirred his loins in his lustful nostalgia.
Part of him wanted to return to those carefree days of youth.
When all that teenage sex was so wonderful, when he had such limited sexual experience, and so much of the fun was in the learning.
All the reminiscing left him with a certain longing but he knew the past could not be relived or recaptured.

(Part 06)

There had been no one else after her toy boy, her dreams of having someone to cuddle had not come to fruition.
So Jayne Keeling lived alone in her large detached Georgian country cottage in a well-heeled leafy corner of the village of Dulcet St Mary.

Five years had passed since Jayne had gone through a long exhausting affair with an estate agent 30 years her junior.
And although he stimulated every cell in her body with monotonous regularity for the sake of her health and sanity she decided she would look after her own wants and needs and kicked him into touch.
What she craved was something he couldn’t give her.
She was looking for a companion, a confidant and a friend and not just someone to have sex with, as nice as the sex had been.

Jayne was immensely flattered at her age to attract the attentions of such a young lover, but the price for such toe curling sexual encounters was too high to pay.
What she longed for was to be with someone with life experience, someone she could have a proper conversation with in between the love making or even instead of it.
It didn’t have to be deep and meaningful converse just a bit more intellectual than he said/she said.

So what Jayne wanted was the same thing that Robin Jeffrey craved, someone they could talk too, not about anything earth shattering, it could be as simple as a common history or shared knowledge, someone who knew the name of the dragon in Ivor the Engine, or someone who watched Brief Encounter and didn’t think it was funny, someone who had heard of Biafra, Aberfan and the Torrey Canyon or remembered when there were only three TV channels.
Someone who remembered being able to play music at the wrong speed on a gramophone and who remembered having to wait for the black and white TV set to warm up.
Just someone who understood what the other was saying and wouldn’t stare vacantly at you when you mentioned an event that happened pre 1990.

Both of them had put a stop to their respective cradle snatching relationships and put their hopes in something more age appropriate and eventually their wishes were answered when one day, after five fallow years, a mutual friend introduced them to each other at a dinner party.
The friend was Lynn Cooper who lived on Teardrop Lake, and her daughter Jane did the cooking.
During the course of the evening in between the main course and desert Robin leant over and asked
“Do you remember 8 track stereo?”
Jayne smiled and nodded and all at once realised the significance of the question.

(Part 07)

So Jayne and Robin, at the age of 59 and 64 respectively, finally both got their wish answered and they had their first date a week later which presented them both with more concerns.
Whenever you reach a certain age in life you will have acquired to a greater or lesser degree an unfortunate body shape and gravity becomes your enemy and a simple mirror becomes something to be avoided.
He never had doubts when he was dating the local widows and spinsters in Purplemere or even during his torrid affair with Bendy Wendy, not that she gave him time to think.
But on that occasion the image in the mirror dented his self-confidence, because that time it really mattered.
It was completely irrational, after all it was the same out of shape middle-aged body that had served him well enough.
His face had stood the test of time and he was genuinely quite presentable for his age when dressed in an expensive suit, it was just when he was out of it he was likely to scare the animals.
He really liked Jayne and he was hoping that would be reciprocated by the not unattractive divorcée Jayne Keeling.

Jayne had been having much the same internal discussion as she stood before her own mirror the only difference was that she had been doing it for three hours longer.
Her body was in quite good shape she hadn’t given birth or had a hysterectomy so her body had not reached the level of decline that some of her contemporary’s had.
Plus since she had been put through a long intimate summer workout by the gardening Estate Agent five years earlier which had kept her well limbered up, she had maintained a strict workout regime.
Finally she deemed herself satisfied with the final look, she just hoped it would suffice for him.
She had high hopes of Robin Jeffrey, she was hopeful he might fill the hole in her life.

Jayne had spent five hours getting ready which involved applying endless lotions, potions, creams and balms as well as expensive underwear.
And all the time she was dressing she was imagining Robin undressing her.
And when she looked at the final result of her efforts in the mirror she had no doubts at that moment she would get her man.

The date went very well, dinner at the Cloche Hat in Dulcet-on-Brooke and then back to Jayne’s for coffee.
The kiss came while they waited for the kettle to boil and the moment their lips met Robin was more concerned about bringing Jayne to the boil.
They were both strangely nervous so Jayne went upstairs on her own to prepare herself and Robin followed ten minutes later.

“That’s more like it” Robin said to himself as they lay cuddling in the afterglow and Jayne thought to herself
“That was very acceptable”
They had made love for the first time, and that was the difference, making love was so much nicer than just having sex.
And as they lay in the darkness they had the most banal and trivial conversations which lasted into the small hours and when they had finished instead of making love again they just cuddled up and went to sleep.
There would be plenty of time for more love making and many other interesting conversations.