DON’T WE ALL FANTASIZE?

 

Don’t we all fantasize?

Of that perfect love

That would grace our life

A love that is so special

It would be immortalized

In the sonnets of the bard

Snippets of Downshire Life – World Sleep Day

 

The hamlet of Fallowacres, which was as near as damn it, the center point of the Finchbottom Vale, though only geographically, in most ways it was the back end of beyond, but those who lived there liked it well enough, even Linda Kirk loved it, despite the fact she’d had an argument with her husband and was sleeping in the spare room.

 

As she slept, her head was full of disturbing dreams of loss and loneliness interspersed with stark warnings from her dead grandmother “Never go to sleep on an argument” until she woke up in a panic, sweating profusely and panting hard.

She got up and paced the room for five minutes before tiptoeing across the landing and slipped beneath the duvet and cuddled up closely to Chris and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

 

But as the dawn broke, her peace was disturbed, but this time, as she slept, her head was full of erotic images and her sleep became restless and fitful, and her skin tingled, and she kept licking her lips as the vivid images played in her head.

Her head rolled from side to side and then she suddenly awoke from that erotic dreamland, with a leer on her face.

So as the dawn chorus chattered in the trees Linda and Chris made up and following her disturbed night, they both slept late.

Snippets of Downshire Life – The Ides of March

The Dulcets were a collection of villages and hamlets comprising of Dulcet Meadow, Dulcet St Mary, Dulcet Green and Dulcet-on-Brooke, to name but a few, and of course Dulcet-on-Willow which was a large sprawling village beside the gentle shallow River Willow, which ran unhurriedly from the Pepperstock Hills to the more vibrant River Brooke.

David Harding lived alone in the village, in a Victorian cottage, and he also ran his own Antiques business, called Buy Gone Daze. 

He was a bit of a fitness freak and had always prided himself on the fact that he had never had a day off work through illness, but one day in January he woke up with a thumping headache, a raging temperature, a scratchy throat and he ached all over, and although he got up and went into the bathroom to shower, all he actually did was have a drink of water and then returned to his bed, from where he phoned Lisa Peinado.

Lisa had worked for him at the shop since she left college, and she had loved him for almost as long.

“Hi David, is everything OK?”

“No, I’m not coming in today” he croaked

“Oh dear, Really?”

“It’s the flu I’m afraid” he said, “Could I ask a favour?”

“Of course,” she replied

“Can you open up and run the shop without me?”

“Yes, yes” she replied enthusiastically

 

She knocked on the cottage door about twenty minutes later, and he opened the door to her knock.

“Hi David” she said brightly “oh dear you look dreadful”   

“I don’t feel at all well” she replied

Lisa tested his forehead with the back of her hand and he was burning, and then she fished in her pocket and brought out a box of max strength cold capsules.

“Take these,” she said “Then go back to bed”

“Thanks Lisa” he said “I’d kiss you, but I don’t want to give you my flu”

“Well I’ll take an IOU in the meantime” she said, mainly to herself, as she left the cottage.

 

As it turned out she not only ran the shop that day but for a week and a half, as Flu gave way to a chest infection, so she was a regular visitor to the cottage keeping him supplied with medications, hearty soups and stews, and during the period of his incarceration he had plenty of time on his hands and he used that time to good effect, firstly by reflecting on his life, past and present, and his eyes were finally opened to something that had been right under his nose for years, or perhaps someone would be more accurate, and the fact that was now staring him in the face was that he was in love with Lisa.

 

The other thing he did was to read, anything and everything, and one of the things he read about were the Ides of March, which was a day on the Roman calendar that corresponds to March 15th, it was marked by several religious observances and was notable for the Romans as a deadline for settling debts

“I have a debt to settle” he said out loud.

He remembered that when he was first struck down by the Flu he had said

“I’d kiss you, but I don’t want to give you my flu”

And her barely audible response was

“Well I’ll take an IOU in the meantime”

“I owe her a kiss” he exclaimed “And I intend to settle my debt”

But he had to get rid of the flu and the chest infection first, it wouldn’t make the impression he wanted if he was to cough in her mouth, so it had to be after he was fit and well, so he consulted the calendar and he thought March 15^th, the ides of march, was a definite target, as he thought that that date would be quite appropriate.

 

He returned to work on Monday of the week of the Ides and he found he had more than the one debt to settle, as she had not just kept the shop running in his absence but had increased sales for the duration.

“Are you sure you’re well enough to be back?” she asked “You haven’t come back too soon”

“I’m fine” he said “But I’m going to ease back into it, so you carry on doing what you’ve been doing as if I was still in my sick bed”

As the week progressed he kept barely half an eye on the business as he found it difficult not to spend every second watching Lisa and wondering why he had been so blind, but as the week progresses his general blindness had been replaced by awe.

When Friday arrived, he had to pull himself together and make his move, and he chose the moment they were beginning to close up shop for the day.

“Well Miss Peinado I am so pleased with how you’ve kept the business going, and more, I’ll treat you to dinner”

“Oh lovely” Lisa said

“You’ll probably want to go and change”     

“I don’t need to change for the Ruddy Duck” she retorted

“I know but we’re going to the Willow Tree” he said

“The Willow Tree?” she gasped

“Yes”

“But that’s really expensive” she said

“You deserve it” David assured her “the table is booked for 8 o’clock, “Will that give you enough time?”

“Oh yes plenty” she lied “If I leave now”

“You’d better get off then”

 

The Willow Tree was a very good restaurant and not the kind of place you can just walk in off the street, it attracted a good many, discerning diners, and had a waiting list that ran into months, but because the owner was a friend of his he pulled a few strings and managed to jump the queue and calling in a favour proved to be worth it when he saw Lisa walk towards him as he waited outside the Willow Tree.

The restaurant was every bit as good as its reputation, but he would have been equally happy sitting on a park bench eating fish and chips out of the paper if his dining companion was Lisa.

 

After a first-class meal with first class company, a liberal quantity of wine, the long and intimate dinner came to an end, and David offered to walk Lisa the short distance to the house she lived in with her parents.

“That was a lovely meal, thank you” she said as they walked

“As I said before it’s no more than you deserve, I just hope it goes some way to paying the huge debt I owe you”

“You don’t owe me anything” she said

“Oh, I do, I owe you for looking after me while I was ill, then for running the shop for me, and running it better than I do, I might add” he said “but more important that even that, I owe you a kiss”

“What?” she gasped

“I remember offering you the reward of a kiss, as a thank you, but I didn’t wish to infect you with my malady”

“Yes, I remember” she said expectantly

“And do you also remember saying you would accept an IOU?” he said

“Yes, I do, but I didn’t think that you heard me” Lisa said and looked down at her feet

“Well I did, and I think that its about time that I repaid my dept” he said as he turned to face her

“Oh… yes… I agree” Lisa said and lifted her eyes to meet his, and then by the light of a lamp post, he paid his debt.

 

WE WERE ONCE INSEPARABLE # 2

 

We were once inseparable

Tied with the bonds of love

But when the day came 

When bonds become restraints

Love melted into the ether

And the ties that bound

Turned inexorably to dust

WE WERE ONCE INSEPARABLE # 1

 

We were once inseparable

Soul mates incarnate

Held by an eternal bond

As strong as tungsten

Yet soft as pure silk

I thought our union

Would last for ever

Even to the end of eternity

But the bonds that held us

Have disappeared

Like tears in the rain

The Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa – Mothering Sunday

 

The beautiful Downshire village of Clerembeax St Giles was situated to the west of Abbeyvale located between Grace Hill and Bushy Down and on the outskirts was the Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa and when Yvonne Labuschagne inherited it from her cousin, the last remaining Clerembeax, she undertook the task of modernizing the Palace and opening a Hotel and Spa offering, fitness classes, gym, rock sauna, infra-red sauna, aroma steam room, ice fountain, drench showers, Jacuzzi, a Romanesque pool, Reflexology, Raki, facials, scalp massage, hand massage, Manicure and Pedicure, while also providing accommodation, meeting and function rooms, a superior restaurant and whatever temptation might attract potential visitors.

 

Ray Morrison was a trained Physiotherapist and Masseur, who had worked with Yvonne at the Dancingdean Spa, when her husband was still alive, but his role at the Palace also involved training some of the younger ancillary staff as well as using his skills on the guests, but he enjoyed being in Clerembeax, and he had made many friends among the staff, and he also enjoyed taking long walks in the surrounding countryside, when he wasn’t working, which is what he was doing early on Sunday Morning.

 

All the weather forecasters had been talking about the latest incarnation of the Beast from the East for more than a week and as he left the hotel for his walk around the village it arrived.

 

When he reached the farther point of his loop it was snowing heavily, and he decided to keep to the firmer ground of bridle paths and roads that would get him back to the Palace as quick as possible.

When he reached the center of the village the road was barely discernable, but as he reached the Village Green a car drove gingerly into view, and it was a car he recognized, and it belonged to the Hotel Manager, Hannah Morgan.

She came to a halt beside him and wound down the window

“Do you want a lift?”

“Yes please” he said and got in the passenger seat

“I thought you were picking up your sister” he said

“I was, but she phoned me before I reached Abbeyvale, to say that all the trains had been cancelled”

“Already?”

“Yes, it’s really bad in Abbottsford, and its headed our way” Hannah said as she drove off “Also we’re going to be short staffed today, as there are no buses or taxi’s”

“I guess that means Mother’s Day lunch is going to be a quiet affair” Ray said

“Good point, I hadn’t thought of that”

 

They went through the front door to the reception before Ray thanked her and then they separated and as Ray stood and chatted to the receptionist a small figure, wrapped up against the cold, stepped out of the lift and made a bee line for him.

She said something, but her voice was muffled by her scarf so when she got no response she loosened it and spoke again

“Ray”

“Is that Cheryl under all that?” he asked, and she nodded in response.

Cheryl was one of the younger members of staff at 17 years old, and Ray had taken her under his wing. 

“You’re not going out there are you?” he queried

“Yes, I’ve got to get home,” she said

“There aren’t any buses” he told her

“What? To Tollington?” she asked urgently

“To anywhere” he replied

“And there are no taxis either”

“Oh God” Cheryl exclaimed “But I have to try”

“Ok honey” Ray said “But please be careful”

And then he watched as she disappeared out into the snowy morning before headed to the staff room.

 

About half an hour later he was back in reception when Cheryl reappeared through the front doors, still wrapped up against the weather, with melting snow on her shoulders.

Only her eyes and nose were visible between her woollen hat and matching scarf, and her eyes bore the evidence of crying.

“Are you ok Honey?” he said and the moment he reached her she buried her cold face in his chest and began to cry.

“I…”

“Can’t…”

“Get…”

“Home…” she said between sobs

Ray didn’t point out that he told her that he just made sympathetic noises

“All the buses are cancelled,” she said

“And I couldn’t find a cab, so I had to come back”

“What’s at home that you are so desperate to get back to?” he asked

“My mum” she answered

“Oh?”

“She has a broken leg, and I’m her looking after her, so I had to try and get home” Cheryl said “but when I couldn’t I tried to phone her, but I couldn’t get through, so I tried to ring the neighbours to ask them to check on her”

“And?” he asked sympathetically

“No luck” she said ‘Not yet”

Ray stood holding her for about five minutes, then he asked

“Is she in Tollington?”

“Yes”

Tollington was only about two miles from the Hotel as the crow flies and as he drove a Landrover Discover, he said

“Let me get my coat and I’ll drive you”

“Really?”

“I can’t promise we’ll get out of Clerembeax, but we’ll give it a go” 

 

Even in the hour he had been inside the weather had deteriorated, however the road through the village was still drivable.

“If it’s like this all the way we’ll be fine” he said and looked across at Cheryl who was nervously biting her lip in the passenger seat.

However, when out into the country lanes he was driving on drifting virgin snow.

The roads were barely visible, and he drove very gingerly along the first stretch, which ended, at a crossroads, which was where he was joined by another four-wheel drive which turned onto the road ahead of him and he followed it for about half a mile before it turned left onto the Kiddingstone Road while he needed to turn right for Tollington.

As luck would have it the road was not as bad as the previous one as it was quite exposed, and the wind had blown a lot of the snow off the road and there were even visible signs of Tarmac in patches.

So, he pressed on with caution, but when he was less than a mile from the village the snow fell even faster, and it was in the poor visibility of a blizzard that Ray took a right-hand bend slightly too vigorously and lost the back end and went off the road back end first into a ditch.

“Are you ok?” he asked her

“Yes” she replied and then he tried to drive out of the ditch, to no avail.

“Ok stay here” he said and opened the door and got out of the car and pulled his collar up against the wind, before walking to the front of the Landrover.

 

He pulled the winch cable out and crossed the lane and looped it around a tree before running back and getting behind the wheel.

“Ok here goes” he said and started the winch, which slowly but surely pulled them back onto the road.

“You did it” she said and hugged him   

 

Fortunately, there was no obvious damage to the car, so twenty minutes later he pulled up outside Cheryl’s house.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you” she squealed and hugged him again before saying “come on” and got out the car.

Ray followed and watched her run up the path and then fall in a heap about three paces from the front door.

In his concern he rushed to her aid

“Are you ok?” he asked but when he reached her she was giggling so much she couldn’t speak.

 

Once he got her to her feet and she’d regained her ability to speak they walked gingerly to the porch and she unlocked the front door.

“Mum! Mum!” she called as she walked inside “it’s me”

“Cheryl?” a call came back in reply

She shed her coat and accessories in the hall as Ray closed the front door and then Cheryl went into the cozy lounge where her mum was.

“Happy Mother’s Day!” she said as she burst into the room

“I wasn’t expecting to see today” her mum said with tears in her eyes, and there was a prolonged teary hug.

 

“How did you get here?” Her Mum asked as she wiped her eyes

“Ray drove me”

“Ray?” she asked

“Yes, Ray from work” she replied “You know the one I’m always talking about”

“Oh yes, well that was kind” she said and then hurriedly added “I hope you haven’t let him drive back to Clerembeax again”

“No, he’s in the hall” Cheryl replied

“Well bring him in then, so I can thank him”

So, she went back out to the hall and said

“Come in and say hello”

“Ok”

“Mum this is Ray, Ray this is…”

“Sarah Daniels?” Ray said

“I used to be” she said with a confused look on her face

“You used to go out with my brother Ben” he explained

“Ray Morrison” she exclaimed “But I’m surprised you remember me though, we only met a few times because you were away at University most of the time”

“You obviously made an impression on me” he said

 

Snippets of Downshire Life – Mother’s Day

 

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, where 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 roads, was the home of Vera Williams, an ED doctor at the Royal Downshire Hospital, and just a few streets away George Harris.

 

53-year-old George Harris was retired, and he had been since he turned 50, he was up until then a Quantity Surveyor for Barraclough Ventures, but after his wife died he decided on a life change.

His wife was gone, his children were all grown up and all living independent lives and his work had lost its appeal so that was why he retired.

In the three years of retirement he led a largely solitary existence and spent his time enjoying the simple pleasures, and the two thing that gave him the most pleasure, were birdwatching and fishing.

The only anchor he had to the real world was his elderly mother who was in the Oak Dale Retirement Village and Nursing home in Dulcets Green, which was run by a marvellous woman, Alexandra   Barrileau, who was a tour de force, and it was through her that he was reacquainted with an old flame, Vera Williams.

 

He was at Oak Dale to visit his Mum, for Mother’s Day, not that she knew what day it was, or indeed who he was, but he did and so he went, as he did on all the other special days and sat in her room reading to her.  

 

Alexandra and Vera were old friends and the latter was a regular Sunday afternoon visitor, when she was off duty, where they would sit in what she called her drawing room, where they would have tea.

She only drank tea on a Sunday afternoon, because it reminded her of her mother, and it became a bit of a ritual, and Vera was more than happy to share in that ceremony.

 

After the ritual was complete Vera and Alexander left her private rooms on the second floor and walked towards the stairs.

“I’m working the next three weekends, so I won’t be over until next mon…” she began but stopped when she saw George Harris approaching the stairs from the opposite direction, and when he saw her he stopped in his tracks.

 

It had been on another Sunday afternoon when they had their first providential meeting, although that time it was a collision, it happened quite by chance on one damp miserable Sunday in a car park where they had a minor fender bender.

He was stunned that someone had driven into him, but when they both got out of their respective cars and he saw her he was stunned again.

She was a very beautiful young woman, tall and willowy with long light ginger hair, and a smiling freckled face.

She was a year or two younger than him and considerably more attractive than the girls he had been involved with up till that date, and to be honest he thought she was way out of his league, but  looking at her merely as a casual observer, he thought she was perfect, beautiful, shapely and had a gorgeous smile, and she was dressed in such a way that did nothing to hide her assets.

After inspecting the damage they shared a laugh and a joke and while they spoke, she flicked at her hair flirtatiously and he was staggered, because he thought that him and her was a nonstarter, but her body language told a different tale, so he thought he would chance his arm and ask her out, it was worth a shot, so he did and she said yes.

The two of them had a very special year together but then came University, him in Portsmouth and her in Edinburgh, and it inevitably fell apart.

 

That first meeting was thirty plus years earlier but he recognised her instantly even though all those years had passed.

She was still tall and willowy and her light ginger hair was streaked with grey, and her face was a little more freckled.

But when she smiled in recognition he knew without a doubt that it was her.

“Vera Coleman?”

“Used to be” she replied “Its Williams now”

“Ah married then”

“Divorced” she corrected him “and you?”

“Widowed”

“I take it you two know each other then?” Alex said and they both nodded in affirmation without averting their gaze.

“Ok then back to my drawing room” she said, sensing the rekindling of an old flame “I’ll make another pot of tea and you can both tell me all about it”