LOVE IS NOT A TEST OF LIFE

 

Love is not a test of life

That we might pass or fail

To prove if we are alive

 

Life is a test of love

That we can pass or fail

But we must try to survive

Snippets of Downshire Life – International Day of Happiness

 

The village of Highfinch sits just on the edge of the Pepperstock Hills and the Lily Green Hollows Golf Club separates the village from the Hamlet of Lily Green, and the combination of those two and Kingfisherbridge made up the parish of St Martins.

 

It was also the home of the Strong’s, brother and sister, Ben and Becky, who had a poultry farm on the Northern side of the village.

They were both the wrong end of their twenties and there were only the two of them left of the Strong clan, but they had two people working for them, 22 year old local girl Kamila Dziewirz, who was full time and thirty year old Greg Mizon, who Ben had known at Agricultural College, who was just helping out for a few weeks, unless they could persuade him to stay longer.

Which was something Becky was particularly keen on from the moment she first saw him, but he’d been working at the farm for several weeks before there was any impropriety between them, but when it did occur she felt more alive than she had done for years.

 

When Ben went downstairs for breakfast he found Becky in the kitchen, singing, and the reason she was so happy, apart from the obvious, was that Greg had just told her he was staying on, indefinitely.

“You’re in a good mood” Ben said but she didn’t share the complete reason for her good mood with her brother but replied

“Yes, I am, do you want eggs babe?”

“Yes please” he replied taking full advantage of her good humour

“Greg has decided to stick around a bit longer” she said matter-of-factly

“He’s in the other room, go and keep him company”

Becky instructed so he duly obliged

 

“Morning Mate” he said

“It’s not just any old morning” he responded, “it’s a magnificent morning?”

“Enough said” Ben answered and smiled to himself just as Kamila arrived behind him having also experienced little miss sunshine.

“Hi Kam” he said

“Hey Ben” she retorted but couldn’t meet his gaze and quickly added “Well Greg, I hear you’re staying on for a bit”

“That’s right”

“How long for?” Ben asked

“Indefinitely” he replied and there was a distinct smugness about him.

 

“So, what are we up to today?” Kamila asked

“Well this morning we’re going to get the enclosure ready for the new birds” Ben replied “So come on let’s get going”

“Glen! can you bring the dirty things to the kitchen?” Becky said as she appeared in the doorway.

“We were just heading out” Ben said

“That’s ok we’ll catch you up” she said cheerfully

 

“She’s very happy today” Kam said as she and Ben walked across the yard

“She’s very something” he responded enigmatically

“Have I missed something?” Kamila asked

“I think you must have” he replied

“So, what is it? What have I missed?” she asked “Tell me, tell me”

“Well the reason Greg is staying on with us, is Becky” he said

“Eh?”

“Ok let me put it another way” he explained “She didn’t want him to help with clearing the dishes”

“What then?” she asked and then the penny dropped and then she giggled “Oh” 

Snippets of Downshire Life – The Spring Equinox

 

Sharpington-by-Sea is a traditional seaside resort complete with a Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, the Palladium ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre and illuminations, all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park.

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

It was also a popular resort for retirees and boasted a number of static caravan parks and one of them was the Whitecliffe Hill Caravan Park which overlooked the town.   

And just beyond the Park was the Jubilee Heights Industrial Estate and one of the biggest companies on that estate was Martlesham Merchandise.

Martleshams had begun life as a mail order catalogue goods business in the 1960’s, but in the 21^st century they were exclusively an online company.  

The goods received warehouse supervisor was twenty five year old Simon Moore, six feet four inches tall with dark brown hair and was a popular guy among the staff, in particular with the goods despatch supervisor, Chantelle Cooper, who was the same age as him and had had him in her sights since they were at school together.

She flirted with him shamelessly at every opportunity and she would incline her head to one side and play with her hair and behaved exactly like she did when they were still at school.

In was the same tactics she’d been employing for ten years and it still wasn’t working, because he wasn’t interested he never had been and never would be.

Because he just wasn’t attracted to her, and he didn’t like her, he didnt like the way she spoke, the way she laughed, even the way she walked, in fact she didn’t walk she slinked, and if that wasn’t enough he had another reason to rebuff her advances, Clare Parker.

 

And Clare ticked all his boxes, he loved her voice, her laugh, and the way she walked was an absolute delight in fact there wasn’t anything about her that he didn’t like, brown hair, hazel eyes and Clare was everything that Chantelle wasn’t.

Clare Parker lived at the opposite end of Sharpington from Martlesham’s and had only started working there a few days before Christmas and Simon was instantly smitten.

And the attraction was mutual although they didn’t pick up on that, but Chantelle did, and she did not like it one bit. 

Nor did she like that she was 4 inches taller than her and had longer shapelier legs, was 4 years younger and was prettier not that she would have admitted to the last part because Chantelle Cooper suffered from pretty girl syndrome.

Which is when an attractive girl thinks she is far more beautiful than all other women around her and for that reason she thinks that she deserves to get all the attention.

So, when Clare met Simon and Chantelle in the warehouse on her first day Chantelle was at first shocked, then upset and finally angry when she realised Simon was more interested in Clare than he had ever been in her.

 

Clare was still on her probation period and was used as a bit of a gofer and she had to work in several different departments and had to work under both Simon and Chantelle at different times of the day.

This was good for her because it meant she got to see Simon for a couple of hours every day guaranteed, but at the same time it was bad because she had to spend an equal amount of time working for Chantelle and it was obvious that she didn’t like her and she really wasn’t very nice to her, and she couldn’t understand why, but she saw it as a price worth paying if it meant working with Simon.

 

As she walked through Jubilee Park on her way to work on the first day of spring she had a spring in her step because it was the last day of her probation and when she had her meeting with Claudia Strohmeier in HR she was going to request a permanent position in Simon’s department so she would see him all day every day, even if he didn’t see her as she saw him she would at least be close to him.

 

Simon Moore glanced at the clock and pretended to be busy so as not to appear asif he was waiting for her arrival, he was trying to be cool.

She was always on time, in fact she was always ahead of time, and that day was no exception, the only difference being that she was even more bubbly and smiley than normal.

“Morning” she chirped

“Well if it isnt the soon to be “ex” probabationer” he said

“Todays the day” Clare retorted and crossed her fingers

“Not that you need it, but I got you something” he said and gave her a little gift box

“For me?” she asked and he nodded

Her hands were shaking when she opened the little box and then she gasped when she saw the little gold horse shoe charm.

He knew that she had been given a charm bracelet for Christmas by her parents and that she hadnt got many charms on it yet.

“Its gorgeous” she said, “Thank you”

She didn’t want to simply say thank you, she wanted to kiss him, not that that was unusual, but at that moment she wanted to kiss him more than she had ever wanted to before.

In the end it was taken out of her hands when the claxon went off to signify there was a delivery.

“When are you seeing Claudia?” he asked

“In an hour” she replied

“Well if I’m not done before you go” he said “good luck”

And the good luck was accompanied by a squeeze of her hand and at that moment she was convinced for the first time that his interest in her was more than just friendship or co-worker.

So, with his gift to her in her pocket she felt 10 feet tall as she left the warehouse for her appointment with HR.

 

When they had finished unloading a 40ft trailer he looked around the warehouse and expected to see her excited face, but she was nowhere to be seen so he returned to his office.

He had been sat at his desk for about ten minutes when the phone rang, which took him a few seconds to locate.

It was part of the company phone system but was portable, so he was tied to the office when he was on a call, which made it convenient to use, but sometimes difficult to find.

He found it on top of the filing cabinet with Clare’s fleece on top of it, which he thought was odd, she always complained about the cold in the warehouse, so she always wore her fleece and his as well sometimes.

With the fleece in one hand and the phone in the other he pressed the green button and said

“Warehouse!”

“Hello Simon”

“Is that Clare?”

“Yes” she replied, and her voice cracked

“Are you ok?”

“No”

“Why, what’s wrong?” He asked with concern

“They’re not keeping me on” she replied

“What?” he asked in utter disbelief

“I’m leaving”

“That can’t be right, when?”

“Today”

“Today?” he asked as he left the office

“Yes, I’m leaving now” she said weekly

“Now?” He repeated with alarm “I don’t understand”

“I’m not good enough” she sobbed

“Where are you?” He asked as he left the warehouse and emerged into the main reception, but when he saw Chantelle standing to one side of the entrance wearing a smirk he began to comprehend what had happened

“I’m outside”

“I’m waiting for a cab” she said just as he stepped out into the sunshine.

“Oh Simon” she exclaimed when she saw him

“Come here” he responded with his arms outstretched and she ran between them.

“What am I going to do?” she sobbed

“Hey its ok”

“It’s not though” she said “Because I won’t get to see you every morning”

“Well if it comes to that, you’ll have to see me every evening instead” he assured her

“Really?” she asked as she lifted her head from his chest and he answered by kissing her

 

The kiss only ended when the taxi pulled up, and he turned and looked into the smiling face of the taxi driver who was an old schoolfriend of his brother, Danny Tomkins.

He kissed Clare once more on the mouth and then opened the back door, so she could get in.

“I will see you later” he said and squeezed her hand before he closed the door on the Taxi’s precious cargo.

He knew she would get home safely, but he still said

“Look after her Dan”

“No sweat” he replied then Simon blew Clare a kiss and the cab drove away.

 

When he went back inside Chantelle was still there and after watching him kiss Clare she wasn’t smirking anymore, and she turned on her heels and stomped off.

Also assembled in reception were a group of half a dozen supervisors who had all had been part of Clare’s probationary training and they were as perplexed as Simon had been when he first heard that the firm was letting her go.

Having seen Chantelle’s delight at Clare’s sobbing figure he was pretty sure that she had reported something to HR to paint her in a bad light.

After sharing his suspicions with the assembled group, they decided that they should pay a visit to HR and set the record straight.  

 

The delegation to HR met with Claudia Strohmeier who was at first bemused, then confused, followed by horrified and then finally deeply apologetic.  

Frantic meetings between upper management and the whole HR department followed which resulted in the reinstatement of Clare, providing she would accept it, and to that end Simon was asked to deliver the news to her.

 

After the taxi dropped Clare at her parents house she had an up and down kind of day where she would be in tears one moment because of the loss of her job, because she loved working up at Martlesham’s, and then total elation because Simon Moore had hugged and kissed her, and in between the two extremes she dared to dream that she had imagined her dismissal but not the kiss.

She had a vague recollection that he had said that he would see her later, but she wasn’t sure if it was the traditional farewell “see you later” or that she would actually see him later.

It was during one of her periods of reflection that there was a knock at the door, she was going to ignore it, because she didn’t want to see anyone, and when she looked in the mirror she thought it more likely that no one would want to see her, but she took a deep breath and opened it and to her surprise it was Simon, and she instantly forgot how she looked and kissed him.

 

They were sitting on the sofa after he had given her the news about her reinstatement 

“So, if I come back will I still be on probation?”  

“No” he replied “And you will be working full time in Goods in”

“So, I’ll see you every day?”

“Yes, every day”

“Oh”

“Well you don’t have to” he said “you can choose whichever department you want”

“No, I want to but….”

“But what?”

“Well if I see you every day, does that mean I won’t get to see you in the evenings?”

“No” he said and smiled “it doesn’t mean that”

“Oh good” she said, and she kissed him again

 

The Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa – On the Spring Equinox

 

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.

It was once the home the Clerembeax’s, who arrived in Downshire following the Norman conquests and stayed for a thousand years before the name died out following the death of the reclusive Marcus Clerembeax at the age of 96.

The current owner was Yvonne Labuschagne, who decided to open it as a Hotel and Spa.

The Spa was a good attraction, but it was crucial for them to maintain a high occupancy rate, however things were tough in the Hotel trade with the success of Travelodge, Premier Inn and Holiday Inn Express and so places like the Palace needed to offer something extra to attract the guests, apart from the Spa. 

So, they put on novelty weekends, such as “Murder Mysteries” and in addition, they had a sizable Ballroom which was used for special occasions, high days and holidays, which boosted occupancy and Spa numbers at the same time, Christmas being a prime example, when there was great demand and grand Christmas function took place.

However, things had got tough in the Hotel trade with the success of Travelodge, Premier Inn and Holiday Inn Express and so places like the Claremont needed to offer something extra to attract the guests, but often guests made their own entertainment.

Guests like Mike Saunders, who woke up with the sun streaming in through the gap in the curtain which illuminated the naked body of Jay Powell on the bed beside him.

She had her back to him and was lying on her side and the sun highlighted the curve of her hip, he leant over and kissed her shoulder, then he slipped out of bed and went to the bathroom.

When he returned he went back to bed and cuddled up behind her and spooned her.

“Mmmm” she murmured as he nuzzled her neck and slid his hand on to her belly.

“Oh no you don’t” she said as his hand moved upwards

“I’m hungry, I want breakfast”

“We can eat later” he said and kissed

“But I’m famished” she protested

“Wouldn’t you prefer to be ravished?” he asked as he nibbled her ear lobe.

“Breakfast first” she said and wriggled free of his embrace and got out of bed.

“You can’t go yet,” he said as she put on her shoes.

“Yes, I can” she said adamantly as she put her hand on the door knob

“You really can’t”

“Why not?” she asked as she opened the door

“I am my own woman”

“You’re also naked” he pointed out

“What?”

“You have no clothes on” he said

“What?” she responded and then caught sight of her own reflection in the mirror and screamed

“I told you so” he said as she slammed the door and ran into the bathroom

“You could have told me” she protested as she wrapped herself in towels

“I didn’t think it was a problem until you tried to leave” he told her

She emerged from the bathroom and began picking up the remnants of the previous night’s outfit

“And you are gorgeous” he said

“Flatterer” she retorted and then added with a giggle

“But get your pants on because I still want breakfast first”

IN THE TAPESTRY OF LIFE

 

In the tapestry of life

Love lies deep

Finely threaded through

Like a constant breath

Radiating perfect beauty

Whatever scene is portrayed

Love is the constant

Within the weave

THE TIME I HAVE AWAITED IS AT HAND

 

The time I have awaited is at hand

As evening falls slowly on my life

And as my light sets on this world

I will once again rejoin my wife

LOVE IS NOT

 

Love is not

A test of life,

To prove existence

Love is life

Where love is absent

Life perishes

Where love exists

Life is lived