Icicles hang from the gutters
All
on the landscape is still
Ice
crystals pattern the glass
Snow
stands deep on the sill
Curtains
drawn against the dark
As
a fire roars in the hearth
While
my darling lays in my arms
And
love burns hot in my heart
Saturday, 3 April 2021
HOLLY DEAREST
BEYOND YOU
Beyond you
I have no interest
Our
courtship
Makes
me complete
I
waste no breath
On
the mundane
I
breathe only for you
Beyond
you
I
have no interest
I
see you only,
Through
laughing eyes
With
my tunnel vision
I
have no interest
In
seeing the world
I
see you alone
IF NOT FOR YOU AND YOUR LOVE
If not for you and your love
I
would have no life, no existence
Beyond loneliness, if not for your love
I would have no reason to breathe
Snippets of Downshire Life – National Hug a News Person Day
The Pepperstock Hills National Park stretched from the bare, and often barren crags of Oxley Ridge in the North to the dense wooded southern slopes on the fringe of the Finchbottom Vale and from Quarry Hill, and the Pits in the West to Pepperstock Bay in the East.
It is an
area of stark contrasts and attracted a variety of visitors.
The quarry hill side of the park To the west, as the name suggests, was
heavily Quarried over several hundred years, though more extensively during the
industrial revolution, the Quarries had been un-worked for over fifty years and
nature had reclaimed them and former pits had become lakes and were very
popular with anglers and the sparse shrubbery and woodland made it popular spot
with courting couples whereas the
northern crags and fells were popular with climbers and more hardy folk.
To the south
and east was an extensive tract of magnificent mixed forestry and was rivalled
only by the ancient woodland of the Dancingdean
Forest.
Renowned
Downshire Poet, James Willard and his older brother John were staying at the White Hart pub in the village of Springwater for a
few days, it was his brother’s idea, a short break in the Pepperstock Hills, a
change of pace and some R&R, but it was John who needed it most as he was a
TV News Reader and needed to go somewhere where he might be able to take a walk
without being pestered by people want to take a selfie.
James
wasn’t particularly sympathetic and paraphrased Oscar Wilde and said
“The only thing worse than being asked to take a selfie
is not being asked to take a selfie”
They
were both from the
quaint country village of Applesford, with adjoining Cottages which backed on
to a quiet stretch of the Downshire Navigation, part of the canal network which
ran between Nettlefield in the north, down through Millmoor and the Oakhams to
Northchapel, Abbeyvale and then to its most southerly point, Abbottsford, where
it again headed north, this time to Childean, Purplemere and Finchbottom where
it joined the River Finch.
James did sugest that a barge trip would have been eqally relaxing but
thankfully he didn’t listen, and that was something that would later on prove
to be a very significance decision in their lives.
Because on their first night at the White Hart they met sisters Eugenia and Maria Marquez, who it turned out were also
from Applesford, and irony of that first meeting was that they asked John if
they could have a selfie.
The
four of them hit it off right from the start and decided as they were all there
to enjoy the wonderful scenery they might just as well do it together.
So after
breakfast the next day they set off and got their first proper look of the
delights of the village and its environs and they climbed up into the foot
hills, and everything was proceeding nicely until the weather closed in and
they were forced back down to the safety of the White Hart where they remained
for the rest of the day and the day after.
Perhaps because they were all around the thirty mark the four of them got
on well and as a result they had enjoyed their confinement at the White Hart where
James fell in love with Maria.
James and
Eugenia also liked each other but for the them the path to romance was more of
a slow burn, in fact it hadn’t ignited beyond an ember by the time their short
holiday was over, but unlike most holiday flirtations it didn’t end with the
holiday because they all lived in the same village, and because James and Maria
were a couple John and Eugenia continued to come in to each other’s orbits over
and over again in the two weeks following James and Maria’s courtship.
Eugenia
and Maria lived together in what was once the family home but on Saturday night
they were in James’ cottage for a curry and wine evening and after the curry
was long gone, as were three bottles of wine, the conversation got onto birthdays or to be more precise Eugenia’s
birthday.
“It’s Gen’s
birthday next week” Maria said “A significant birthday”
“Thanks sis”
she rebuked
“Oh really?”
John said “And if it’s not indelicate to ask, which one”
“The big
three zero” she confessed
“Well I would never have guessed” he said gallantly
“Flatterer” she retorted
“Well don’t look at it in terms that you’re going to be 30, think of it
more as turning 20 – 10” John said kindly and touched her hand
“I myself am 20 – 11”
Maria was
watching her sister throughout the exchange and when Eugenia smiled at him.
Another wine
bottle bit the dust but rather than open another one they thought it more
prudent to call it a night.
John helped Eugenia
to her feet and Maria said
“Wait for me
while I find my bag”
“No rush” John
said “I can walk Gen home, if you want to stay a bit longer”
“Oh ok” Maria
said “Thank you”
The next
morning, at first light Maria crept up the stair to her room and just reached
her bedroom in time to see Eugenia’s door open and John tiptoe out.
“Well that’s
taking “National Hug a News Person Day” to the extreme” she thought and then slipped
into her bed and slept a guilt free sleep.
Snippets of Downshire Life – Holy Week – Easter Sunday
The Finchbottom Vale nestles comfortably between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest to the south and the rolling Pepperstock Hills in the north, and to the east 15 miles inland from Sharpington-By-Sea, equidistant between the seaside resort and Pepperstock Green was the rambling village of Brookley and at its heart was St Mildred’s Church.
The
villager’s spiritual needs were met by its vicar Rev Cecil Payne who lived
at the adjacent vicarage with his wife Lily and their six unmarried daughters,
Chrissie, Daniela, Hazel, Heather, Katie and Elise.
For Lily her hopes involved the
grandchildren that were not forthcoming whereas Cecil just wanted them to
spread their wings, but as Easter loomed, there was no sign of either of them
getting their wish, but the power of prayer was a wonderful thing and both
parents prayed for their daughters.
The
youngest of whom were twins, and the youngest of them, by two minutes was
Elise.
They were
not identical twins, but she and Katie were as alike as made no difference.
Anyone who looked at Elise Payne would have seen that she
was one of the most popular girls at college and not just because she was
gorgeous, even though she was, her face had a shape and symmetry that was very
easy on the eye and her figure was to die for.
Although there were girls who were more
classically beautiful than her they didn’t have any of the character of
Elise’s.
Her silky red hair shone and shimmered as she
moved her head and her brown eyes bore into your soul when you met their gaze.
As if her unique beauty was not enough she was
also athletic, artistic, intelligent and sexy, but it was her personality and
inherent goodness that put her head and shouldered above the competition.
Everyone, boy or girl that ever met her fell
instantly in love with her, but Sunday School leader Calvin Peat
had been in love with her since before she blossomed.
However, despite all the attention Elise managed
to keep everyone of her admirers at bay, which led to the rumours that she was in
fact gay.
Calvin never believed that for a moment and he
had known her longer than anyone at college because he was the boy next door
and he had lived there since she was three and they had been best friends since
the beginning.
But when she was invited to the seventeenth
birthday party of another of the cool girls, he was still extremely surprised
to get an invitation from Elise to be her plus one, even though they had been
friends since nursery school.
However, having established that Elise was one
of the popular group, Calvin was in no uncertain terms, not.
He was not athletic, artistic, sexy or cool, they
did have a keen intelligence in common and he was bound for the University of
Downshire to study Theology, with teaching being his ultimate goal.
But under normal circumstances, friendship and
intelligence aside, it was a surprise that one of the popular girls would want
to invite a Theology geek to one of her friend’s 17th birthday party on the
afternoon of Easter Sunday.
The party was in one of the grander houses at
the other end of Brookley from the Church, and it was ostentatiously decorated
and a bit gaudy, and there were a lot of guests, it was one of those big flashy
parties with an abundance of superficial friends.
It was not really Elise’s kind of thing as she
was never a flashy person, once they got there they soon separated themselves
from the main throng and had their own private party in a quiet corner and
found six likeminded friends to join them one was Elise’s twin Katie, who was
also one of the popular girls, and three others who they had also been friends
with since nursery school, Danny Perry, and his cousins Roy and Susan
Peach.
Their party was a great success, with Roy
keeping up the supply of wine which they drank liberally as they
reminisced about their shared history and they laughed until they cried.
When they left the party propper and got to the
end of the road, they split up, Katie
was going back to Susans and Roy went off with Danny so they had the usual hugs
and kisses on the pavement and then went their seperate ways.
As they walked through the village, the slightly
tipsy Elise had her arm through Calvins and he said
“I had a really great time”
“Yeh, me too” she replied
“Wasn’t it great to get the six of us together
again?”
“We should do it more often” Clavin suggested
““We” should get together more often” Elise said
“What just the two of us?” he asked
“Yeh” she said coyly
“Just you and the geek?” he asked with surprise
“You’re not a geek” she said defensively “And
anyway even if you were that wouldn’t stop me fancying you” she said.
“You fancy me?” Calvin asked pointing at himself
“Didn't you know?” she asked, and he shook his head
“What about you?” she asked shyly
“Do you fancy me?”
“I don’t know about fancying you” he said, and
she was clearly crestfallen for a second
“But I’ve been in love with you since we were 7
if that counts”
“You pig” she said and laughed before she kissed
him softy on the lips, which led to the most wonderful spine tingling embrace
that seemed to last forever.
When it ended she looked at him with her soulful
eyes and smiled the most loving smile.
He returned her smile and wanted to say
something fitting for the moment but in truth he was lost for words.
“Wow” she said beating him to the punch and then
she giggled and ran off up the Church Road and shouted over her shoulder
“You’ll have to marry me now”
Uncanny Love Tales – (034) The Girl in the Easter Dress
Easter was fast approaching, another significant event in the calendar that held no fond memories for him.
Steve Berry had grown up with a dislike for all
family orientated occasion, New Years, Easter, Halloween, Guy Fawkes Night and
especially Christmas with all its nauseating jollity and faux fun.
Unlike most of the people he knew he had no happy
memories to anesthetise him against those occasions.
His parents were alcoholics and from a very early
age he had learned to fend for himself and most of his childhood memories of
the big holidays he would rather have forgotten.
That was until Holly Davis opened his eyes to new
possibilities and he realised that Christmas and other holidays could also
magnify joy and that life was full of wonderful possibilities, and as they lay
in each other’s arms in the early hours of New Year’s Day, having just made
love for the first time, Holly proposed that they run the Pig and Whistle
together.
Despite his first doubtful thoughts, when he
thought it may just have been post coital exuberance on her part, Steve agreed,
based on the way the two of them had worked together through the Christmas
period.
When he returned to his day job on January 5th
his first action was to hand in his notice, much to the annoyance of his employers
and the consternation of his co-workers, and his second action was to put his
flat on the market.
Some of his friends suggested that he was burning
his bridges whereas Steve believed he was merely following his heart.
Holly was buying the pub from her Uncle Phil, who
sadly would not be around much longer, but even allowing for the discounted
price he was asking, she could only just afford it with the sale of her house
and virtually all of her savings, which didn’t allow her any extra for the
improvements she wanted to make.
She could of course take out a mortgage for what
she needed but she didn’t really want to begin with a debt.
Holly had no idea Steve had put his flat up for
sale, in fact Holly didn’t even know if he owned his own flat, it wasn’t until
the beginning of February when he said
“I have officially burned my bridges”
“What do you mean Hon?” She said
“I am now unemployed and homeless”
He said and handed her the written offer on his
flat
“What are you saying?” Holly asked
“Our nest Egg” he said
“Are you sure?”
“All or nothing” he said
So, Steve and Holly became partners in the Pig and
Whistle, and they sealed the deal in what had become their customary manner.
The Pig and Whistle had once been the Railway
Hotel, up until the second world war when the Station was bombed out of
existence.
In the post war years when the new station was
built, it was inexplicably sited a mile away from its Hotel.
The Hotel was then sold off after nationalization
and renamed.
It was ideally situated close enough to town to
benefit from foot traffic but far enough away from the hot spots to avoid the
weekend binge drinkers.
There was another hidden benefit of their location
which would not be discovered until much later.
There were significant improvements made to the
exterior of the building by Phil’s predecessor, upvc soffits, guttering and
double glazing were installed as well as a number of others in fact it was
improved to such an extent that they ran out of money, which was how Phil got
it so cheap.
He and his wife Pat had big plans for the place but
when she died suddenly the light went from his world as did his purpose for
existing and he rather lost interested in the pub.
“So where do we start?” Holly said
“The roof” he replied
There was some remedial work required to the
chimneys and some slates had been displaced in the winter storms.
“We can claim for the storm damage on Phil’s
insurance and while they are up there, they can do the chimneys” he said
“Excellent” she said “That will save us a bit”
“And then we should complete the kitchen extension
and the Conservatory” Steve said
Phil and Pat had applied for planning permission
before she died but it would run out in April, so the clock was running in that
regard but Abbeyvale conservatories were keen to finish the job they had
started more than a year earlier.
In fact, they were so keen Steve was able to
negotiate a reduction on the installation cost.
So that was all set-in motion and then they turned
their attention to the interior.
Holly had worked in hospitality since she was at
college and of all the things she had learned, the one that stood out for her
was not to put all your eggs in one basket, you had to diversify but equally
don’t try to be all things to all men.
It was an old pub with a big open bar, Holly wanted
to reinstate the old layout and return it to three separate bars.
The lounge bar for the conversational drinkers, a
TV bar for the sports fans and a games room for darts, pool etc. and then the
conservatory would be for the diners.
“I bow to your superior knowledge of hospitality
Holl” he said “I’m just a bean counter, and as such I can say that it would be
a relatively small outlay to replace the internal walls and it will be less
expensive in the long run to heat three small spaces than one large”
“So, is that a yes then?” Holly teased
It was essential they started getting customers
through the door so they couldn’t afford to have the pub closed for any length
of time.
A pub the size of the Pig and Whistle would
haemorrhage money at an alarming rate with the doors closed.
They wouldn’t be able to pay the staff and so they
would have to find other work and then you’ve lost your experienced workforce.
Holly decided they wouldn’t close for any longer
than was necessary for the refurbishment.
So, they closed for two days for the builders to
put in the stud walls between the bars and closed the lounge bar for one week
to decorate.
Then a week later they closed the TV bar for a week
and repeated the process for the games room.
So, by the middle of March all three bars had been
decorated and re-carpeted plus the Conservatory was complete and ready for
use.
The repairs and renovations, plus some new fixtures
and fittings cost them just under half of their nest egg, which they were
exceedingly pleased with, but they knew that if they didn’t get a steady trade
through the door the remainder would be eaten up just in running costs.
They could put on novelty nights like Pub quizzes,
or a clairvoyant doing readings, open mic comedy nights, poetry slams and the
like but they planned to steer clear of live music or DJ’s, Holly thought they
were more trouble than they were worth in the long run.
Also, they had to make the most of the annual
special occasions, all those dates in the calendar that Steve had a phobia
about in fact, but they had just missed out on St Patrick’s Day.
However, gimmicks only got you so far, the bread
and butter patrons needed a reason to come back for the rest of the time.
The food would certainly help with that, especially
with the conservatory.
It was midway through March when Holly and Steve
sat down to catch their collective breaths, one evening on the patio in the pub
garden.
“You know what’s next?” Holly said
“Another drink” Steve said hopefully
“The Garden” she said bleakly
It would have been more appropriately called the
jungle.
It had been largely neglected not only by Phil but
by his predecessors as well because the extent of the growth had occurred over
more than a generation.
As luck would have it there were three regulars who
drank at the pub, the Beaumont brothers, who were proper old country boys and
the jungle was right up their street.
When they approached the Beaumont’s, they gladly
picked up the gauntlet and they and various other members of the family pitched
up the next day and got straight down to it and by the end of the second day
they had made great progress and as they sat down to an end of day pint Steve
asked
“How’s it going?”
He hadn’t anticipated it would take that long with
such a large crew and his bean counters brain was doing cartwheels
“Another day clearing” Kenny Beaumont said “But you
can at least get down to the River now”
“River?” he said, “What river?”
“The Trott” Old George replied
Just at that moment Holly stepped out from the
Conservatory
“Did you know the garden backed onto a River?”
Steve asked
“No” she replied with surprise
“Well it’s there Missy” Old George said and
chuckled
“Well we’d better go and have a look then” She said
to Steve and took his hand, pulling him to his feet.
It was a much longer walk than they anticipated,
the pub garden which they thought was huge to begin with was almost three times
bigger than it appeared to be before the Beaumont’s got to work.
In fact, it was bigger than either of them had
anticipated and the great bonus was that the garden led down to a section of
the river Trott, only accessible from the pub garden.
Holly and Steve didn’t even realise they were that
close to the river
“Wow” Holly said as they stood on the bank
“Ka-ching” Steve responded
“Spoken like a true bean counter” Holly said and
laughed
It was Easter Sunday and the first major occasion
since the refurb was completed.
When the Beaumont’s had finished clearing the pub
garden there were quite a few large areas of bare earth which needed to be
turfed in order for them to make the best use of the garden and the newfound
view of the river.
And a month later it had taken sufficiently to take
a light cut and the overall effect wasn’t bad at all, viewed from the patio.
The improvements to the beer garden would bring
great rewards with summer just around the corner.
It wasn’t quite an uninterrupted view of the river,
as they thought it expedient to have a small wicket fence put up to separate
the garden from the running water and thus prevent small children venturing to
close and being washed away.
Holly had arranged an Easter Egg hunt straight
after church, they had invited the children from the local area via Sunday
Schools, cubs, brownies and primary schools, the idea being the children would
come along for the egg hunt and their parents would spend over the bar and buy
from the BBQ.
Holly and the other girls had been out that morning
and hidden the cream eggs and every child who took part would get a ticket for
the Easter Egg raffle.
It was an excellent turn out in the April sunshine
and there were so many children they had to go out in groups, the youngest went
first.
“Ok Children, only six eggs each” Holly said
dressed in a pink puffy dress and a flowered Easter bonnet. “One…Two…Three…Go”
And off they went in all directions like marbles in
a game.
Steve was down by the fence making sure none of
them reached the water’s edge and he watched the beautiful girl in the Easter
dress amidst the mayhem laughing as the children raced around her, and he knew
at that moment without any shadow of doubt that he was in love with her.
When all the children had their eggs everyone
repaired inside for the big draw, this was tactically delayed to allow the
adult’s time to recharge their glasses and it was in the bar after the last
prize was won and presented that Steve stepped forward and called.
“Could I just have your attention for a moment?”
The assembled crowd hushed and turned their gaze on
him, and he continued
“I would just like to take this opportunity to
thank our lovely hostess Holly for putting on such a fun activity today”
A round of applause rippled around in response.
“And I would like to present her with this special
gift”
And Steve handed her with great aplomb, a handmade
Easter egg which she quickly unwrapped
“It’s lovely” she said, “Thank you” and then she
kissed him.
“Read the instructions” he instructed
On the egg was a handwritten card which read
“Must be opened upon receipt”
So, Holly placed the egg on the table and
obediently untied the ribbon holding the two halves of the egg together, and as
they separated it revealed inside, where the handmade chocolates should have
been, a small square box.
She handed the egg to Steve and opened the box to
reveal that it contained a small Ceylon sapphire ring that he had bought in a
local antique shop.
“Does this mean what I think it means?” she asked
quietly
“I don’t know, do you think it means I want to
marry you?” Steve said
“Yes” she said
“Good because that’s exactly what it means” he
replied
“Will you marry me?”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” she screamed and the whole place
was in uproar.
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