NOTHING LASTS FOREVER

 

Nothing lasts forever

Nothing is that durable

Nothing is built to stand the test of time

No matter how sound the foundation

It will fall apart

 

Love is among the list of shoddy structures

Love doesn’t last forever

Even though we wish it would    

And we can make the case why it should

And list the justification

“Because I need you”
“I feel so lost without you”
“I don't want to be alone”
No one is listening

There is no ombudsman

To hear your grievance and arbitrate

You have loved and lost

 

But knowing it won’t last forever

Doesn’t soften the blow

When it comes to an end

It still hurts like hell

And the pain seems to last forever

LOVE HAIKU # 3

 

Wondrous chemistry,

electricity crackling,

when boy meets a girl

ON THAT BEAUTIFUL DAY IN JUNE

 

On that beautiful day in June

When they played that familiar tune

My heart was filled with happiness

Then I saw you in the big white dress

 

I stole a sideways glance at you

And found you looking at me too

It was quite goofy we smiled so much

I took your hand and felt your tender touch

 

Proudly we stood together side by side

As before God the knot was tied

My heart filled again with happiness

As I wed the girl in the big white dress

 

If pride is a sin then I’ve sinned too much

I’ve felt it when I’ve felt your loving touch

I’ve felt it at our happiest and our saddest

And when I saw you in a maternity dress

 

Oh how I remember that day in June

When they played that familiar tune

And my heart was filled with happiness

When I saw you in the big white dress

 

And now as I look back across the years

To the times of laughter and of tears

I’ve never said “I love you” and not felt proud

My dearest one beneath the big white shroud

Tales from the Finchbottom Vale – (50) The Guilty Secret

 

Twenty-eight-year-old Paul Ingram had fallen in love with an older woman, a forty year old woman to be precise, who was a beautiful unhappily married, Carrington Chase educated woman called, Francesca Carrington-Webber.

Attraction for him was instant when he saw her in the first class carriage on the train to Abbottsford.

That was before he’d even heard her speak in her posh Carrington Chase educated voice which he didn’t hear until she fell on his lap on the return journey.

Carrington Chase was Downshire’s version of Roedean, although those in Downshire think it was the other way around.

Paul had always been turned on by a well-spoken women and turned off by common ones.

For him there was no greater turn off than to see a spectacularly beautiful woman open her mouth and speak in a rough colloquial accent, Cheryl Cole being a good case in point. 

But Francesca was beautiful to look at and she had the sexy posh accent, but more than that after having spoken to her and seen behind the beauty and the poshness, she was a lovely person from the inside to the out.

 

Paul and Francesca both lived in the village of Forest Dean situated equidistant between Shallowfield and Childean, she lived in a huge house that backed onto the The Forest Ridge Golf Club, and coincidentally Paul worked for the Golf Club.

 

Although he didn’t realize it at the time, Francesca had noticed Paul on the train to Abbottsford and she was taken with him from the first glance, and it was the first glance of many.

She had even spotted him later that afternoon as she was in the back of a taxi, slightly the worse for drink, and he was sitting in the beer garden of the Downshire Castle, and totally out of character she waved at him.

But nobody was more surprised than she was when she fell in his lap, not once but three times when she was returning home.

And from that moment on the die was cast.

 

But it wasn’t until 6 weeks later when she was attending the Sharpington Yacht Club Dinner Dance when their paths crossed again.

Francesca was well used to being ignored by her husband at such events but the moment the dancing started he deserted her to go and drink with his mates at the bar and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back for her so she made a dignified exit and walked up to the promenade where she broke down completely.

She couldn’t have put a time to the period she spent crying on the bench or how much longer she may have remained had she not heard a male voice behind say

“Is everything ok?”

And when she turned around to reveal her tearstained face she saw it was Paul Ingram

“Oh it’s you”  she said the moment she saw him and was up on her feet and rushing into his arms, but was unable to speak for several minutes as Paul held her in his arms and she sobbed.

And those tender moments of consolation lead to them making love in his caravan.

 

After Paul and Francesca made love in his caravan in the middle of July and he walked her back to her Hotel in the early hours of the next day Paul was very optimistic about the prospect of seeing her again, and in the very near future.

However by the beginning of August he hadn’t even seen her again let alone hold her and touch her.

He had phoned her numerous times but she never picked up.

He would have gone to her house but unfortunately he neglected to get her exact address when he last saw her.

 

Francesca was trying desperately to avoid speaking to Paul, even though that was the last thing she wanted to do.

She had thought of little else since that night they spent together but she had also had terrible feelings of guilt, which was why she kept ignoring his calls and she would have kept that up indefinitely until the point he gave up calling, had fate not taken a hand.

 

Paul had been sent to collect some grass seed from the Shallowfield Garden Centre which was quite unusual in itself because they normally got there supplies from a wholesale supplier, but they had an urgent need due to their own stock being found to be sterile and the lead time on replacement not meeting their urgency.

 

It was as Paul drove along the high street in Shallowfield when he caught sight of Francesca Carrington-Webber sitting alone at one of the tables outside Addison’s Café.

She was wearing a summer dress and she looked absolutely gorgeous, he guessed she was probably enjoying a coffee while waiting for a friend.

He parked the car in the first available space and walked back towards the café and as he got close he quickened his stride and as luck would have it, or so he thought, he caught her eye and he gave her a wave, but instead of waving back she gathered up her things and hurried away.

“That’s very odd” he thought

 

Having failed to speak with Francesca he went to the Garden Centre and got the seed and decided to have lunch at The Woodcutters Arms and had a sandwich and a pint.

When he stepped back out into the sunlight, he spotted Francesca again, this time in the pub carpark, so he approached her on her blindside so she couldn’t run off again and when he was a few feet away he said

“I think you’ve been avoiding me”

Francesca jumped and immediately became flustered

“No, no not at all” she corrected him

“I think you have,” he repeated “why?”

Francesca didn’t say anything for about a minute

“Please tell me Francesca” he entreated

“Because I feel guilty,” She snapped

“You don’t need to feel guilty Honey” he said

“You don’t understand” She said vehemently “I don’t feel guilty because it happened”

“Then why?” Paul asked but she didn’t respond

“Francesca?”

“Because I enjoyed it” she barked

“I liked it because you made me feel sexy”

Francesca paused and then continued

“I liked it because you made me feel special”

Then she hurried away towards her car, but stopped and turned after a few paces and said

“But most of all I feel guilty because I want to do it again”

And then she was gone again, Paul thought for a moment before he hurried after her

“Francesca?” he called but she kept going so he pressed on after her instead and Francesca was standing by her car when he caught up with her.

“Do you mean it?” he asked but his question met with silence

“Francesca?”

“Yes” she replied reluctantly “but it can never happen again”

“Why?”

“Because I’m a wife and a mother” she retorted and then added almost as an after thought

“And I love my husband”

She may have once but not so much now he thought, her husband spent more time on the Golf course or in the club house than he did with his gorgeous wife.

He believed Francesca was clearly lonely which she didn’t deserve to be, and it was in his power to change that.

She opened the hatchback and was about to put her shopping in the boot; but he put his right hand on the edge of the boot, preventing her. 

“Do you think about that night?” he asked

“Yes” she said

“Often?”

“Yes” she replied “All the time”

“Do you remember us laying in my bed” he asked and she reddened at the recollection and then nodded

“It’s something I’ll never forget” he said “I think about it every day and especially when I go to the Caravan”

“Don’t make fun of me, don’t make fun of it” she screamed and started to cry

“I’m not making fun of you,” he said taking hold of her hand

“I think of it all the time” he said “And not just the love making, I think of you, in that cocktail dress, with my jacket on your shoulders”

Francesca squeezed his hand and he continued

“Walking arm in arm through the park”

“So do I,” she gasped and squeezed his hand again.

They didn’t speak; the only sound was her steady breathing and the birdsong as they both recalled moments of that night.

He watched her, eyes closed, lips slightly parted, and her tongue lightly moistening them as she breathed but then a group of pub customers walked by and the spell was broken, she let go of his hand and she threw her shopping quickly in the boot and slammed it shut.

“Please don’t avoid me again?” he said

“I won’t, I promise” she said and then she drove away.

He hoped he wouldn’t have to wait long before he saw her again and as he walked back to his car Paul allowed himself to fantasize about where and when he might see her again, the first occasion in Sharpington was a chance meeting, a serendipitous event, which culminated in them making love, the second time was also by chance, but it was too public for him to embrace her the way he wanted to, hopefully the next time they met by chance it would be different.

“I hope there will be a next time” he muttered under his breath and then he was snapped out of his deliberations by the sound of a car horn.

When he turned around to investigate the source of the sound he discovered it was Francesca, who had pulled up alongside him.

“Hello” he said “I was just thinking, about you, about us”

“Good, I want you to come with me to the woods so I can kiss you” she said

“And I want to kiss you to” he retorted “When did you have in mind?”

“Right now” she snapped

“Are you sure?” Paul asked

“Yes” she yelled “Get in the bloody car”

“So much for a chance encounter” Paul said to himself as he walked around to the other side and got in the car.

And after a short tense ride in the car up to a secluded part of the Dancingdean Forest Francesca and Paul had a long awaited kiss in the woods.

 

After their passionate embrace they talked and talked until it was time for her to go and pick up her girls from school.

The outcome of the discourse was that she wanted to see him again, but she was a married woman, however unhappily, so they couldn’t be together in the way they were at the Whitecliff Hill Caravan Park, not yet anyway.

They also concluded that what had begun for him as a bit of fun with a fit older woman, and for her some good energetic sex with a toy boy, had despite the age difference turned into something else, as they had fallen in love.

Tales from the Finchbottom Vale – (49) Entrapment

 

Downshire is a relatively small English county but like a pocket battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port, the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see, from the Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire Light infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton in the North but it’s in leafy Shallowfield where our story begins but the main characters originate from the busy town of Purplemere on the other side of the Finchbottom Vale, which nestles 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,

 

It was in Purplemere were Christine Prunot lived and worked, it was where she was a solicitor working for the firm of Curtis, Mitchel and Lovegood.

Christine was five foot two and on the skinny side of slim with dark flowing hair, brown eyes, olive skin and a beautiful smile.

On a grey drab Friday morning at the end of the first week of August she was over in Shallowfield on the other side of the Vale to meet with her friend, Annette Obertelli, because she was the family solicitor.

They were meeting with the representatives of Vale Farm Pizza’s at 11 o’clock at the Shallowfield premises but she had arranged to meet Annette early so they could get the lay of the land before the meeting.

Christine decided to drive over the night before and stay at the Shallowfield Lodge Hotel on the edge of Teardrop Lake so Annette was to meet her there.

She was up early and when she stepped outside she got her first view of the lake and was blown away by the view which was spectacular, although she couldn’t see it all or discern the teardrop shape that gave the lake its name.

But the view of the surrounding ancient woodland of the Dancingdean Forest was majestic.

Despite the grey start the skies brightened and painted the lake and the surrounding forest with a very sympathetic hue so she decided to go for a walk.

 

Shallowfield’s fortunes had always relied largely upon forestry and agriculture for its survival.

In the post war years with rationing and a shortage of work a lot of people moved away, to Abbottsford, Abbeyvale and beyond and it only barely survived, and the community around Teardrop Lake fared even worse.

Only a few of the houses around the Lake were thriving, a lot of the houses had been rented out and those that hadn’t were in a poor state of repair, some too such an extent they were little more than ruins.

But by the 1970s things were beginning to change, thanks mainly to tourism and an increase in leisure time.

More importantly these people had money in their pockets.

This trend was reflected by the fact that the derelict Shallowfield Lodge, which had been inherited by a young couple from Lincolnshire, Rob and Sheryl Brown, was being turned into a hotel.

Its completion formerly marked the rebirth of Teardrop Lake and by extension, Shallowfield, forty plus years later it was thriving.

 

Christine met Annette at the Hotel and then they drove in the formers car to the where the premises were located.

Which was a relatively modern mixed use trading estate on the outskirts of Shallowfield in what had once been a wood mill.

It was first converted into offices in the 1970’s and was occupied by a firm of Accountants, Cooper, Brandon and Holland who had relocated from London.

They occupied the site until the end of the 20th Century when they moved into more modern, eco-friendly premises at the Childean end of the village.

When the Accountancy firm vacated the site it was completely transformed with the addition of further units, into a popular trading estate with retail and fast food outlets all with offices above.

It was vibrant and busy and was clearly very popular, there was a well-balanced mixture of traders and Annette and Christine were quietly impressed, that was until they reached the Vale Farm Pizza House.

“Oh dear” they said almost in unison and then they stood looking at the tawdry façade.

It was an absolute mess, it was scruffy with flaking paintwork, and some letters were missing on the shop front, litter was everywhere and it only got worse when they went inside.     

It was such a mess inside the shop, with boxes stacked everywhere, that Annette immediately turned around and went the other way.

“Second thoughts?” Christine asked

“Not at all” Annette said “And I think with some canny negotiations they will agree to whatever terms we set in order to get me to take it on”   

“Well I think if you want it they’ll pay you for the privilege” Christine agreed

“And we’ll get lunch out of them as well” Annette added and smiled

“The Phoenix is very good, and it’s not cheap” Christine suggested

 

The meeting went ahead on time and they got more than favorable terms due to the dire straits that the shop was in.

They also agreed to close for two weeks to revamp the place as it was looking very tired and then they would open again for business on the twenty first of August and have all the wrinkles ironed out before the bank holiday weekend.

Afterwards with only the formalities to be completed later that day they went for a very pleasant lunch at the Phoenix.

 

After a very pleasant lunch at the Phoenix Restaurant good byes were said and as there were only legal formalities to be dealt with it was left to the lawyers to draft the contract, which would be signed and sealed later in the day, so Annette said to Christine.  

“Do you need me for the next bit?”

“No it will take a couple of hours to tie everything up in a bow” she replied

“Good because I need to walk this off” Annette said and patted her stomach

“Well I would suggest taking a walk up by the lake, it’s really wonderful” Christine suggested

So Annette wandered off and Christine returned to the fray with the Vale Farm Pizza’s legal eagles.

 

When she was finished she met up with her client and friend Annette outside the Vale Farm Pizza House again and Annette asked

“So how’s it going?”

“All done” she replied “you just need to sign on the dotted line”

“That’s great news” Annette said “Because I just bought a house”

“Crikey you don’t hang about do you” Christine said

“So what are you doing with the house in the Gracewoods?”

“I’m going to rent it out, in the short term anyway” Annette replied and Christine’s heart sang, she had been looking to get out of Purplemere for a while and she loved Middle Gracewood so she asked

“Can I have first refusal?”

 

“What a fantastic day” she thought to herself, as she drove Annette back to the Shallowfield Lodge Hotel, not only had she done a great deal for her client to get the Shallowfield franchise for a song, but she had first refusal on renting Annette’s house in the Gracewoods.

When Christine drove her back to the Hotel to collect her car for the drive home, they said their goodbyes and Christine went in to collect her overnight bag, and when she came out she found Annette was still sitting in her car.

“What’s wrong?” Christine asked

“The car has broken down” Annette replied “I’ll never get a garage out at this time on a Friday”

“AA, RAC, Green Flag?” Christine inquired

“I’m not a member” she replied “I never go anywhere and Roberto drove me to and from work so I never bothered”

“Not to worry I’ll call Jordan” she said

She was referring to Jordan Donaldson, who was another one of Christine’s client’s although she would really have liked there to be more to their relationship than that.

He was one of the “Donaldson Automotive” family, and the Donaldson’s bought, sold, repaired, raced and rallied cars of all makes and models.

“I thought he worked in Purplemere” Annette said

“He does but he’ll know who to call to get you sorted” she replied.

 

After a five minute phone call in which Christine constantly fiddled with her hair and giggled, she announced

“Someone will be with us in half an hour”

So while they waited they sat in the hotel garden and drank tea.

 

Jordan Donaldson came good and a mechanic, Darren, duly arrived in the allotted time and after 20 minutes said that he would have to get it back to the workshop and he’d have her up and running by midday on Saturday.

 

The fact that the car wasn’t going to be ready until the next day left Annette in a quandary, about how she was going to get home.

Under normal circumstances Christine could have driven her home but she was going to Sharpington straight from Shallowfield to spend the weekend with her parents and the coast was at the opposite end of the Vale to Middle Gracewood. 

Annette could of course have gone home by train, which had its own problems, first she would be travelling through the rush hour and then she would have to repeat the exercise on Saturday to get back again.

There was also the option of hiring a car for the night, Annette had seen a car hire place on her travels, but she decided it wasn’t worth it and she might just as well spend the night in Shallowfield, and once she was happy that Annette was ok Christine set off for Sharpington. 

 

Christine felt guilty about abandoning Annette in Shallowfield but she was expected in Sharpington so she had no choice.

She was later leaving Shallowfield than she expected but she made good time until when she was just approaching the Dulcets and her phone rang on the cradle on the dashboard but as she reached out to answer it, it popped off the cradle, landed on the central console and bounced three times and ended up behind the passenger seat.

She didn’t notice who the call was from as the phone somersaulted past her, but she had always been a little paranoid about missing calls so she decided to pull over in order to retrieve the handset and check the missed call.

Just at that point she saw a sign indicating a car park one mile ahead

“Great I’ll pull in there” she thought and when she reached it she saw it was a little lay-by set back from the road.

“Just perfect” she said as she pulled off the road and came to a halt.

 

Christine unfastened her belt and reached behind the passenger seat but with her diminutive stature she was stretching as far as she possibly could and she just got her fingertips to the target but on succeeded in pushing it farther away.

“Damn” she said “I’ll have get out and use the back door”

But just at the moment she said the words the heavens opened and the rain fell in a deluge

“Sod it, I’m not going out in that” she said “I’m climbing over”

So she clambered between the seats as a shortcut to the back and after indulging in a little contortion she manage to reach her goal and returned to the vertical with a triumphant

“Hurrah”

However in her haste to get back to the driver’s seat she decided to reverse her previous manoeuvre but just when she was halfway there, there was a loud clap of thunder overhead which made her jump and as a result she somehow managed to get her left foot stuck between the driver’s seat and the centre console and furthermore it was stuck fast.

“Oh bugger” she exclaimed when she realised she was trapped

“Now what am I going to do?”

“I know I’ll move the seat” she said to herself and carefully reached down and grabbed the handle, yanking it up as she tried to push the seat but she could apply enough force against it and then it occurred to her that she couldn’t really move the driver’s seat because of her trapped foot, but she was able to recline it a little way without causing herself any injury.

Moving the passenger seat she could have done but that would not have been of any practical use to her and her predicament.

She decided there was only one course of action open to her and that was to call Jordan Donaldson.

 

Jordan Donaldson had been one of Christine’s client’s for over four years and she had been head over heels for him from the first meeting.

He was one of the “Donaldson Automotive” family, and the Donaldson’s bought, sold, repaired, raced and rallied cars of all makes and models.

He was blonde, rugged and gorgeous and he was only six inches taller than she was, so he didn’t tower over like most men did. And she liked that.

 

To add insult to injury when she looked at her phone she saw that the missed call was an 0800 number so she had got herself in a pickle for no good reason whatever.

Then she took a deep breath and called Jordan.

“Jordan Donaldson” he said

“Hi Jordon, its Christine”

“Oh hello, is your friend still having trouble?” he asked

“No it’s me this time” she replied sheepishly

“Have you had an accident? Are you ok?” he asked with real concern

“No I’m fine, I’m just stuck in my car” she said quietly

“Did you say you’re stuck in your car?” he asked

“Yes”

“Ok where are you?” he asked

“I’m in a lay-by on the Mornington Road about a mile from Dulcet Green” she explained

“Is that the one that’s set back from the road with trees on both sides?” he asked

“Yes that’s the one” Christine said

“Ok leave it with me and we’ll sort you out” he said and then hung up

“Well that’s scuppered any miniscule chance I may have had of getting him” she said disconsolately

 

As luck would have it Jordon was also in the Dulcets, The Dulcets being a collection of villages and hamlets such as Dulcet Meadow, Dulcet St Mary, Dulcet Green and Dulcet-on-Brooke to name but a few, and it was Dulcet Willow where he was when he took the call, so he jumped in his car and headed straight for her location.

He didn’t normally get that involved with customer’s problems but Christine was a special case because he fancied the pants off her

But she was beautiful, well educated, feisty, funny and wicked smart and he was little more than a glorified grease monkey so he had never made an advance in fear of being shot down in flames.

However now he had a chance to be a knight in shining armour, although he wasn’t sure how exactly because he didn’t understand what she meant by being stuck in her car.

 

Christine was mortified when she had to tell the man she fancied that she was stuck in her own car, but that mortification paled into insignificance when she saw Jordan Donaldson’s car drive into the lay-by.

“No, no, no,” she chanted “this cannot be happening, it can’t be him, please god don’t let it be him, that’s just not fair”

Then she saw the driver’s door open and the man himself got out and walked her way.

“Oh great my humiliation is now complete”

 

Jordan opened the driver’s door and looked in and said

“Hi I’m looking for a damsel in distress”

And after the initial hellos and the obvious question

“How on earth did you get stuck?”

Christine explained about the phone call, dropping the phone, the cloud burst, retrieving the phone, the thunderclap, and the being startled and getting her foot stuck.  

Jordan listened and nodded his understanding but at no time did he laugh or make her feel more foolish than she all ready did

“Ok let’s get you unstuck” he said “but you need to relax”

“Relax!” she snapped “Relax! How the hell can I relax when I’m stuck like this and the one person in the whole world that I very definitely would not want to see me like this is the very one who comes to my rescue”

Jordan didn’t speak, not that he could have got a word in edgeways, he was too busy digesting her comments about him and not wanting to look foolish in front of him and to his way of thinking that could mean only one thing.

“It’s so humiliating” she continued, “That’s why I’m so tense and that’s why I can’t relax”

“Well would it help if I were to ask you out to dinner after I’ve released you” he said “would that help you to relax?”

And with that it took about thirty seconds to free her foot, it seemed that once he had suggested dinner she relaxed and her foot pretty much freed itself.

 

“There you are” he said as he backed out of the driver’s door.

“Thank you Jordan” Christine said as she emerged after him and gave him a hug and then there was an awkward silence for a moment or two and then she said  

“Did you mean it about dinner?”

“Absolutely” he replied “but only if you want to”

“Oh I want to, I really want to” she said “but….”

“But?”

“I’m spending the weekend in Sharpington at my parents’ house” she said

“Well Sharpington have restaurants as well you know, in fact there is a great one called The Diamond in the Rough” Jordan said “we could go tomorrow night if you fancy it”

“I’ve heard of it, it’s very exclusive” she replied

“Is that a yes then?” he asked

“Of course it’s a yes” she replied

“Ok that’s a date, text me your parents address and I’ll pick you up at 8 o’clock” he said

“I’ll see you tomorrow then” she said “Thanks again for being my white knight”

 

She got in the car and watched him walk to his and get in and they waved to each other as he drove off and then she squealed with delight because she had a date with Jordan Donaldson.

MORE THAN ALL THE RICHES

 

More than all the riches of the earth

Or all the treasure of the deep

More than ingots from the vaults

Or jewels in the Castle’s keep

Neither polished gem nor cultured pearl

Could be held to be in compare

To the priceless nature of our love

That you and I both share

YOU MUST KNOW I LOVE YOU

 

You must know I love you

I hope I show you that I do

For the sweetest moments in my life

Are the ones I spend with you

You are my first thought

When I awake to the new day

And the last thing on my mind

At night when I drift away

 

I wish I could tell you

Of the love that’s in my heart

I want you to feel the depth of love

I’ve felt for you from the start

 

I would use sweet phrases

And sugary words of love

The sweetest ever known

Speaking of columbine and dove

 

No, the words that I must choose

Are the simplest that I can use

What I'm feeling deep inside

Is the deepest love for you