Snippets of Downshire Life – Girlfriends Forever

The traditional seaside resort of Sharpington-by-Sea, with its Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, The Palladium ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre and illuminations, has all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park and 30 something Sarah Whitmarsh lived alone in the Jubilee Court Apartments overlooking the promenade.

Although she had no man in her life she had some very good friends, and they did a lot together, but her three closest friends, sisters Rachel and Kay Wilkinson and Penny Van Der Zelden, had all recently found themselves partners, and to her immortal shame she was jealous, but she didn’t tell them that or even let it show, because her girlfriends were very important to her, and she would never do anything to jeopardize that.

One of their regular meeting places was Bizzoni's Ice Cream Parlour located by the entrance of the Pier or in the Pier Pancake Palace, which was opposite, and it was in the former on the 1^st of August when someone caught her eye.

“It can’t be” she suddenly exclaimed “it’s just not possible”

“Why can’t it?” Penny asked

“Why isn’t it possible?” Kay added

“Never mind all that” Rachel retorted “what the hell are you all talking about?”

“I’ve no idea” Penny replied

“Um” Kay said

“Very helpful” Rachel said and turned her attention to Sarah “Well?”

“I just saw Danny Butterfield” she replied vaguely

“But he went to Australia” Penny pointed out

“That’s what I thought” Sarah said

“It can’t have been him” Kay said

“Lookie-likie” Penny exclaimed

“Do what?” Kay asked “Have you got brain freeze or something”

“He must be a lookie-likie, you know a dopple thingy” she explained

“You mean a doppelgänger” Sarah said

“Yes” Penny said and smiled

“Well there’s only one way to find out” Rachel said and stood up

“What are you doing?” Sarah asked

“We’re going to find out if it’s Danny or not” she replied

“Oh, I don’t know about that” Sarah protested

“We’ve got to, he was the love of your life after all” Rachel insisted

“That was a very long time ago” Sarah said

“I know but just the possibility that it was him has made you glow” Rachel said “and that’s just on the outside, I wouldn’t like to speculate what’s going on the inside”

“Stop it” Sarah said and blushed and the other three laughed dirtily

“Oh, ok then” she conceded “You’re not going to shut up until we do”

“Good decision” she said, and they headed towards the door, all except Penny who was still sitting at the table eating her ice cream

“Come on hoover-head” Kay called

“I haven’t finished my Sundae” she retorted and shovelled down the last three spoonful’s before getting up.

 

“Ok, which way did he go?” Rachel asked

“That away” Sarah replied and pointed along the promenade

“What’s he wearing?” Kay enquired

“A blue t-shirt and navy shorts” Sarah said

“Seriously? This is Sharpington at the height of summer everyone is wearing shorts and t-shirts” Rachel said “we need more than that to go on”

“Well he’s 6ft 5” with bright red hair if that helps” she retorted

“Yes, that’s definitely better” Rachel said “right Kay shin up the lamp post and see if you can spot him” 

 

“Well?” Sarah asked after a couple of minutes had passed

“No, nothing yet… hold on though I think that might be our man, yes, yes that’s him” she announced triumphantly and began her descent.

“Are you going to share?” Sarah asked impatiently

“Yes, he’s down by the Crazy Golf” she replied smugly and then Sarah rushed passed her and they were off.

 

Daniel Butterfield was indeed the love of Sarah’s life, the one that got away, the one she let get away, but equally she was his lost love.

They began dating at college and were together all through University but after graduation he was offered a job in Melbourne, it was a great opportunity that he felt he couldn’t pass up, and he was thrilled at the prospect, and he thought she would be too, but he was wrong.

Sarah didn’t want to leave Sharpington, all the people she loved most in the world were there, and she knew no one in Australia.

So, she said she didn’t want to go, she thought that if he loved her as much as she loved him he would stay, while he thought that if she loved him as much as he loved her she would go with him.

But they both miscalculated neither would give ground, and angry words were exchanged which served to entrench them further, up to the point that they stopped talking, and he left Downshire a month later, and she hadn’t seen him since, until he walked past Bizzoni’s.

 

The girls made their way quickly through the crowds of tourists but by the time they got to the Crazy Golf he was nowhere to be seen

“Right Kay shin up the lamp post again and see if you can spot him”

“Oh ok” she sighed and started climbing and thirty seconds later she was back on terra firma and said

“Jubilee Park” 

 

Danny liked Jubilee Park, it held great memories for him and he had thought of it often when he was away, it was one of his favourite places in the whole world and although he had been there for years it hadn’t changed a bit from when he used to go fishing up at the boating lake.

But apart from the fishing, and the boating on the lake, there was a miniature railway, picnic areas and acres of grass and well-maintained gardens, and as a young man it was the place he felt most at peace and where he was often lost in dreams.

He had loved it at Jubilee Park for as long as he could remember, and the Lake was particularly special because it was where his dad taught him how to fish on the well-stocked little lake and as he got closer he could see young boys could still fish it.

Before he left for Australia some tree hugging idiot had decided to introduce Australian Black Swans to the lake and they didn’t mix with the fishermen, so the council tried to ban fishing but, in the end, they relocated the swans after one of them attacked a toddler, so the fishing survived.

 

The girls soon tracked him down and followed at a safe distance.

Sarah wasn’t entirely convinced that it was in fact Daniel Butterfield that they were following and secretly feared that they would feel extremely foolish when they realised they were stalking some random lanky ginger.

But her fears were allayed when he paused by the fountain and scanned his surroundings and she and the others got a proper look at his face.

“That’s him” Kay said

“Without a doubt” Rachel confirmed

“Oh yes” Penny agreed

“It is him” Sarah said quietly

“Well come on then let’s go and say hello” Rachel said

“That’s ok I’ve got it from here” Sarah said “You lot wait here”

 

On that warm sunny August day by Jubilee Lake Daniel made a bee line for his favourite spot on a little peninsula beneath the shade of a familiar old oak tree and he was just gazing across the lake and was enjoying the gentle breeze off the water when a soft voice from behind him said

“Hello”

He turned around to see that the voice belonged to an attractive looking woman, pretty face, blue eyes, short brown hair, 5ft 5 or 6, early thirties, nice figure, wearing a t-shirt, knee length shorts, and flip flops, whom he recognized, though that recognition left him speechless.

“I’m sorry” she said and began to walk away “You clearly don’t remember me”

“That wouldn’t be very flattering” he said “Especially after we shared our first kiss beneath this very tree”

“Ah so you do remember me” she said

“How could I forget Sarah Whitmarsh” Danny said

 

Rachel, Kay and Penny were watching events from a safe distance, but their view was obscured after the arrival of an ice cream van.

“Damn it” Rachels exclaimed

“Get up the tree Kay and have a look”

“Why do I have to do all the climbing?” she protested

“Because you look like a monkey” her sister said unsympathetically, and Penny giggled “So climb”

Once she had clambered to a sufficient height her sister called up

“Can you see anything?”

“Yes, I can see them now” she replied

“And?” Rachel snapped

“Oh my” Kay exclaimed

“Oh my?” Rachel retorted “What does that mean?”

“Oh, I wasn’t expecting that” Kay added

“What? What weren’t you expecting?” Rachel shouted

“Kissing” Kay replied

“What kind of kiss?” her sister asked

“What do you mean what kind of kiss?”

“Well was it an air kiss, a peck on the cheek, both cheeks or on the lips” Rachel explained

“Oh, I see what you mean” Kay acknowledged

“Definitely lips”

“And?” Rachel snapped

“Well I think it would be best described as a pash” she replied

“Wicked” Penny said

“And it’s still going on” Kay called

 

The Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa – Liberation Day, Channel Islands

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 one of the rooms was occupied by Paul Jansen, who was part of a wedding party and was a both a business associate of the bride’s father and a friend of the family.

The wedding reception was to be held later that day in the Ballroom, which was where he should have been, checking everything was in order but instead he used his key card to open the door to the bridal suite and as he stepped in Sophia Levitton turned and smiled at him.

“I was hoping you would come”

“I couldn’t keep away” he said

Sophia was sitting at the dressing table wearing only her white lingerie and stockings and behind her, laid out on the bed was an ivory wedding dress. 

Paul walked up behind her and looked at her beautiful reflection in the mirror and placed his hands lightly on her naked shoulders and held her gaze as he gently slipped the bra straps down her arms, and she closed her eyes as his hands journeyed down inside her lingerie.

 

Sophia collapsed onto the bed next to her wedding dress with Paul panting beside her.  

“That was so good” she sighed

“The last time as a single woman” he said and playfully slapped her buttock before starting to redress himself.

“And so much better than my first as a married woman will be” she said and rolled over onto her back.  

“You could elope with me” he said

“You know I want to” she replied

Nothing would have pleased her more than to run away and marry her lover Paul, but her father Michael would never have tolerated it, it would have never been forgiven.

He banged on endlessly about the importance of tradition and marrying within her faith and how it was imperative she went through with an arranged marriage.

She had been raised as a dutiful Jewish daughter and agreed, however reluctantly, but her heart belonged to Paul.

But she hated her father as he had proven himself to be unworthy of her loyalty, as she had discovered that the wedding was actually a business transaction and had little or nothing to do with duty, honour and faith and was more to do with being married off to the highest bidder.

“Then come with me now” he urged “We could be in Guernsey by morning”

“My father will never forgive me” she said as she sat up

“I know”

“Or you” she added

“I know, and I don’t care”

“And he will never do business with you again” she pointed out

“I only tolerate him because I love you” he said and offered her his hand, which she took

“Do you mean it?” she asked as he pulled her to her feet

“Do you doubt it?” he retorted

“Not for a moment” she replied, and they kissed

“So, are we doing this?” he asked

“Yes, but I need to change” she replied and began to undo her suspenders

“No don’t take them off, you’re going to need those?”

“Oh” she replied “So you only want me for my underwear”

“I want you under any circumstances” he corrected her “I want you in the lingerie, because it was what you were wearing the last time we made love when you were another man’s bride, and I want you to be wearing it the first time I make love to you as my bride to be”

“I want that too” she said which put a bloom on the cheeks of the blushing bride.

 

After pulling her jeans on over her white stockings and a t-shirt over her top, she threw a few essentials, and those items that were precious to her into a bag and they left the bridal suite and waited in his suite while he did the same, the rest could be collected at a later date.

They then snuck down the back stairs and out the fire escape twenty yards from where his car was parked, there were a few guests wandering the grounds, enjoying the fine weather, he didn’t recognise any of them, but he took no chances and opened the back door and Sophie slipped onto the back seat where she hid under his coat.

He got in the car and quickly checked she couldn’t be seen before he drove off.

Once they were past the milling guests and through the village she was able to sit up.

He pulled into a layby and she got in the passenger seat and buckled up and they set off again.

He phoned the Hotel manager, Hannah Morgan, on route to Grace Hill airfield, where he kept a twin-engine Cessna, and explained his rushed departure, and settled his bill and instructed her regarding his luggage.

“They’ve noticed you’ve gone” he said when he disconnected

“And your Dad is seriously pissed off”

“Good” she said

 

“Last chance to turn back” he said as they sat in the plane taxiing on to the runway

“I don’t need another chance, I’ve made my decision” she said and looked at him “And I know it’s the right one and I never want to go back”

The Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa – Bookworms

The Clerembeax’s 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.

He had lived alone, apart from a butler and a cook, for 50 years after the tragic deaths of his two sons in the hedonistic sixties as a result of an excess of drugs and alcohol.

His wife chose to deal with the loss by taking her own life the day after the funeral while Marcus decided his best course of action was to turn his back on the world and hide himself away.  

Following his death in the autumn of 2015, with no direct heirs it took the Clerembeax solicitors, Beaumont, Villiers and Goodfellow, more than a year to find a legitimate Heir to inherit the estate, and that was 50 year old distant cousin Yvonne Labuschagne, and she took up residence in the January of 2017.

She was by profession a masseuse and had worked for many years along with her late husband at the Dancingdean Spa Hotel in Childean.

But with her inheritance she had the means and the venue to open her own Spa at the Clerembeax Palace but the house needed work.

The exterior was fine as the reclusive Marcus had been sensible enough to keep the fabric of the building well maintained.

She wasn’t sure about keeping the word “Palace” in the name because the building didn’t really look very palatial, mainly due to the fact that the original Clerembeax Palace burned down in the 19^th century so the present manifestation was in fact a rather gaudy Victorian monstrosity in comparison, though it was not without its charms.

The interior had stood the test of time far less well and needed at the very least a lot of TLC.

The 19^th century plumbing certainly wouldn’t stand the rigors of a 21^st century Spa and the electrics needed a complete rewire.

While the Library was both a blessing and a curse, the latter because it took up so much space and the former because it was full of valuable old books, which was where Jennifer Bardsley and Paige Turners came in.

Her skill at seeking out the illusive and the obscure meant that Paige Turners were the “go to” people if you wanted something different, special or that which had eluded you.

So it was in her role as book expert extraordinaire that she was the first guest to stay at the Clerembeax, albeit a nonpaying one, while she catalogued the books and documents in the Library.  

When she had completed her cataloguing and appraisal of the Library she gave Yvonne a ball park figure of what she might expect at auction from the rarest volumes and she nearly fainted.

The understanding when Paige Turners undertook the appraisal was that they would have first refusal on the contents at the market value but they recommended O’Sullivan and Springthorpe to sell the really valuable items at auction and Paige Turners would take a small commission.

 

Fifty-year-old Yvonne was a small dark-haired woman who had maintained her figure well over the years, and was widely considered to be attractive, but despite that she was on her own since her husband’s early death, and it was the one regret she had in her life, however she hoped that would change when the Spa was up and running.

But as part of the process Jennifer Bardsley introduced her to Account Manager, Gareth Fackrell from Paige Turners, who was handling the sale of the books through O’Sullivan and Springthorpe, and they got to spend quite a lot of time with each other, which suited Yvonne down to the ground.

The initial meetings took place at Paige Turners offices in Mornington, which Yvonne referred to as the “Bookworms”, but most of the times they met subsequently they were in coffee shops or pub restaurants, but she for one always looked forward to those meetings.

But as pleasant as those occasions were, there was never any breakdown of the client/account manager relationship.

However their final meeting was at the “Palace” on the eve of World Book Day, it was an impromptu meeting, called at short notice by Gareth, and despite the fact that their relationship had never been anything other than professional she still dressed up for the meeting.

 

“Gareth” Yvonne said and kissed his cheek “Come through to the kitchen”

“Hello Yvonne, sorry for the hastily arranged meeting but I have something I think you’ll be really happy to see”

“Really? I’m intrigued” she said and turned to face him.

“I have here” he said opening his brief case and taking out a document and putting it on the table, “the latest balance sheet including all of February sales, which equates to 80 percent of the contents of your library to date”

“What am I looking at?” she asked as she perused the balance sheet

“Well this is the crucial number” he said pointing it out.

“Ok, but what does it mean?”

“That is the total figure for book sales, less auctioneers fees and Paige Turners commission, that’s what it means”

“What?” she exclaimed “That’s… mine?”

“Yes every penny” he replied

“My God I didn’t realise there were so many Book Worms in the World” she said and then she began to jump up and down, squealing with delight, and then she threw her arms around Gareth and kissed him.

Which initially took him by surprise but he soon gathered himself and joined in, and as it was the first time she’d kissed a man other than her husband since she was at University, as well as being the first since her husbands died, it was one hell of a kiss.

Snippets of Downshire Life – Out of Left Field

George had been away on an outward-bound course, one of those team building kind of affairs, and the first thing he did on returning home was to sit on his sofa and wade through the emails that had accumulated.

Most of them were of no importance so they went straight into trash, the rest comprised of a number from Gayle Lindon, from the office, gently reminding him that he hadn’t submitted his expenses lately.

He had always found her to be an attractive woman but a bit too forceful and a bit bossy.

Luckily before leaving for the Pepperstock National Park, “for team bonding”, he managed to get ahead of the curve and got most of his receipts entered so it only took some little time for him to get them up to date and fire them off to her, which he hoped, would keep her quiet for a week or two at least.

 

Once he had finished all his correspondence, his thoughts returned to Geraldine, as they had for most of his time away.

During his enforced isolation, with no access to technology or communication devices, he had a lot of time to think, and most of those thoughts were about Geraldine, and on his return to civilization he was eager to speak with her but he wasn’t getting any response on her mobile so he phoned her office the next morning and asked to speak with her and was informed by Miranda, an unhelpful receptionist, that she was not available, so he was about to leave a message for her to call him but instead he asked

“Is her brother Danny available?”

It turned out that he was, as his was the next voice he heard 

“Danny speaking”

“Hi Dan, its George” he said

“Hi George, how are things?” he asked

“Not bad” he replied “Listen I’m trying to get hold of Gerry”

“She unexpectedly had to fly to the States on Saturday morning” he responded “And she’s staying over there for Thanksgiving”

“Damn” he cursed

“Anything I can help with?” he asked

“Not really” he said, “It’s a question only she can answer”

“Well I’m sure she will if she can,” he said “I’ll get her to call you”

And he had to leave it at that.

 

It was much later that day when he received a call.

“George” she said brightly “Sorry it’s taken so long to get back to you, but the time difference really messes with my head”

“That’s ok” he lied, but it was so good to hear her voice

“I was just hoping we could get together”

“I would like that”

“Ok great” he said “when?”

“Well I get back in late on Friday which means on Saturday I’m going to be an absolute cabbage so how about Sunday” she suggested

“How about lunch maybe, but just you and me”

“Definitely” he replied “phone me with the where and when”

 

He was disappointed initially with not being able to say all the things that he wanted to say to her, all the things that he had been dying to say since the team bonding exercise when it dawned on him that he was in love with her, and that came right out of left field.

But that upset was more than offset by her proviso in reference to lunch when she added “But just you and me”

So, he was elated, but the only downside was that he had to wait a for a week before he could see her, but at least they could skype, so he had something to be thankful for.

Snippets of Downshire Life – The Old Flame

Owen Conway had been in Abbottsford for a business meeting and after a fruitful meeting and an exceptionally nice meal, and it was about six o’clock when he decided to make a move, so he said his goodbyes and headed off to catch his train.

It was snowing heavily and when he reached the station he found that no trains were running, so he tried the taxi rank but there were no cabs to be found.

After checking the bus terminal, he decided to abandon any hope of transport and turned his attention to finding a bed for the night and rushed off in the direction of the nearest hotel.

The snow was falling faster than ever as he pressed on into the teeth of the blizzard with his head down and was concentrating hard to keep his feet when he was hit on his left side hard enough to put him on the ground. 

He was winded by the fall and ended up on his back looking up at a small figure wrapped up against the weather.

“Are you ok?” the figure said, her voice muffled by her scarf “Are you hurt?”

“Just my pride” he said as he scrambled ungainly to his feet

“I’m so sorry” the muffled voice said

“That’s ok, no harm done” he said as he brushed the snow off himself and his small assailant assisted him in the cleanup and generally fussed around him.

 

When his assailant was content that he was presentable again they continued their previous paths and found that they were bound for the same destination, as the two of them were both had their hands on front door of the Unicorn Inn Express.       

Once they were inside he looked closely at the small figure wrapped up against the weather with melting snow on their shoulders.

Only their eyes and nose were visible between the wool hat and matching scarf and given their stature and their dazzling eyes he was sure it was a woman and his suspicions were soon confirmed when she loosened the scarf and exposed her smiling face, and it was no ordinary smiling face, and no ordinary woman, it was Yvonne Carpenter, who was not only one of the participants of the fruitful meeting he had had earlier, she was also an old flame and seeing her again was one of the most fruitful moments of his life since they broke up, and judging by her smile it seemed as if it had been for her too.

“Hello” he said and returned her smile and then they went to the reception desk.

“Good evening” the receptionist said, “Do you have a reservation?”

“No, I’m afraid not” he said

“Then I’m afraid it’s a case of Hobsons Choice” the receptionist said “As there is only one room available”

This announcement left him in something of a quandary, should he claim the room because he got there first, or should he do the noble thing, the gallant thing, and let her take the room, because he was a gentleman.

“We’ll take it” she announced and that night while the snow fell heavily on Abbottsford Owen and Carrie felt the warmth of the glowing embers of their former love and rekindled the old flame that had never died.