(Part 01)
Tommy Weir’s cab arrived back at the Tipton Country Park Hotel in the North Downshire village of Tipton just as the snow began to fall again.
He paid the driver and then he and Danny walked into the plush panelled lobby of the hotel.
It had been a really nice evening out, a phenomenal meal and good company.
There were forty of them at the restaurant, colleagues from all over Europe some of them were strangers, some were close friends and some of them more so.
“Night cap?” Tommy asked
“No thanks’ mate I’m on the red eye in the morning” Danny replied.
Tommy looked at his watch and saw it was already morning.
“I’ll say goodnight then” he said and they shook hands and Danny headed for the desk.
Tom was definitely up for one, so he headed for the bar.
There were only a handful of people in there at that hour and as he caught the night porter’s eye he said “Southern Comfort please, a large one”
“Make that two” a voice said from behind him.
He recognised the voice immediately, those wonderful plummy tones were acutely familiar to him, perfect English, each vowel dripping with sexuality, so he said to the barman “Two”
Then he turned around and looked at the woman who had been the object of his lust for nine months and an unrequited love for three of those and very much requited for another three of them.
Justine Khan was his older woman, his cougar to use the modern parlance.
She was a few months on the wrong side of fifty but still beautiful in his eyes even though he was fifteen years younger.
Justine and Tommy had shared an office at Brocklington Broadcast International for over a year, and at first he loathed her, he thought she was vain, overbearing and manipulative and her opinion of him was much the same.
They even lived in the same village, Dulcet St Mary and attended the same church, St Mary of Bethany.
They sang in the same choir and sat on the same committees so there was no escape for him from the bloody woman.
But as the weeks changed into months his feelings for her changed with them.
Justine had an Egyptian father and an English mother which left her with a dark complexion and western features.
She was an exotic looking woman with jet black hair and large brown eyes.
Justine was a tall woman, slender and very well endowed with legs to die for.
He would surreptitiously watch her move around the office on her shapely legs, admiring the tightness of her skirt around her hips and buttocks as she bent.
And when she was sat at her desk his eyes would stray to her gaping blouse and the treasures contained within.
But it wasn’t until a grey overcast day in June, on an office beano to Epsom Downs that they showed each other in no uncertain terms how they felt, when as the Derby favourites thundered towards the finish line Justine and Tommy, away from prying eyes, kissed for the first time.
And as they kissed he unzipped her leather jacket and slipped his hands inside her shirt to caress her naked skin.
(Part 02)
Over the weeks that followed that first kiss on the racecourse, so did more sensual moments of intimacy, but they were really only tasters of what the two of them truly desired.
They had tried on several occasions to engineer an opportunity to take their burgeoning relationship to the next level.
One such opportunity was a three day trip to visit suppliers, which they got rubber stamped by management and booked appointments and hotels and they were feeling very pleased with themselves for their lustful scheming.
However an unseen hand dealt them a bitter blow when Justine went down with laryngitis.
Afterwards they tried to just arrange a simple dirty weekend away, Abbotsford, Abbeyvale, Applesford and even other places that didn’t begin with the letter A.
They even devised an intricate scenario for the benefit of Justine’s husband, Sammi, which he swallowed hook, line and sinker but then that failed at the eleventh hour when Tommy broke his wrist.
However even though it seemed like the fates were against them they decided they should have one last role of the dice.
So it was at the Brocklington Broadcast International Christmas Party weekend in Tipton that they planned to finally consummate their lust.
They had been out to a restaurant in Roespring called The Old School House and they had spent the evening sitting at the same table during the dinner, discreetly holding hands under the table, but as they left at the end of the evening they got separated and ended up in different cabs.
Tommy obviously thought that fate had interceded once again and their last chance had gone.
He supposed that it would be more devastating to him than to her because although he was single man, Justine was a married woman, which meant that for her there was some guilt involved, even if her husband Sammi was a complete waste of space.
But despite any perceived guilt Tommy was delighted to find Justine was waiting for him in the bar when he got back to the hotel.
He hadn’t taken into account that she would want it as bad as he did.
They sat in the corner of the bar and finished their drink.
“Another?” he asked
“I don’t think so” Justine said sharply and stood up, took his hand and dragged him to his feet.
“Let’s have the next one in my room” she said and led him by the hand through the plush reception area, with its brass fittings and oak wood paneling and green leather upholstery, up to the reception desk and collected their room keys.
With the key cards in hand Justine hurried him along the corridor and her wonderful plummy tones accompanied him all the way down the corridor until they finally arrived at their destination which was Justine’s room where they stood in the corridor and kissed.
At first it was the usual semi controlled kissing they had done so many times before but it quickly became hot and passionate as his hand sought out her breast, which was when she broke away and opened the door.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked
“God yes” Justine replied and pulled him into the room.
(Part 03)
Once inside the room he was eager to get started again and immediately tried to get inside her clothes.
Justine however put a stop to things and said
“Not so fast, I want everything to be just so”
“Sorry” he responded not quite sure what “just so” was.
But he needn’t have worried as it seemed that she wanted to amongst other things get the lighting right.
She was conscious of the age difference between them and didn’t want him to be disappointed with what she had to offer, because as a much younger man she thought he would have been more used to firmer flesh.
He wasn’t concerned with that what he felt for her had gone way beyond simple physical attraction so she really didn’t have to worry.
While she set the scene he was sent into the bathroom and while he was in there he thought it prudent to relieve himself while he had the opportunity.
However such a natural function normally simply rendered, is much more complicated when you are seriously aroused.
It necessitates adopting the posture of a ski jumper and even then it’s not always successful.
When he left the bathroom he found the room lighting very subdued and Justine wearing only a smile and a pair of white lace knickers showing in stark contrast against the gorgeous dark flesh.
“Are you disappointed?” She asked
“You’re even more gorgeous than I had hoped” he replied.
Justine had one arm draped across her breasts
“Good answer” she said as she walked towards him and lowered her arm at the last second and he got his first long lingering look at her large round breast that he had only previously dreamed of and then she was in his arms and began undressing him.
As they lay entwined in the afterglow, still breathing hard from their exertions.
Justine rested her head on his chest and sighed as he reflected that making love with her was everything he had hoped it would be and more and then they drifted off into a sweet post coital sleep.
After a short sleep he was awoken by Justine tenderly kissing his neck as her hand strove to awaken the rest of him and when all of him was fully awake they made love again.
The next day when the rest of their colleagues returned to their homes or in some cases their home countries Justine and Tommy put into effect their plan to stay on for another night and repeated the joyful pleasure of each other again and again.
Tommy would have gladly continued their unions well into the New Year but alas before the protracted Christmas break Justine dropped a bombshell on him when she took him to one side and to his great surprise ended the affair.
“But I love you” he said
“And I love you” Justine concurred
“Then why?” Tommy asked
“It has to end, not because I don’t love you” she said “But because despite everything I still love my husband, and I can’t cheat on him anymore”
(Part 04)
He didn’t take the news well and for the week between Justine dropping her bombshell and the office closing for Christmas he barely spoke a word to her and when the office closed for the Christmas break he left without saying goodbye, it was just too painful for him.
On Christmas Eve he spent the day laying on the sofa watching sentimental movies and eating comfort food.
However come the evening he snapped out of his torpor and walked through the snow to church.
As usual St Mary of Bethany was well attended for Midnight Mass, despite the bitter cold and everyone in attendance thoroughly enjoyed the service.
After the mass was over everyone gathered at the rear of the church and shared the peace which was when he saw her.
Tommy tried to get to the door but Justine anticipated his move and intercepted him.
“Happy Christmas Tommy” she said and then hugged him.
“I miss you” she whispered
“Me too” he replied as he hugged her.
After the hug Justine turned to leave and Tommy said
“Happy Christmas Justine”
She smiled and went home, to her husband and he went home alone.
Christmas morning began with a frosty glaze decorating the rooftops and lightly dusting the evergreens and then as the bells rang out to celebrate the birth of the Lord the joyous faithful arrived under a clear blue sky and the winter sun glistened on the layer of frost coating the previous day’s snow.
It was a most glorious Christmas morning and Tommy’s spirits were high.
Much higher than they had been for over a week.
He met Justine outside St Mary’s which raised his spirits even higher and he kissed her on each cheek in the sunshine before they went inside to join the rest of the congregation.
It was an excellent service with the Vicar at his very best.
Afterwards it took some while for the Church to empty as everyone wanted to share their best wishes with the Vicar and he was clearly getting over come with all the attention.
After he left the church and said his goodbyes he smiled at Justine and watched her walk away and then he spent the rest of the day missing her.
In the days preceding Christmas, Tommy had been inundated with invitations to share Christmas dinner and as usual he was quite overwhelmed by people’s kindness.
In the end he accepted his next door neighbour’s, the Daly’s, invitation and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas lunch with Victoria and Owen, where he ate too much, drank too much and left just before he over stayed his welcome and returned home very late that evening.
And although he was full of spirits from the Daly’s drinks cabinet his spirits were quiet low as he was alone.
And all that night his dreams were full of Justine and she was saying
“We have to end it”
“But I love you” he said
“And I love you” Justine concurred “But I can’t cheat on him anymore”
(Part 05)
On Boxing Day he spent much of the day in the Cross Keys and when he eventually got himself home it was dark.
He went in and switched the lights on and he had been home for about half an hour before he fell asleep in his armchair and was woken about an hour later by a loud banging on the front door.
So he dragged himself up from his comfortable chair and dragged himself to the door and opened it.
“Hello Tommy” Justine said
“Hi” he said groggily, not really believing it was her.
“Can I come in?” she asked with a shiver
“Of course, sorry, come in” he said
She pulled off her gloves and stuffed them in her pocket before slipping her boots off and then handed him her hat, coat and scarf.
Justine sat down on the sofa as far from his chair as it was possible to get and perched herself on the edge of the seat nervously.
She wasn’t glammed up like usual, there were no designer clothes, no silk blouse, no tailored skirt or expensive patterned tights and overpriced shoes.
She had wellingtons on her feet when she stepped in the house and as she sat on his sofa she had Tigger socks on her feet and wore loose fitting trousers and a baggy sweater.
“Do you love me?” she said suddenly
“You know that I do” he replied
“Yes but do you really love me, or is it just an infatuation?” She asked
“Do you love me, warts and all, and not just in a sympathetically lit hotel room, or when I’m dressed up to the nines, would you love me looking like this?”
“I love you with all my heart” he replied
“But only enough to have an affair with me” she said coldly
“That was all that was on offer” he pointed out
“But you would be content to continue with that though wouldn’t you?” she asked
“Only if it was that or nothing” he said
“I thought so” she retorted
“No you don’t understand, I want us to be together” he said “All the time, not just when we can connive and scheme for a stolen hour together or a dirty weekend”
“What do you mean?” Justine asked
“I want you to leave Sammi and be with me”
“Do you really mean that?” she asked with tears welling up in her eyes “You’re not just saying it, to get me into bed?”
“No of course not” he said and knelt beside her and held her hands.
“What about the age difference?” she asked “I was fifteen years of age when you were born, you are a young man”
“You say that like its news to me” she replied “I know you’re 15 years older me and I don’t care”
Tommy put his arms around her and just held her for the next five minutes.
“You may not still think that when you hear what I have to tell you” she said as she straightened up and looked at his face.
“Nothing you could possibly say could change the way I feel” he said confidently
“Don’t be so sure” Justine retorted
“I mean what I say” Tommy reiterated and then he watched the woman he loved take a deep breath before she spoke.
“I have left him” she said and his face immediately betrayed his true feelings for her and she gasped when she saw the look of joy on his face.
“You really do love me, for me” she said
By New Year’s Day everyone in the village knew they were a couple and they were a cause célèbre for a while but once Sammi had moved away and her house was sold things settled down and by the following Christmas no one gave them a second thought, which suited them down to the ground.
The Christmas after that they celebrated as a married couple.
Sunday 12 February 2017
Tuesday 7 February 2017
Mornington-By-Mere – (25) The Santa Express
(Part 01)
Mornington-By-Mere, is a small country village lying in the Finchbottom Vale nestled between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest and the rolling Pepperstock Hills.
A quaint picturesque village, a chocolate box picturesque idyll, with a Manor House, 12th Century Church, a Coaching Inn, Windmills, an Old Forge, a Schoolhouse, a River and a Mere.
But it wasn’t just a quaint chocolate box English Village it was the beating heart of the Finchbottom Vale.
And although the village was the hub it was the surrounding farms and hamlets that were its life blood.
One such Farm was Manor Farm on the Western side of the village.
The Hargrave family had farmed the land at Manor Farm since the days when Napoleon was still a Corporal and they were showing no signs of bucking that trend.
The head of the Hargrave’s was Bruce though he leant heavily on his wife Karen.
They were in their mid-fifties and were looking forward to many more years at the helm.
There were three children the eldest at 32 was Mandy who along with her husband Jason McCabe had produced the first grandchild.
The second child was Norman who was two years younger than his sister and two years younger still was Michael and neither of them showed any sign of producing a little Hargrave.
Michael was a serious farmer, and a good one at that, but there was more to him than just farming.
Michael was very active in the church, at St Winfred’s as well as farther afield.
This involved among other things, being a greeter at the church services, delivering Parish Magazines, helping at the Christmas Bazaar, you name it and he did it and that was only in the village.
His wider good works included the Soup Kitchens in Finchbottom or Purplemere, who were always desperate for volunteers.
The Christmas Charity Wagon in Sharpington, which was an old Mornington Brewery dray pulled by two white shire horses.
The whole thing was bedecked with tinsel and lights and carried on the back a multi denominational choir.
Michael was not however among those going from door to door, as the wagon drove around the town, collecting donations in plastic buckets and handing out sweets to the excited children, no he was in the choir because he had the voice of an angel.
He was also volunteered for the Roving Angels which had been in existence for about two years and was similar to the Street Angels, Street Pastors and other groups that had sprung up all across the UK in the previous 12 or 15 years.
They had made a really positive impact on crime and antisocial behaviour in Finchbottom and Purplemere town centres over the first two years, particularly in the general vicinity of the bars and clubs.
They provide a calming presence on the streets late at night in situations where a police uniform might have the opposite effect.
In the two years since they began Roving Angels had contributed to a 29% fall in public place violence on the weekends.
It all began when Christian Churches in the area came together with the Police and the Borough Council’s to establish the Angels.
But it took people of Faith to make it work as with so many things in life.
Michael had been with them since the beginning.
But one of his favourite good deeds was to help out on the Santa Express, which was something to behold, and he loved it because it reminded him of his childhood.
(Part 02)
The Boddingtons were pig farmers at Saddleback Farm near the hamlet of Fallowacres, which was as near as damn it the center point of the Vale, though only geographically.
But they also had a number of butcher’s shops in and around the Vale.
The Mornington Estate heavily subsidised the businesses in the village among them were a General Store, Farm Shop, Bakers and of course a Boddington’s Butchers Shop.
It was only a small shop located on the River Brooke side of The Street next to Addison’s Baker’s.
As a result of it being a small shop located in a small village it hadn’t had a full time butcher since before RAF Mornington was mothballed at the end of the 90s.
However when the Mornington Estate exercised its option to purchase Mornington Field back from the MOD it also acquired all the buildings and infrastructure on the airfield itself as well as 29 houses in the village formally used as quarters for military personnel.
Once plans were drawn up to optimize the newly acquired assets and more people moved to the village all the businesses benefitted.
So everyone in the family did a stint in Mornington but no one wanted to make it permanent.
Eleanor Boddington was approaching her twenty fifth birthday and she was fed up with not having proper roots.
The longest she had in one place was a two year stint at the shop in Childean, which ended in disaster when her ex-boyfriend wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Since then she had been like a nomad, she would love to settle in Mornington with a particular farmer she was keen on, providing she could get him to notice her.
Which shouldn’t have been as difficult as it was proving to be. she was a typical Boddington, good looking, thick black curly hair and wild gypsy eyes and she flirted with him for all her worth.
Over the last few years she had had a lot of dealings with Manor Farm because they were a heritage farm and as well as breeding more exotic animals like llamas and ostrich, the farm produced quality meat.
And it was during her dealings with Manor Farm that she first met Michael Hargrave.
She liked that he was a tall man with broad shoulders and hands like shovels.
Ellie also liked his short brown hair, neatly trimmed beard and thick rimmed glasses.
But the things she loved the most about him were his hazel eyes and his infectious laugh.
He seemed to enjoy their conversations which were lengthy and diverse and she learned a lot about him and his interests.
And she admired him very much for all his voluntary work and she suggested she might join him some time but nothing ever came of it.
Until December came around and he suggested she join him on the Santa Express.
He had resisted previously because he wasn’t sure she genuinely wanted to help he thought her interest might be purely superficial.
“So if you’re really interested” he said “I will pick you up outside the shop at 1 o’clock on Wednesday”
“I’ll be there” she promised
(Part 03)
The Santa Express was a renovated steam engine and coaches, which ran from Sharping St Mary station to a secret location where Santa was waiting in his grotto.
It picked up the local children and their parents late afternoon so that they arrived at the grotto in darkness in order to make the most of the spectacular lights.
It was one of the high points of his year, he well remembered his parents taking him when he was a young lad and he liked to see other the kids as excited as he used to be at their age.
On Wednesday afternoon Eleanor was standing outside Boddington’s at 1 o’clock as promised and they talked the whole way as they drove to Sharping St Mary and when they got there the kids were going crazy with excitement and the excitement was quite infectious.
But Michael’s job on the trip was to make sure none of the over excited little darlings fell off the train.
John Cooper and his sister Lyndsey, and Bizzie Lizzie Florist Michelle Norman among others from the village were also present and at one point Michele managed to trap him between the carriages armed with a bunch of mistletoe and only when she had satisfied herself in the pagan ritual did she let him go.
Eleanor witnessed the kiss and she was not at all happy about it but she did enjoy the day as a whole.
Now if the kids were excited on the way to the grotto then judging by the decibel level they were even more so on the way back to the station.
When they disembarked and the children and their parents made their way home Michele Norman kissed Michaels cheek and said goodbye and then Michael and Eleanor went back to his car.
On the journey back to Mornington Eleanor barely spoke because she was sulking about all the kissing.
Back in Mornington he drove into Military Row and dropped her off outside number 7.
“Well did you enjoy the day?” he asked
“Most of it” she replied, kissed his cheek and got out of the car.
He had never believed in love at first sight or in soul mates he thought them rather fanciful notions the stuff of romantic fiction and sentimental movies.
That was until he met Eleanor and he was instantly smitten, and he thought she may have felt the same.
Even his mother had noticed and after she had seen them together she said
“You two are like two halves of a different whole, and that each of them was the missing piece in the others puzzle”
It wasn’t many months before when his mum was nagging him about getting a wife he had said
“I’m not looking for a life partner” well he thought he may have found one whether he was looking or not.
But after the Santa Express experience he was beginning to think he and his mother had misread the situation and over the following week that feeling was reinforced as she appeared to be avoiding him.
(Part 04)
On Christmas Eve local Vet Hayley Gwilym was at Manor Farm to look at a sick Lama and she happened to mention that her retired mentor Robin Jeffrey had been bending her ear all morning.
And during her visit she asked Michael if he would pop up to Dulcets Mill because he couldn’t get the web cam to work and he needed it functioning for Christmas Day so he could skype his kids and grandchildren.
They both knew it probably meant that he had disabled it by accident but she had tried to explain over the phone and failed miserably, she would have gone up to see him, but she had an extraordinarily long list of calls so she pleaded with him to go in her stead.
So later that afternoon he had to go out in the cold and trudge across the village through the snow just to tick a box.
As he suspected Robin had accidentally disabled the web cam so he worked his magic and went back out into the cold night and by the time he got to the road it had started snowing again and by the time he reached the Close it was coming down hard and fast.
In fact it was coming down so rapidly that visibility was reduced to zero.
It was so disorienting that he couldn’t have even found his way back to Robin’s despite being no more than 15 minutes away from Dulcets Mill.
So he inched his way along the footpath tucking up close to hedges, picket fences and garden walls so he didn’t wander off course.
When he reached the end of a row of houses he had to take a leap of faith, as he couldn’t see the other side of the road.
As he trudged onward he realised he had gone off course because he hadn’t reached the other side.
He had no idea how far he had gone as he had no point of reference, so he decided the best course of action was to veer left to try and find the footpath again.
Unfortunately he had no idea how far left to go or for that matter how far left he had already gone.
Michael was just beginning to panic when he tripped on a kerbstone and crashed into another lost soul and they fell to the floor in an untidy heap.
(Part 05)
When he had scrambled to his feet he found he was outside Boddington’s
“I’m saved” he thought as he envisaged taking refuge in the shop until the snow abated, but first he had to help the other poor customer he had left prostrate on the snowy ground.
“I’m so sorry” he said as he grabbed a handful of coat and pulled the stricken body to its feet.
The individual muttered incoherently under their breath as they brushed themselves off and he got the impression his apology was not accepted.
And when they began to turn in his direction he was bracing himself for a volley of abuse but to his great surprise he found the previously stricken figure to be Eleanor Boddington and the muttering scowling indignant face instantly changed to a beaming smile when she recognized the face of her assailant.
“Michael” she said excitedly then cautiously gave a long look in the direction of the shop doorway then in a quieter voice she continued
“I didn’t know it was you”
“Are you ok?” he asked
“I am now” she replied and glanced again at the door
He looked her up and down and realised why he hadn’t recognized her before, she was dressed in heavy duty winter clothes.
Her lovely thick black curls were completely covered by a red woolly hat, her dainty feet were in wellies and her slender figure was concealed by a puffer jacket.
She was still looking anxiously towards the shop doorway and then impulsively she steered him around the side of the building and kissed him as the snow fell steadily on them, which he reciprocated.
After a minute of mutually beneficial passion he said
“Does this mean you’re talking to me again?”
“That depends” she said enigmatically
“On what?”
“On whether you go around kissing Michelle Norman every five minutes or not” she said
“I see, you are referring to the mistletoe kiss on the train”
“I didn’t see any mistletoe” Eleanor said
“So you thought it was just a snog?” he asked
“Yes” she replied and looked down at her feet.
Michael lifted her chin so he could see her eyes and then he kissed her.
It was less prolonged than the first however because a voice called from the shop doorway
“Ellie?”
So Michael released her reluctantly and she called.
“I’ll be there in a moment Dad”
“I have to go” she said and kissed him again
“Perhaps we can pick it up again later” he said
“We’re going to Fallowacres”
“How long for?” he asked
“Until the New Year” she replied
“In which case I’m going to need another kiss before you go” Michael said and then they kissed one last time
“Happy Christmas Ellie” he said
“Happy Christmas” she echoed and she paused by the door and added
“I’ll bring you a present”
“You’re the only present I want” he said and she ran straight back into his arms.
Michael watched as they drove away from the shop and then turned around and continued his journey home as the snow abated.
And he spent all that Christmas looking forward to the New Year.
Mornington-By-Mere, is a small country village lying in the Finchbottom Vale nestled between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest and the rolling Pepperstock Hills.
A quaint picturesque village, a chocolate box picturesque idyll, with a Manor House, 12th Century Church, a Coaching Inn, Windmills, an Old Forge, a Schoolhouse, a River and a Mere.
But it wasn’t just a quaint chocolate box English Village it was the beating heart of the Finchbottom Vale.
And although the village was the hub it was the surrounding farms and hamlets that were its life blood.
One such Farm was Manor Farm on the Western side of the village.
The Hargrave family had farmed the land at Manor Farm since the days when Napoleon was still a Corporal and they were showing no signs of bucking that trend.
The head of the Hargrave’s was Bruce though he leant heavily on his wife Karen.
They were in their mid-fifties and were looking forward to many more years at the helm.
There were three children the eldest at 32 was Mandy who along with her husband Jason McCabe had produced the first grandchild.
The second child was Norman who was two years younger than his sister and two years younger still was Michael and neither of them showed any sign of producing a little Hargrave.
Michael was a serious farmer, and a good one at that, but there was more to him than just farming.
Michael was very active in the church, at St Winfred’s as well as farther afield.
This involved among other things, being a greeter at the church services, delivering Parish Magazines, helping at the Christmas Bazaar, you name it and he did it and that was only in the village.
His wider good works included the Soup Kitchens in Finchbottom or Purplemere, who were always desperate for volunteers.
The Christmas Charity Wagon in Sharpington, which was an old Mornington Brewery dray pulled by two white shire horses.
The whole thing was bedecked with tinsel and lights and carried on the back a multi denominational choir.
Michael was not however among those going from door to door, as the wagon drove around the town, collecting donations in plastic buckets and handing out sweets to the excited children, no he was in the choir because he had the voice of an angel.
He was also volunteered for the Roving Angels which had been in existence for about two years and was similar to the Street Angels, Street Pastors and other groups that had sprung up all across the UK in the previous 12 or 15 years.
They had made a really positive impact on crime and antisocial behaviour in Finchbottom and Purplemere town centres over the first two years, particularly in the general vicinity of the bars and clubs.
They provide a calming presence on the streets late at night in situations where a police uniform might have the opposite effect.
In the two years since they began Roving Angels had contributed to a 29% fall in public place violence on the weekends.
It all began when Christian Churches in the area came together with the Police and the Borough Council’s to establish the Angels.
But it took people of Faith to make it work as with so many things in life.
Michael had been with them since the beginning.
But one of his favourite good deeds was to help out on the Santa Express, which was something to behold, and he loved it because it reminded him of his childhood.
(Part 02)
The Boddingtons were pig farmers at Saddleback Farm near the hamlet of Fallowacres, which was as near as damn it the center point of the Vale, though only geographically.
But they also had a number of butcher’s shops in and around the Vale.
The Mornington Estate heavily subsidised the businesses in the village among them were a General Store, Farm Shop, Bakers and of course a Boddington’s Butchers Shop.
It was only a small shop located on the River Brooke side of The Street next to Addison’s Baker’s.
As a result of it being a small shop located in a small village it hadn’t had a full time butcher since before RAF Mornington was mothballed at the end of the 90s.
However when the Mornington Estate exercised its option to purchase Mornington Field back from the MOD it also acquired all the buildings and infrastructure on the airfield itself as well as 29 houses in the village formally used as quarters for military personnel.
Once plans were drawn up to optimize the newly acquired assets and more people moved to the village all the businesses benefitted.
So everyone in the family did a stint in Mornington but no one wanted to make it permanent.
Eleanor Boddington was approaching her twenty fifth birthday and she was fed up with not having proper roots.
The longest she had in one place was a two year stint at the shop in Childean, which ended in disaster when her ex-boyfriend wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Since then she had been like a nomad, she would love to settle in Mornington with a particular farmer she was keen on, providing she could get him to notice her.
Which shouldn’t have been as difficult as it was proving to be. she was a typical Boddington, good looking, thick black curly hair and wild gypsy eyes and she flirted with him for all her worth.
Over the last few years she had had a lot of dealings with Manor Farm because they were a heritage farm and as well as breeding more exotic animals like llamas and ostrich, the farm produced quality meat.
And it was during her dealings with Manor Farm that she first met Michael Hargrave.
She liked that he was a tall man with broad shoulders and hands like shovels.
Ellie also liked his short brown hair, neatly trimmed beard and thick rimmed glasses.
But the things she loved the most about him were his hazel eyes and his infectious laugh.
He seemed to enjoy their conversations which were lengthy and diverse and she learned a lot about him and his interests.
And she admired him very much for all his voluntary work and she suggested she might join him some time but nothing ever came of it.
Until December came around and he suggested she join him on the Santa Express.
He had resisted previously because he wasn’t sure she genuinely wanted to help he thought her interest might be purely superficial.
“So if you’re really interested” he said “I will pick you up outside the shop at 1 o’clock on Wednesday”
“I’ll be there” she promised
(Part 03)
The Santa Express was a renovated steam engine and coaches, which ran from Sharping St Mary station to a secret location where Santa was waiting in his grotto.
It picked up the local children and their parents late afternoon so that they arrived at the grotto in darkness in order to make the most of the spectacular lights.
It was one of the high points of his year, he well remembered his parents taking him when he was a young lad and he liked to see other the kids as excited as he used to be at their age.
On Wednesday afternoon Eleanor was standing outside Boddington’s at 1 o’clock as promised and they talked the whole way as they drove to Sharping St Mary and when they got there the kids were going crazy with excitement and the excitement was quite infectious.
But Michael’s job on the trip was to make sure none of the over excited little darlings fell off the train.
John Cooper and his sister Lyndsey, and Bizzie Lizzie Florist Michelle Norman among others from the village were also present and at one point Michele managed to trap him between the carriages armed with a bunch of mistletoe and only when she had satisfied herself in the pagan ritual did she let him go.
Eleanor witnessed the kiss and she was not at all happy about it but she did enjoy the day as a whole.
Now if the kids were excited on the way to the grotto then judging by the decibel level they were even more so on the way back to the station.
When they disembarked and the children and their parents made their way home Michele Norman kissed Michaels cheek and said goodbye and then Michael and Eleanor went back to his car.
On the journey back to Mornington Eleanor barely spoke because she was sulking about all the kissing.
Back in Mornington he drove into Military Row and dropped her off outside number 7.
“Well did you enjoy the day?” he asked
“Most of it” she replied, kissed his cheek and got out of the car.
He had never believed in love at first sight or in soul mates he thought them rather fanciful notions the stuff of romantic fiction and sentimental movies.
That was until he met Eleanor and he was instantly smitten, and he thought she may have felt the same.
Even his mother had noticed and after she had seen them together she said
“You two are like two halves of a different whole, and that each of them was the missing piece in the others puzzle”
It wasn’t many months before when his mum was nagging him about getting a wife he had said
“I’m not looking for a life partner” well he thought he may have found one whether he was looking or not.
But after the Santa Express experience he was beginning to think he and his mother had misread the situation and over the following week that feeling was reinforced as she appeared to be avoiding him.
(Part 04)
On Christmas Eve local Vet Hayley Gwilym was at Manor Farm to look at a sick Lama and she happened to mention that her retired mentor Robin Jeffrey had been bending her ear all morning.
And during her visit she asked Michael if he would pop up to Dulcets Mill because he couldn’t get the web cam to work and he needed it functioning for Christmas Day so he could skype his kids and grandchildren.
They both knew it probably meant that he had disabled it by accident but she had tried to explain over the phone and failed miserably, she would have gone up to see him, but she had an extraordinarily long list of calls so she pleaded with him to go in her stead.
So later that afternoon he had to go out in the cold and trudge across the village through the snow just to tick a box.
As he suspected Robin had accidentally disabled the web cam so he worked his magic and went back out into the cold night and by the time he got to the road it had started snowing again and by the time he reached the Close it was coming down hard and fast.
In fact it was coming down so rapidly that visibility was reduced to zero.
It was so disorienting that he couldn’t have even found his way back to Robin’s despite being no more than 15 minutes away from Dulcets Mill.
So he inched his way along the footpath tucking up close to hedges, picket fences and garden walls so he didn’t wander off course.
When he reached the end of a row of houses he had to take a leap of faith, as he couldn’t see the other side of the road.
As he trudged onward he realised he had gone off course because he hadn’t reached the other side.
He had no idea how far he had gone as he had no point of reference, so he decided the best course of action was to veer left to try and find the footpath again.
Unfortunately he had no idea how far left to go or for that matter how far left he had already gone.
Michael was just beginning to panic when he tripped on a kerbstone and crashed into another lost soul and they fell to the floor in an untidy heap.
(Part 05)
When he had scrambled to his feet he found he was outside Boddington’s
“I’m saved” he thought as he envisaged taking refuge in the shop until the snow abated, but first he had to help the other poor customer he had left prostrate on the snowy ground.
“I’m so sorry” he said as he grabbed a handful of coat and pulled the stricken body to its feet.
The individual muttered incoherently under their breath as they brushed themselves off and he got the impression his apology was not accepted.
And when they began to turn in his direction he was bracing himself for a volley of abuse but to his great surprise he found the previously stricken figure to be Eleanor Boddington and the muttering scowling indignant face instantly changed to a beaming smile when she recognized the face of her assailant.
“Michael” she said excitedly then cautiously gave a long look in the direction of the shop doorway then in a quieter voice she continued
“I didn’t know it was you”
“Are you ok?” he asked
“I am now” she replied and glanced again at the door
He looked her up and down and realised why he hadn’t recognized her before, she was dressed in heavy duty winter clothes.
Her lovely thick black curls were completely covered by a red woolly hat, her dainty feet were in wellies and her slender figure was concealed by a puffer jacket.
She was still looking anxiously towards the shop doorway and then impulsively she steered him around the side of the building and kissed him as the snow fell steadily on them, which he reciprocated.
After a minute of mutually beneficial passion he said
“Does this mean you’re talking to me again?”
“That depends” she said enigmatically
“On what?”
“On whether you go around kissing Michelle Norman every five minutes or not” she said
“I see, you are referring to the mistletoe kiss on the train”
“I didn’t see any mistletoe” Eleanor said
“So you thought it was just a snog?” he asked
“Yes” she replied and looked down at her feet.
Michael lifted her chin so he could see her eyes and then he kissed her.
It was less prolonged than the first however because a voice called from the shop doorway
“Ellie?”
So Michael released her reluctantly and she called.
“I’ll be there in a moment Dad”
“I have to go” she said and kissed him again
“Perhaps we can pick it up again later” he said
“We’re going to Fallowacres”
“How long for?” he asked
“Until the New Year” she replied
“In which case I’m going to need another kiss before you go” Michael said and then they kissed one last time
“Happy Christmas Ellie” he said
“Happy Christmas” she echoed and she paused by the door and added
“I’ll bring you a present”
“You’re the only present I want” he said and she ran straight back into his arms.
Michael watched as they drove away from the shop and then turned around and continued his journey home as the snow abated.
And he spent all that Christmas looking forward to the New Year.
Sunday 5 February 2017
Tales from the Finchbottom Vale – (24) A Curious St Stephens Day
(Part 01)
Edward Carlisle and his brother George shared a flat in Jubilee Court, in Sharpington, they were twins, though not identical.
George was tall and blonde while Edward was shorter and darker.
In fact the only things they had in common were blue eyes and a surname.
In every other way they differed and the best way to sum them up would be to say that Edward had a heart and a brain whereas George possessed neither.
On Boxing Day they were invited to their Parents house in Brocklington for the day so they set off from the flat just after breakfast and stopped briefly by the pier to pick up George’s girlfriend Emily Clive, and as they pulled up to the curb side Edward had mixed feelings about taking her with them.
Emily wore her unruly red hair tied in a kind of loose arrangement on top of her head which gave the impression that she was taller than she actually was which she liked because she was only 4 foot 11.
Her mode of dress could best be described as interesting and there was nothing that could be in any way considered to be subdued in her apparel.
Emily generally went for the Tomboy look which she managed to pull off very well.
On St Stephens Day she wore a white sweater beneath a garishly bright multi-coloured striped coat, Yellow skinny trousers and Red converse shoes and she was dripping with jewellery, she loved jewellery, and Edward loved her.
Which was the reason for his mixed feelings.
Emily had lovely laughing green eyes which narrowed when she smiled, which was often, and her smile illuminated her face and that morning was no exception.
There was a house full at the Carlisle’s and they had a great day at their mums but due to a mix up between him and George as to who the designated driver was, they both got pissed and had to stay the night.
This caused a bit of a reshuffle on the accommodation front due to their mother’s insistence that George and Emily sleep in separate rooms.
Not just because there mother was a good Christian woman but for the simple reason that she didn’t think George could be relied upon not to disgrace himself and ravish Emily under her roof.
Then she proceeded to question Edwards’s manhood by saying that she would trust him to behave if she was his girlfriend.
Little did she know that he would have ravished Emily at the drop of a hat if she’d let him.
The result of the reshuffle meant that Emily shared the spare room with Cousin Lily while Edward was forced to endure his brother’s constant snoring and farting as they each slept on a sofa in the lounge.
Edward found it difficult to drop off, partly because of George and his horrendous snoring but also because his head was full of images of George’s girlfriend.
After tossing and turning for about an hour his attempts to drop off were further frustrated by an acute need to pee so he got up and tiptoed his way upstairs to the loo and relieved himself.
(Part 02)
Edward was yawning as he left the bathroom and stepped back onto the landing not really paying attention to what he was doing and he subsequently bumped into Emily coming the other way, who pushed him back into the bathroom and planted a wet sensual kiss on his lips.
“We shouldn’t be doing this” he said coming up for air
“Why? You were enjoying it” Emily said and kissed him anew
“That’s not the point” he protested
“So you admit you were enjoying it” she said “so let’s do it again”
“We mustn’t” he insisted and opened some distance between them
“But it’s really nice” Emily said wistfully
“I know but we can’t be doing it anymore” he said indignantly
“I know you like me” she continued as she sat on the side of the bath
“I’ve seen you looking at me when you think no one’s looking”
“Ah” he exclaimed and sat on the loo.
Emily had been going out with George for about three months and Edward fell in love with her the instant he brought her home.
But the thought never crossed his mind to do anything about it, he had a strong moral compass and you didn’t do things like that, it wasn’t cricket, even if his brother didn’t deserve her.
So he just worshipped her from afar.
“I’m sorry” he said
“Why are you sorry?” she asked
“For being too weak” he replied “I had no right to fall for you”
“I don’t think you’re weak” Emily said “Far from it, a weak person wouldn’t have stopped me kissing them”
“Maybe” he conceded
“Your brother wouldn’t have stopped” Emily added
“I’m not my brother” he pointed out
“I realize that only too well” she said and stood up
“I’d better go, but this is for Christmas” she said and kissed him gently
“Merry Christmas”
He went back downstairs and tried to sleep but he found it even more difficult after his encounter with Emily than he did before.
“This is a real Christmas surprise” he thought as he lay wide awake with only his brothers snoring for company.
When George rolled over onto his side he let out a ripping fart which was followed a minute or so later by a cloud of noxious gas which drifted over him and was so foul he decided to leave the room and take sanctuary in the kitchen.
He walked out into the hall and turned towards the kitchen and just as he reached the kitchen door a voice from behind said
“Hello again”
He turned around to see Emily sitting on the stairs.
“Hi Emily” he said “Are you stalking me?”
“Would you mind?” she asked
“No comment, do you want a drink?” he said and went into the kitchen and Emily followed on behind.
He made the drinks and sat down at the table opposite her.
“So you can’t sleep either then” he said
“I’m afraid not”
“Something on your mind” he asked
“Something” she agreed but didn’t elaborate so he didn’t pursue it any further.
But after five minutes she asked
“Would you ask me out if I wasn’t spoken for?”
“If you weren’t going out with George I would ask you in a heartbeat”
He replied
(Part 03)
“Would you ask me out if I wasn’t spoken for?” Emily asked
“If you weren’t going out with George I would ask you in a heartbeat”
He replied
“Why?” Emily added
“Why would I ask you out?” he said
“Where do I start? your hair, your eyes, your smile, your laugh but most of all your heart”
Emily gave him a dazzling smile when he had finished his catalogue and said
“I’ve broken up with him”
“What?” he asked
“We broke up” she replied
“When?”
“Last week”
“But why?”
“Well partly because he was shagging my friend Rosie” she replied “or my ex best friend Rosie I should say”
“Was he?” he asked in disbelief
“You didn’t know then?”
“No I didn’t, honestly” he said “he wouldn’t tell me something like that because he knows I’d disapprove”
“No, that’s because you are a better human being” she said proudly
“I don’t know about that” Edward said “What was the rest of the reason?”
“What?”
“You said George and Rosie was only part of the reason”
“Oh yes I see” she said “well mostly I broke up with him because he wasn’t you”
Edward couldn’t believe his ears, did those words really come out of her mouth, it wasn’t possible that she was really attracted to him.
“So if you broke up with him last week why did you still come today?” he asked
“Because you’re here” she replied and walked around the table and sat on his lap and kissed him.
It was a long and lingering kiss and when it was over he enjoyed it so much he was feeling guilty.
“Does George know?”
“Yes” she said eager to resume
“So why didn’t he say something?” he asked “He’s crap at keeping secrets”
“Because I told him I’d cut his balls off if he did, especially if it spoiled my chances” she replied and kissed him again before he could speak anymore.
The prolonged kiss showed no sign of abating until a voice said
“What’s going on in here then?”
It was Cousin Lily who Emily was sharing the spare room with.
“She’s just wishing me a Happy Christmas?” Edward said
“Result” Lily remarked
She poured herself a glass of water and said
“I’ll leave you two alone”
“Good because I want to wish him a Happy New Year now” Emily replied
“I think that’s guaranteed” Edward said
They left his mums shortly after breakfast and had a clear run back to Sharpington.
Edward was driving and Emily rode shotgun while a rather fragile Feeling George lay snoring and farting on the back seat.
It was a very quiet and uneventful journey home with both of them lost in their own thoughts.
When they got back to Sharpington they had a quiet dozy day of television and slobbery at Emily’s parent’s bungalow on the sea front.
They were invited back to Brocklington for a New Year’s Eve party at his mum’s house but they decided on a different way to see the New Year in and retired early and made gentle tender love from one year to the next.
Edward Carlisle and his brother George shared a flat in Jubilee Court, in Sharpington, they were twins, though not identical.
George was tall and blonde while Edward was shorter and darker.
In fact the only things they had in common were blue eyes and a surname.
In every other way they differed and the best way to sum them up would be to say that Edward had a heart and a brain whereas George possessed neither.
On Boxing Day they were invited to their Parents house in Brocklington for the day so they set off from the flat just after breakfast and stopped briefly by the pier to pick up George’s girlfriend Emily Clive, and as they pulled up to the curb side Edward had mixed feelings about taking her with them.
Emily wore her unruly red hair tied in a kind of loose arrangement on top of her head which gave the impression that she was taller than she actually was which she liked because she was only 4 foot 11.
Her mode of dress could best be described as interesting and there was nothing that could be in any way considered to be subdued in her apparel.
Emily generally went for the Tomboy look which she managed to pull off very well.
On St Stephens Day she wore a white sweater beneath a garishly bright multi-coloured striped coat, Yellow skinny trousers and Red converse shoes and she was dripping with jewellery, she loved jewellery, and Edward loved her.
Which was the reason for his mixed feelings.
Emily had lovely laughing green eyes which narrowed when she smiled, which was often, and her smile illuminated her face and that morning was no exception.
There was a house full at the Carlisle’s and they had a great day at their mums but due to a mix up between him and George as to who the designated driver was, they both got pissed and had to stay the night.
This caused a bit of a reshuffle on the accommodation front due to their mother’s insistence that George and Emily sleep in separate rooms.
Not just because there mother was a good Christian woman but for the simple reason that she didn’t think George could be relied upon not to disgrace himself and ravish Emily under her roof.
Then she proceeded to question Edwards’s manhood by saying that she would trust him to behave if she was his girlfriend.
Little did she know that he would have ravished Emily at the drop of a hat if she’d let him.
The result of the reshuffle meant that Emily shared the spare room with Cousin Lily while Edward was forced to endure his brother’s constant snoring and farting as they each slept on a sofa in the lounge.
Edward found it difficult to drop off, partly because of George and his horrendous snoring but also because his head was full of images of George’s girlfriend.
After tossing and turning for about an hour his attempts to drop off were further frustrated by an acute need to pee so he got up and tiptoed his way upstairs to the loo and relieved himself.
(Part 02)
Edward was yawning as he left the bathroom and stepped back onto the landing not really paying attention to what he was doing and he subsequently bumped into Emily coming the other way, who pushed him back into the bathroom and planted a wet sensual kiss on his lips.
“We shouldn’t be doing this” he said coming up for air
“Why? You were enjoying it” Emily said and kissed him anew
“That’s not the point” he protested
“So you admit you were enjoying it” she said “so let’s do it again”
“We mustn’t” he insisted and opened some distance between them
“But it’s really nice” Emily said wistfully
“I know but we can’t be doing it anymore” he said indignantly
“I know you like me” she continued as she sat on the side of the bath
“I’ve seen you looking at me when you think no one’s looking”
“Ah” he exclaimed and sat on the loo.
Emily had been going out with George for about three months and Edward fell in love with her the instant he brought her home.
But the thought never crossed his mind to do anything about it, he had a strong moral compass and you didn’t do things like that, it wasn’t cricket, even if his brother didn’t deserve her.
So he just worshipped her from afar.
“I’m sorry” he said
“Why are you sorry?” she asked
“For being too weak” he replied “I had no right to fall for you”
“I don’t think you’re weak” Emily said “Far from it, a weak person wouldn’t have stopped me kissing them”
“Maybe” he conceded
“Your brother wouldn’t have stopped” Emily added
“I’m not my brother” he pointed out
“I realize that only too well” she said and stood up
“I’d better go, but this is for Christmas” she said and kissed him gently
“Merry Christmas”
He went back downstairs and tried to sleep but he found it even more difficult after his encounter with Emily than he did before.
“This is a real Christmas surprise” he thought as he lay wide awake with only his brothers snoring for company.
When George rolled over onto his side he let out a ripping fart which was followed a minute or so later by a cloud of noxious gas which drifted over him and was so foul he decided to leave the room and take sanctuary in the kitchen.
He walked out into the hall and turned towards the kitchen and just as he reached the kitchen door a voice from behind said
“Hello again”
He turned around to see Emily sitting on the stairs.
“Hi Emily” he said “Are you stalking me?”
“Would you mind?” she asked
“No comment, do you want a drink?” he said and went into the kitchen and Emily followed on behind.
He made the drinks and sat down at the table opposite her.
“So you can’t sleep either then” he said
“I’m afraid not”
“Something on your mind” he asked
“Something” she agreed but didn’t elaborate so he didn’t pursue it any further.
But after five minutes she asked
“Would you ask me out if I wasn’t spoken for?”
“If you weren’t going out with George I would ask you in a heartbeat”
He replied
(Part 03)
“Would you ask me out if I wasn’t spoken for?” Emily asked
“If you weren’t going out with George I would ask you in a heartbeat”
He replied
“Why?” Emily added
“Why would I ask you out?” he said
“Where do I start? your hair, your eyes, your smile, your laugh but most of all your heart”
Emily gave him a dazzling smile when he had finished his catalogue and said
“I’ve broken up with him”
“What?” he asked
“We broke up” she replied
“When?”
“Last week”
“But why?”
“Well partly because he was shagging my friend Rosie” she replied “or my ex best friend Rosie I should say”
“Was he?” he asked in disbelief
“You didn’t know then?”
“No I didn’t, honestly” he said “he wouldn’t tell me something like that because he knows I’d disapprove”
“No, that’s because you are a better human being” she said proudly
“I don’t know about that” Edward said “What was the rest of the reason?”
“What?”
“You said George and Rosie was only part of the reason”
“Oh yes I see” she said “well mostly I broke up with him because he wasn’t you”
Edward couldn’t believe his ears, did those words really come out of her mouth, it wasn’t possible that she was really attracted to him.
“So if you broke up with him last week why did you still come today?” he asked
“Because you’re here” she replied and walked around the table and sat on his lap and kissed him.
It was a long and lingering kiss and when it was over he enjoyed it so much he was feeling guilty.
“Does George know?”
“Yes” she said eager to resume
“So why didn’t he say something?” he asked “He’s crap at keeping secrets”
“Because I told him I’d cut his balls off if he did, especially if it spoiled my chances” she replied and kissed him again before he could speak anymore.
The prolonged kiss showed no sign of abating until a voice said
“What’s going on in here then?”
It was Cousin Lily who Emily was sharing the spare room with.
“She’s just wishing me a Happy Christmas?” Edward said
“Result” Lily remarked
She poured herself a glass of water and said
“I’ll leave you two alone”
“Good because I want to wish him a Happy New Year now” Emily replied
“I think that’s guaranteed” Edward said
They left his mums shortly after breakfast and had a clear run back to Sharpington.
Edward was driving and Emily rode shotgun while a rather fragile Feeling George lay snoring and farting on the back seat.
It was a very quiet and uneventful journey home with both of them lost in their own thoughts.
When they got back to Sharpington they had a quiet dozy day of television and slobbery at Emily’s parent’s bungalow on the sea front.
They were invited back to Brocklington for a New Year’s Eve party at his mum’s house but they decided on a different way to see the New Year in and retired early and made gentle tender love from one year to the next.
Friday 3 February 2017
Downshire Diary – (29) The Girl in the Maternity Dress
(Part 01)
It was Christmas Eve and it was understandably busy as Steve Berry stood behind the bar drying glasses and he watched his wife Holly as she walked around the lounge bar talking to the customers as was her usual habit.
He liked it as she walked from table to table, he liked the way the flared skirt moved across her lovely legs and found it quite sensual, she had a less graceful gait than she used to, but Steve still felt a great sense of pride that he was her husband and plus the additional pride that Holly was pregnant, very pregnant in fact.
It had been two years since they had met and she had changed the course of his life entirely.
It was Christmas again and Steve Berry had always had a dislike for it, despite all the jollity.
Unlike many of his Christmas mad friends he’d had no happy Christmas memories to anesthetise him against the season.
His childhood Christmases were memories he would rather have forgotten.
So he never trusted Christmas, he believed that shit lurked beneath the coloured lights and paper chains.
That was until Holly Davis opened his eyes to new possibilities and he realised that Christmas could also magnify joy and through her love Steve had been cured of his Christmas phobia.
After an excess of alcohol and some sneakiness from Holly he found himself working behind the bar in her Uncle Phil’s pub, the Pig and Whistle in Abbeyvale.
He was still, even to that day, uncertain quite how she managed to affect that, but affect it she did and during the ten days he spent working for her, she had turned his life upside down and it culminated at closing time on Christmas Eve as the church bells at St Mary’s chimed midnight, with him wishing her a Merry Christmas and kissing her.
Judging by the way Holly responded Steve hoped that the kiss on Christmas Eve might have been the start of something between them but alas for him it didn’t lead anywhere, immediately at any rate.
Holly had indeed responded to his advance and in fact had been hoping for it, but she knew it was far too soon to throw caution to the wind.
The effects of the kiss proved to be a slow burner which didn’t burst into flames until the early hours of New Year’s Day.
The two years since they first made love, had been very eventful, they became partners in January, engaged at Easter and Married in September.
However it wasn’t only Steve and Holly’s fortunes that had changed over the preceding two years since they had met but so had those of the Pig and Whistle.
It had gone from a rundown dive with one large open bar to a thriving pub with a sports bar, a games room and a smart lounge plus it had a growing reputation as a gastro pub.
The restaurant had always been busy right from the outset but when Steve and Stephanos were in the kitchen, they provided good pub grub and no more, because they didn’t have the repertoire to take it to the next level.
However since Steve and Holly had returned from their Sharpington honeymoon the previous year with Chef Simon Clarke the restaurant had really taken off.
(Part 02)
Simon Clarke had been working at the Granite Hill Country House Hotel where the Berry’s were staying for their honeymoon as a sous chef for an arrogant sadistic bully.
Now he was a Chef in his own right and Steve and Stephanos had grown as cooks under him.
So the reputation of the Pig and Whistles restaurant contributed greatly to the busyness on Christmas Eve.
So on Christmas Eve and Holly, despite being told to rest by Steve and everybody else, was doing her usual walkabout as hostess and as Steve looked at her he sighed because he was so in love with the lovely girl in the maternity dress.
Just like Christmas Eve two years before it was snowing, not as hard, but enough not to want to make any unnecessary journeys.
She had had a twinge or two which she just laughed it off, she said the baby had been really active all day.
“She’s dancing to the Christmas songs” she said to Steve “she really likes the Puppini Sisters”
But by 9 o’clock in the evening it was obvious the twinges were more than the baby Christmas Dancing and she was having actually having contractions.
Luckily Dr Claire Andrews was dining in the restaurant with friends
“Get Doc Andrews” Steve said to Petra
“Ok” she replied and ran off while Steve and one of the regulars helped Holly into the private room at the back of the bar.
“Where is she?” The doctor asked
“In here” Steve called
Dr Andrews threw her car keys to Petra
“Can you get my bag from the car please?”
“Yes doc” she replied
“Ooooooh” Holly exclaimed through gritted teeth “that was a big one”
After Dr Andrews examined her she said
“She’s definitely in labour”
“I’ll call an ambulance” Steve suggested
“No she’s too far along” Claire said “the baby is going to be born here, and quite soon”
“I’d be happier if we got her to hospital” Steve said
“So would I” Dr Andrews replied
“But she’ll never make it to the hospital”
“She’s really too close?” Steve asked
“Yes” Claire replied “so under the circumstance, here is going to have to do”
“Upstairs it is then” Steve said “but the first sign of an angel and three wise men and we’re calling an ambulance”
“Christmas is never dull with Holly” he thought to himself as one by one the remainder of happy customers disappeared into the snowy night amidst a peel of Happy Christmas wishes.
“I have to give her that”
Steve looked out the door as he said goodnight to the last customer and it was still snowing but still not hard.
He locked the doors and went back inside to where the live in staff were sitting, no one wanted to go to bed until the baby had been born.
So they sat around a table in the bar until half past one when Noelle Claire Berry was born.
“How typical of Holly Berry to have the baby on Christmas Day” Steve said with tears in his eyes.
It was Christmas Eve and it was understandably busy as Steve Berry stood behind the bar drying glasses and he watched his wife Holly as she walked around the lounge bar talking to the customers as was her usual habit.
He liked it as she walked from table to table, he liked the way the flared skirt moved across her lovely legs and found it quite sensual, she had a less graceful gait than she used to, but Steve still felt a great sense of pride that he was her husband and plus the additional pride that Holly was pregnant, very pregnant in fact.
It had been two years since they had met and she had changed the course of his life entirely.
It was Christmas again and Steve Berry had always had a dislike for it, despite all the jollity.
Unlike many of his Christmas mad friends he’d had no happy Christmas memories to anesthetise him against the season.
His childhood Christmases were memories he would rather have forgotten.
So he never trusted Christmas, he believed that shit lurked beneath the coloured lights and paper chains.
That was until Holly Davis opened his eyes to new possibilities and he realised that Christmas could also magnify joy and through her love Steve had been cured of his Christmas phobia.
After an excess of alcohol and some sneakiness from Holly he found himself working behind the bar in her Uncle Phil’s pub, the Pig and Whistle in Abbeyvale.
He was still, even to that day, uncertain quite how she managed to affect that, but affect it she did and during the ten days he spent working for her, she had turned his life upside down and it culminated at closing time on Christmas Eve as the church bells at St Mary’s chimed midnight, with him wishing her a Merry Christmas and kissing her.
Judging by the way Holly responded Steve hoped that the kiss on Christmas Eve might have been the start of something between them but alas for him it didn’t lead anywhere, immediately at any rate.
Holly had indeed responded to his advance and in fact had been hoping for it, but she knew it was far too soon to throw caution to the wind.
The effects of the kiss proved to be a slow burner which didn’t burst into flames until the early hours of New Year’s Day.
The two years since they first made love, had been very eventful, they became partners in January, engaged at Easter and Married in September.
However it wasn’t only Steve and Holly’s fortunes that had changed over the preceding two years since they had met but so had those of the Pig and Whistle.
It had gone from a rundown dive with one large open bar to a thriving pub with a sports bar, a games room and a smart lounge plus it had a growing reputation as a gastro pub.
The restaurant had always been busy right from the outset but when Steve and Stephanos were in the kitchen, they provided good pub grub and no more, because they didn’t have the repertoire to take it to the next level.
However since Steve and Holly had returned from their Sharpington honeymoon the previous year with Chef Simon Clarke the restaurant had really taken off.
(Part 02)
Simon Clarke had been working at the Granite Hill Country House Hotel where the Berry’s were staying for their honeymoon as a sous chef for an arrogant sadistic bully.
Now he was a Chef in his own right and Steve and Stephanos had grown as cooks under him.
So the reputation of the Pig and Whistles restaurant contributed greatly to the busyness on Christmas Eve.
So on Christmas Eve and Holly, despite being told to rest by Steve and everybody else, was doing her usual walkabout as hostess and as Steve looked at her he sighed because he was so in love with the lovely girl in the maternity dress.
Just like Christmas Eve two years before it was snowing, not as hard, but enough not to want to make any unnecessary journeys.
She had had a twinge or two which she just laughed it off, she said the baby had been really active all day.
“She’s dancing to the Christmas songs” she said to Steve “she really likes the Puppini Sisters”
But by 9 o’clock in the evening it was obvious the twinges were more than the baby Christmas Dancing and she was having actually having contractions.
Luckily Dr Claire Andrews was dining in the restaurant with friends
“Get Doc Andrews” Steve said to Petra
“Ok” she replied and ran off while Steve and one of the regulars helped Holly into the private room at the back of the bar.
“Where is she?” The doctor asked
“In here” Steve called
Dr Andrews threw her car keys to Petra
“Can you get my bag from the car please?”
“Yes doc” she replied
“Ooooooh” Holly exclaimed through gritted teeth “that was a big one”
After Dr Andrews examined her she said
“She’s definitely in labour”
“I’ll call an ambulance” Steve suggested
“No she’s too far along” Claire said “the baby is going to be born here, and quite soon”
“I’d be happier if we got her to hospital” Steve said
“So would I” Dr Andrews replied
“But she’ll never make it to the hospital”
“She’s really too close?” Steve asked
“Yes” Claire replied “so under the circumstance, here is going to have to do”
“Upstairs it is then” Steve said “but the first sign of an angel and three wise men and we’re calling an ambulance”
“Christmas is never dull with Holly” he thought to himself as one by one the remainder of happy customers disappeared into the snowy night amidst a peel of Happy Christmas wishes.
“I have to give her that”
Steve looked out the door as he said goodnight to the last customer and it was still snowing but still not hard.
He locked the doors and went back inside to where the live in staff were sitting, no one wanted to go to bed until the baby had been born.
So they sat around a table in the bar until half past one when Noelle Claire Berry was born.
“How typical of Holly Berry to have the baby on Christmas Day” Steve said with tears in his eyes.
Thursday 2 February 2017
Downshire Diary – (15) The Girl in the Green Dress
(Part 01)
Steve Berry had always had a distinct dislike for Christmas, in fact he hated everything about it, despite all the jollity and faux fun because unlike many of his Christmas mad friends he had no happy Christmas memories to anesthetise him against the season.
His parents were chronic alcoholics and each year their Christmas came in a bottle and thanks to his ill-tempered father, Steve’s came with a slap, so his childhood Christmases were festive memories he would rather have forgotten.
But adulthood brought no relief from the season and it always seemed to him that when shit happened Christmas just magnified the misery.
If someone died at Christmas the very season makes it more keenly felt and he could testify to that fact as his own mother died on Christmas Eve when he was 19.
He had no idea where his father was and quite frankly he didn’t care he never bothered to show up for the funeral and for all he knew he could have been dead as well.
So as a result he had never trusted Christmas, because he knew that shit lurks beneath the coloured lights and paper chains.
That was until Holly Davis opened his eyes to new possibilities and he realised that Christmas could also magnify joy.
But it wasn’t just Christmases that had always held horrors in his past, so did New Year’s Eve.
Steve wasn’t big on New Year’s Eve, it was not a time that held any deep significance for him and he found the whole idea of it rather pointless, why did people make such a fuss over going from one year to the next, to his mind it was meaningless, and that would have been reason enough for him to dislike it, far apart from the personal memories it evoked.
And the prominent memory was of one New Year’s Eve when he was just six years old that his parents locked him in his room while they went off on a three day bender.
But he had decided to try and put that behind him along with all the other bad memories and with Holly’s help he was hopeful that he might succeed.
Since the first day he met her she had helped him to tame his demons and it all began when Holly Davis temporarily took over running her uncles pub, the Pig and Whistle in Abbeyvale a week and a half before Christmas on Friday the 13th of December, Steve had got blind drunk and ended up spending the night in the lounge bar on one of the bench seats.
When he woke up the next morning with his face stuck to the mock leather of a bench seat and painfully sat himself up she produced a contract he had signed the night before agreeing to work for her at the pub until New Year’s Eve.
(Part 02)
Despite his initial misgivings Steve had thoroughly enjoyed working with Holly at the Pig and whistle and he was still uncertain quite how she managed to affect that, but affect it she did and during the ten days he spent working for her, she had turned his life upside down and it culminated at closing time on Christmas Eve as the church bells at St Mary’s chimed midnight, with him wishing her a Merry Christmas and kissing her.
Because of the snow Steve was unable to get home on Christmas Eve so he spent the night in the spare room and they were then snowed in at the pub for Christmas day as well.
Holly was due to go for Christmas lunch at her cousin’s house but as she lived 30 miles away it was not possible to make the journey safely with the amount of snow that was still laying.
Steve was due to spend the day alone in his flat, not celebrating Christmas at all, but Holly invited him to spend the day with her instead.
After he cooked them lunch and they had watched the Queens Speech Holly cajoled him into unburdening himself about his aversion to the holidays.
That proved to be very revealing and was followed by more food, more drink and finally after exchanging Christmas presents they kissed passionately again.
In the week that followed the first Christmas he and Holly spent together and the first one he had ever celebrated, there was good deal more kissing as day by day they headed inexorably towards New Year’s Eve.
But Steve had a sense of foreboding as the days ticked by as his normal dislike for the occasion was magnified that year because it marked the final day of his contract at the Pig and Whistle and it could also mark the end of Holly’s Tenure at the pub and maybe even their budding relationship.
Holly had completely turned his life upside down and he had fallen hopelessly in love with her and the thought of going back to his old life in the New Year filled him with dread and the notion that he would never see her again was inconceivable but he wasn’t sure how he could prevent any of it happening.
Although he didn’t like it, New Year’s Eve was a very good earner for the pub and as the takings had not been optimised on Christmas Eve due to the snow, added to the fact that the figures had been disappointing in the interim due to the lingering snow and freezing conditions, so a good New Year’s Eve was absolutely vital to stay profitable.
With that in mind Holly and Steve had to spend most of the afternoon at the Cash and Carry stocking up on vital supplies.
“Right that’s the lot Hon” she said
(Part 03)
A good New Year’s Eve was absolutely vital for Holly so with that in mind she and Steve had to spend most of the afternoon at the Cash and Carry stocking up on vital supplies.
“Right that’s the lot Hon” she said
“Are you sure that’s enough?” Steve asked facetiously
“That’s enough lip from you” she said and kissed him, and that simple kiss, was a symbol of their familiarity, and was also a milestone moment for them because although they had kissed many times in that week since Christmas Eve, they had only ever kissed when they were alone and certainly never in public.
“If we sell that lot tonight I’ll be over the moon” she said although there wasn’t any chance that that might actually happen even if they did have an extension until 1.00am but they would give it a try.
Steve normally spent New Year’s Eve at home in self-imposed exile at his flat, watching a DVD and hiding from the world and pretending that New Year’s Eve was just a bad dream but that year with Holly was going to be very different.
At least on New Year’s Eve there were none of the annoyingly jolly Christmas songs, there was only one really annoying New Year’s song and that was usually confined to midnight.
There was a steady trade in the bar, far more than Christmas Eve, but not exactly record breaking numbers, and Steve thought they most of the supplies they had bought earlier at the Cash and Carry, would remain unsold.
But just after 9 o’clock the numbers swelled and continued swelling until the place was absolutely banging.
There were seven of them working that night but only six at any one time behind the bar and they were absolutely rushed off their feet and the till’s never stopped ringing.
The staff and a hard core of the regulars were in fancy dress for the occasion.
Debbie was a French maid, Stephanos was in a toga, Clare was a Witch, Ausra was a Gypsy, Petra was a clown and Steve was a pirate, while Holly, as was her custom, was dressed immaculately, and on that occasion she was dressed as the Emerald Lady in a wonderful green dress adorned with a garland of holly leaves and around her neck was the holly leaf pendant that Steve gave her for Christmas.
By the end of the night, which absolutely flew by, he had to admit that he hadn’t enjoyed a New Year’s Eve more in his life, even though his feet were killing him.
When the last of the punters had been ushered out the door and the bolt shot at 1.25 am, Holly said
“Thank God for that, put the kettle on” and then she kicked off her shoes.
Everyone pulled together and gathered up all the glasses and cleared them to the kitchen and then Steph and Clare brought out the drinks on a tray
“Where are the others?” Holly asked
“They’re loading the glasses into the machine” Clare replied “You know what Steve’s like”
“Tell them not to worry” she said “We’ll do it in the morning”
Holly frowned and then corrected herself
“We’ll do it in later this morning”
(Part 04)
So they all sat together drinking their tea and coffee and laughing at the exploits of one or two of the more enthusiastic punters but very soon there was only Holly and Steve left
“Do you want another tea?” he asked
“I’d rather have a proper drink” she replied “You could join me if you’re staying over”
He nodded and went behind the bar and returned shortly with two glasses of wine and as they sat together drinking she said
“My feet are so sore”
“Put them up here then” he said tapping his knee “I’ll rub them for you if you want”
“Oh yes please” she said and put both stocking feet on his knee
“Hold up” he said “one at a time”
Holly laughed and put one foot down.
“Oh that’s really lovely” she said as Steve began massaging her little foot and that was all he got out of her for the next twenty minutes until he was halfway through her other foot when she said.
“You’re a free man now”
“What do you mean?” Steve asked
“The contract” she said
“It was only up to and including New Year’s Eve it’s now New Year’s Day so you are free to return to your old life”
“Good” he said sharply and Holly baulked at the force of the word.
“Because now I am here because I want to be”
And Holly’s face broke into a broad smile and took her foot off his lap so she could kiss him.
They made love for the first time in the early hours of New Year’s Day and as they lay entwined in the semi darkness Holly said.
“We make a good team, I think we could run this place together”
“What about Phil?” Steve asked
“Ah I may have misled you regarding Uncle Phil” she confessed
“In what way?”
“He’s not coming back” Holly said
“Why not?” Steve asked
“He’s ill” Holly replied sadly
“Really? How ill?”
“The “he won’t see another Christmas kind” of ill”
“Oh” he responded sadly “so he’s not on holiday?”
“No” she admitted “I am in the process of buying the pub from him”
“That’s a big step” he said
“I know” she agreed “but I have years of experience in Hospitality and you’re a good accountant”
“Oh I see, so you only want me for my numeracy” he said
“No I only want you for your foot rubs” Holly corrected him
“Ok then it’s a deal” he said
“Are you sure?” she asked “We will have to celebrate all the holidays”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything” he replied and they sealed the deal with a kiss which was a prelude to them making love again, but Steve paused briefly and said
“You do realize what would happen if we were to marry?”
“What’s that?” she said pleasantly surprised that his thoughts had already strayed to the possibility of marriage
“You would become Holly Berry”
“I could live with that” she said and brought the discourse to a passionate conclusion.
Steve Berry had always had a distinct dislike for Christmas, in fact he hated everything about it, despite all the jollity and faux fun because unlike many of his Christmas mad friends he had no happy Christmas memories to anesthetise him against the season.
His parents were chronic alcoholics and each year their Christmas came in a bottle and thanks to his ill-tempered father, Steve’s came with a slap, so his childhood Christmases were festive memories he would rather have forgotten.
But adulthood brought no relief from the season and it always seemed to him that when shit happened Christmas just magnified the misery.
If someone died at Christmas the very season makes it more keenly felt and he could testify to that fact as his own mother died on Christmas Eve when he was 19.
He had no idea where his father was and quite frankly he didn’t care he never bothered to show up for the funeral and for all he knew he could have been dead as well.
So as a result he had never trusted Christmas, because he knew that shit lurks beneath the coloured lights and paper chains.
That was until Holly Davis opened his eyes to new possibilities and he realised that Christmas could also magnify joy.
But it wasn’t just Christmases that had always held horrors in his past, so did New Year’s Eve.
Steve wasn’t big on New Year’s Eve, it was not a time that held any deep significance for him and he found the whole idea of it rather pointless, why did people make such a fuss over going from one year to the next, to his mind it was meaningless, and that would have been reason enough for him to dislike it, far apart from the personal memories it evoked.
And the prominent memory was of one New Year’s Eve when he was just six years old that his parents locked him in his room while they went off on a three day bender.
But he had decided to try and put that behind him along with all the other bad memories and with Holly’s help he was hopeful that he might succeed.
Since the first day he met her she had helped him to tame his demons and it all began when Holly Davis temporarily took over running her uncles pub, the Pig and Whistle in Abbeyvale a week and a half before Christmas on Friday the 13th of December, Steve had got blind drunk and ended up spending the night in the lounge bar on one of the bench seats.
When he woke up the next morning with his face stuck to the mock leather of a bench seat and painfully sat himself up she produced a contract he had signed the night before agreeing to work for her at the pub until New Year’s Eve.
(Part 02)
Despite his initial misgivings Steve had thoroughly enjoyed working with Holly at the Pig and whistle and he was still uncertain quite how she managed to affect that, but affect it she did and during the ten days he spent working for her, she had turned his life upside down and it culminated at closing time on Christmas Eve as the church bells at St Mary’s chimed midnight, with him wishing her a Merry Christmas and kissing her.
Because of the snow Steve was unable to get home on Christmas Eve so he spent the night in the spare room and they were then snowed in at the pub for Christmas day as well.
Holly was due to go for Christmas lunch at her cousin’s house but as she lived 30 miles away it was not possible to make the journey safely with the amount of snow that was still laying.
Steve was due to spend the day alone in his flat, not celebrating Christmas at all, but Holly invited him to spend the day with her instead.
After he cooked them lunch and they had watched the Queens Speech Holly cajoled him into unburdening himself about his aversion to the holidays.
That proved to be very revealing and was followed by more food, more drink and finally after exchanging Christmas presents they kissed passionately again.
In the week that followed the first Christmas he and Holly spent together and the first one he had ever celebrated, there was good deal more kissing as day by day they headed inexorably towards New Year’s Eve.
But Steve had a sense of foreboding as the days ticked by as his normal dislike for the occasion was magnified that year because it marked the final day of his contract at the Pig and Whistle and it could also mark the end of Holly’s Tenure at the pub and maybe even their budding relationship.
Holly had completely turned his life upside down and he had fallen hopelessly in love with her and the thought of going back to his old life in the New Year filled him with dread and the notion that he would never see her again was inconceivable but he wasn’t sure how he could prevent any of it happening.
Although he didn’t like it, New Year’s Eve was a very good earner for the pub and as the takings had not been optimised on Christmas Eve due to the snow, added to the fact that the figures had been disappointing in the interim due to the lingering snow and freezing conditions, so a good New Year’s Eve was absolutely vital to stay profitable.
With that in mind Holly and Steve had to spend most of the afternoon at the Cash and Carry stocking up on vital supplies.
“Right that’s the lot Hon” she said
(Part 03)
A good New Year’s Eve was absolutely vital for Holly so with that in mind she and Steve had to spend most of the afternoon at the Cash and Carry stocking up on vital supplies.
“Right that’s the lot Hon” she said
“Are you sure that’s enough?” Steve asked facetiously
“That’s enough lip from you” she said and kissed him, and that simple kiss, was a symbol of their familiarity, and was also a milestone moment for them because although they had kissed many times in that week since Christmas Eve, they had only ever kissed when they were alone and certainly never in public.
“If we sell that lot tonight I’ll be over the moon” she said although there wasn’t any chance that that might actually happen even if they did have an extension until 1.00am but they would give it a try.
Steve normally spent New Year’s Eve at home in self-imposed exile at his flat, watching a DVD and hiding from the world and pretending that New Year’s Eve was just a bad dream but that year with Holly was going to be very different.
At least on New Year’s Eve there were none of the annoyingly jolly Christmas songs, there was only one really annoying New Year’s song and that was usually confined to midnight.
There was a steady trade in the bar, far more than Christmas Eve, but not exactly record breaking numbers, and Steve thought they most of the supplies they had bought earlier at the Cash and Carry, would remain unsold.
But just after 9 o’clock the numbers swelled and continued swelling until the place was absolutely banging.
There were seven of them working that night but only six at any one time behind the bar and they were absolutely rushed off their feet and the till’s never stopped ringing.
The staff and a hard core of the regulars were in fancy dress for the occasion.
Debbie was a French maid, Stephanos was in a toga, Clare was a Witch, Ausra was a Gypsy, Petra was a clown and Steve was a pirate, while Holly, as was her custom, was dressed immaculately, and on that occasion she was dressed as the Emerald Lady in a wonderful green dress adorned with a garland of holly leaves and around her neck was the holly leaf pendant that Steve gave her for Christmas.
By the end of the night, which absolutely flew by, he had to admit that he hadn’t enjoyed a New Year’s Eve more in his life, even though his feet were killing him.
When the last of the punters had been ushered out the door and the bolt shot at 1.25 am, Holly said
“Thank God for that, put the kettle on” and then she kicked off her shoes.
Everyone pulled together and gathered up all the glasses and cleared them to the kitchen and then Steph and Clare brought out the drinks on a tray
“Where are the others?” Holly asked
“They’re loading the glasses into the machine” Clare replied “You know what Steve’s like”
“Tell them not to worry” she said “We’ll do it in the morning”
Holly frowned and then corrected herself
“We’ll do it in later this morning”
(Part 04)
So they all sat together drinking their tea and coffee and laughing at the exploits of one or two of the more enthusiastic punters but very soon there was only Holly and Steve left
“Do you want another tea?” he asked
“I’d rather have a proper drink” she replied “You could join me if you’re staying over”
He nodded and went behind the bar and returned shortly with two glasses of wine and as they sat together drinking she said
“My feet are so sore”
“Put them up here then” he said tapping his knee “I’ll rub them for you if you want”
“Oh yes please” she said and put both stocking feet on his knee
“Hold up” he said “one at a time”
Holly laughed and put one foot down.
“Oh that’s really lovely” she said as Steve began massaging her little foot and that was all he got out of her for the next twenty minutes until he was halfway through her other foot when she said.
“You’re a free man now”
“What do you mean?” Steve asked
“The contract” she said
“It was only up to and including New Year’s Eve it’s now New Year’s Day so you are free to return to your old life”
“Good” he said sharply and Holly baulked at the force of the word.
“Because now I am here because I want to be”
And Holly’s face broke into a broad smile and took her foot off his lap so she could kiss him.
They made love for the first time in the early hours of New Year’s Day and as they lay entwined in the semi darkness Holly said.
“We make a good team, I think we could run this place together”
“What about Phil?” Steve asked
“Ah I may have misled you regarding Uncle Phil” she confessed
“In what way?”
“He’s not coming back” Holly said
“Why not?” Steve asked
“He’s ill” Holly replied sadly
“Really? How ill?”
“The “he won’t see another Christmas kind” of ill”
“Oh” he responded sadly “so he’s not on holiday?”
“No” she admitted “I am in the process of buying the pub from him”
“That’s a big step” he said
“I know” she agreed “but I have years of experience in Hospitality and you’re a good accountant”
“Oh I see, so you only want me for my numeracy” he said
“No I only want you for your foot rubs” Holly corrected him
“Ok then it’s a deal” he said
“Are you sure?” she asked “We will have to celebrate all the holidays”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything” he replied and they sealed the deal with a kiss which was a prelude to them making love again, but Steve paused briefly and said
“You do realize what would happen if we were to marry?”
“What’s that?” she said pleasantly surprised that his thoughts had already strayed to the possibility of marriage
“You would become Holly Berry”
“I could live with that” she said and brought the discourse to a passionate conclusion.
Tuesday 31 January 2017
Downshire Diary – (14) The Girl in the Christmas Dress
(Part 01)
Steve Berry had always had a distinct dislike for Christmas, in fact he hated everything about it, despite all the jollity and faux fun because unlike many of his Christmas mad friends he had no happy Christmas memories to anesthetise him against the season.
His parents were chronic alcoholics and each year their Christmas came in a bottle and thanks to his ill-tempered father, Steve’s came with a slap, so his childhood Christmases were festive memories he would rather have forgotten.
But adulthood brought no relief from the season and it always seemed to him that when shit happened Christmas just magnified the misery.
If someone died at Christmas the very season makes it more keenly felt and he could testify to that fact as his own mother died on Christmas Eve when he was 19.
He had no idea where his father was and quite frankly he didn’t care he never bothered to show up for the funeral and for all he knew he could have been dead as well.
So as a result he had never trusted Christmas, because he knew that shit lurks beneath the coloured lights and paper chains.
That was until Holly Davis opened his eyes to new possibilities and he realised that Christmas could also magnify joy.
After an excess of alcohol and some sneakiness from Holly he found himself working behind the bar in her Uncle Phil’s pub, the Pig and Whistle in Abbeyvale.
He was still uncertain quite how she managed to affect that, but affect it she did and during the ten days he spent working for her, she had turned his life upside down and it culminated at closing time on Christmas Eve as the church bells at St Mary’s chimed midnight, with him wishing her a Merry Christmas and kissing her.
Judging by the way Holly responded Steve hoped that the kiss on Christmas Eve might have been the start of something between them but alas for him it didn’t lead anywhere.
Holly had indeed responded to his advance and in fact had been hoping for it, but she knew it was far too soon to throw caution to the wind.
There were scabs as yet unpicked regarding Steve Berry that needed to be attended to before she completely let down her guard.
Holly considered him to be a work in progress she thought he had potential but he still needed work but there was certainly hope for him, but he was progressing nonetheless.
The other event that occurred on Christmas Eve was a prolonged fall of snow which resulted in them being snowed in.
Holly was due to go to lunch at her cousin’s house but as she lived 30 miles away it was not possible to make the journey safely with the amount of snow that was still laying.
Steve was due to spend the day alone in his flat, not celebrating Christmas at all, but Holly invited him to spend the day with her instead as he hadn’t risked driving home the night before.
He would have been quite happy to have slept on one of the bench seats in the lounge bar as he had once before, but Holly insisted he use the spare room.
So that was how Steve Berry came to celebrate his first ever Christmas and why he was sitting at the bar nursing a cup of coffee in the clothes he had been wearing the night before.
(Part 02)
It was as a result of them being snowed in at the Pig and Whistle on Christmas Eve which led to Steve Berry celebrating his first ever Christmas at the age of 30 and why he was sitting at the bar nursing a cup of coffee in the clothes he had been wearing the night before.
“Morning” he said as Holly appeared behind the bar
“Happy Christmas” Holly said and reached over and kissed his cheek.
Now it was not the kiss he was hoping for and it was not possessed of the passion that accompanied the embrace of the night before but that simple peck on the cheek held within it something very special, and that was hope.
“God its cold in here” she said
“Yes, there was a power cut during the night and it knocked the boiler out” he said
“I’ve relit it but it’ll take a while to warm the place up”
“This was not the Christmas day I had in mind” Holly said putting the collar of her dressing gown up
“Nor me” he added
She was supposed to be dining on a sumptuous feast at her cousin’s house, while he was supposed to be in self-imposed exile at his flat pretending that Christmas was just a bad dream.
“Do you want a drink?” he asked
“Oh yes please” she replied and Steve got up and went to the kitchen returning a few minutes later with a steaming mug of tea
“Thanks hon” she said and winced at her involuntary over familiarization and quickly went on.
“I don’t know what we are going to eat today” Holly said
“We will need to ferret in the freezer”
“I didn’t know ferret was traditional Christmas fare” Steve said “but I’m no expert on Christmas.
“You know what I mean” she said smiling “Can you cook?”
“A bit” he replied
“Good because I’m rubbish” Holly admitted
Steve actually undersold himself when he said he could cook a bit
He could in fact cook very well, exceptionally well.
Steve not being a traditionalist or a fan of the season could certainly make something out of what was on hand in the kitchen.
Holly however wanted to have a roast lunch, with all the trimmings, but after they checked the freezer they had to rule out a roast dinner as the joints would never have defrosted in time, and they were too big for the microwave and as they were frozen hard, impossible to cut down to size, but there were alternatives.
The fresh vegetable stores were limited but more than sufficient for two people.
Although she couldn’t cook herself, Holly was determined to help, firstly by peeling the potatoes and carrots and then by getting out of his way so he could get on by taking herself off upstairs to get ready for the day.
While Holly was gone Steve finished preparing the food and when he was done he was very pleased that he had achieved something to suit Holly’s traditional wishes, at least in part.
(Part 03)
Steve Berry had just reached the point where he could safely leave the kitchen and get showered and shaved when Holly reappeared and he was stopped in his tracks.
She looked stunning, her mousy hair, washed and styled was adorned with Christmas slides and she was wearing a white wool dress decorated with poinsettias.
And her shapely legs were covered by black tights with motifs of bows and parcels and as he looked at her from head to toe he thought to himself that he’d like them to be stockings rather than tights, but nice legs were nice legs regardless of what they were sheathed in.
“Wow” Steve exclaimed
“Wow” he said again and Holly blushed
“It’s a Christmas dress you know” she said
“I don’t care” he said “wow”
“But you don’t like Christmas” she pointed out
“It’s growing on me” he said unable to take his eyes off her
“Good” she said “you won’t mind wearing this then”
When would he ever learn, he now had to wear another blessed Christmas sweater.
“Where do you keep getting them from?” he asked
“They’re Uncle Phil’s” she replied “I buy him one every year”
“But I’ve never seen Phil in a Christmas jumper, not ever” Steve said
“No nor of I” Holly agreed
Steve went upstairs, showered and shaved and returned to find Holly had laid a table in the lounge bar, complete with festive serviettes, candles, party poppers and crackers.
On the CD player the Puppini Sisters were in full voice and his natural aversion to Christmas music was tempered by the fact that he caught Holly singing and dancing along with the music.
He stayed out of sight in the doorway so he could enjoy the spectacle as long as possible.
When she eventually became aware of him she blushed redder than the poinsettias on her dress.
“How long have you been standing there?” she said suddenly flustered and began fussing with the table.
“Long enough” Steve replied
“You should have said something” Holly said as she headed towards the kitchen still flushed red
“What and spoil the show” he replied as he followed close behind her and chuckled.
Holly carried on with the table while Steve checked the oven and ten minutes later he was transferring everything to serving dishes which Holly took to the table.
All he had left to do was make the gravy and get the Yorkshire puddings out of the oven.
Christmas dinner was as traditional as he could manage given the limits of the provisions available but it was Holly’s turn to say “Wow” as he served Chicken breast wrapped in bacon, served with Roast potatoes, roast parsnips, carrots, peas, stuffing and Yorkshire pudding.
“What no starters” she said tongue in cheek
Holly lit the candles and Steve opened the wine, then they pulled the crackers and she made him wear a paper hat.
For desert he served apple pie and ice cream after which they watched the Queens speech.
(Part 04)
As soon as the Queens speech was over Holly switched off the TV
“What now?” he asked
“Now we sit and talk” She replied
“You mean “talk”” Steve said
“Yes”
“Do we have to” He said “It’s been such a lovely day”
“How are we supposed to learn about each other if we don’t talk?”
Holly replied
“So what do you want to know?” he said resignedly
“You’re childhood” Holly said with great interest
“What about it?” he replied
“Well, it’s not just Christmas that was unhappy was it”
“No it wasn’t” he replied and Holly settled back to let him unburden himself
“It wasn’t just Christmas, it was New Year’s, Easter, Halloween and birthdays”
He paused and took a drink
“You see my parents were alcoholics, when I was young they managed to somehow keep it under control and were functioning alcoholics, they held down jobs and to the outside world they seemed normal.
But once I got to school age I pretty much raised myself, which is how I came to learn to cook, because if I didn’t cook I didn’t eat”
They had spent a very pleasant Christmas day together, snowed in at the pub, the last thing he wanted to do was regurgitate the unpleasant moments of his life, particularly as he had been doing his best to forget them.
But once he started he couldn’t stop and by the end of it he was exhausted as they sat in the gathering darkness.
Holly was largely quiet throughout and just added the odd word of encouragement and support.
Holly broke the short period of silence.
“How do you feel?”
“Surprisingly good” he responded
However, despite his feeling unburdened by the lengthy afternoon revelations there was an awkward silence in the aftermath, so Steve disappeared down to the kitchen to make them both a snack.
He wondered if he should have held back and if he had unnerved Holly with his total honesty.
“I should have drip fed her” he said as he walked around the kitchen “Let her absorb it and then I could have said more, but no, you had to blurt out every sordid detail of your pathetic life and now she probably thinks you’re a nut job”
When he had finished with the rant and the snack he put it on a tray and carried it upstairs to the lounge where Holly greeted his arrival with a smile, but not a nervous smile, it was a kindly open smile, from someone happy to see him return.
“God that was good” Holly said after consuming the snack he had prepared with relish.
“Every cloud has a silver lining” he said referring to the reason that he had learned to cook in the first place.
“There is always a positive in life” Holly said sagely “you just have to look for it”
“Well that’s what I plan to do” he said and cleared the plates away
“I’ll pour us another drink” He added
(Part 05)
When Steve returned to the lounge Holly was sitting on the sofa with a Christmas present on her lap and she was smiling broadly.
“Happy Christmas” she said as she handed him the gift
“What’s this?” he asked
“Well open it and find out” Holly answered
“I wasn’t expecting a present” Steve said and sat down beside her on the sofa and squeezed the package
“Oh no not another Christmas sweater” he said and Holly giggled as he tore the paper open.
But when he had removed all the paper and unfolded its contents he saw that although it was indeed a sweater, it was not a novelty Christmas one like those she had made him wear for the previous ten days but a plain blue one in cashmere.
“That’s fantastic” he said enthusiastically “I love it
“Try it on then” Holly insisted and stood up
Holly took hold of the new one while Steve removed the one he was wearing and then they swapped.
As Steve pulled the cashmere over his head Holly held the novelty one he had just removed up to her nose and inhaled his scent.
“That looks great” she said when he had put it on
“It feels it” he said “can I keep it on?”
“Yes” she said and held the other one to her breast and he walked over to the Christmas tree and plunged his hand in between the branches.
It was perhaps testament to the progress that he had made over such a short period of time that he had actually bought her a present, which he removed from its hiding place and said
“Happy Christmas”
“When did you put that there?” she asked in amazement
“This morning” Steve replied
“That was sneaky” Holly said and ripped the paper off like a mad woman until she was left with a little blue presentation box embossed with gold relief.
She looked at it in wide eyed wonder, it was jewelry, he had bought her jewelry and from a quality jeweler’s.
Holly took a deep breath and then opened the box and then she gasped.
“It’s lovely” she said as she took it out the box and held the gold pendant in her hand.
It was in the shape of a holly leaf and it had her name engraved on it.
“I love it, I absolutely love it” she said “put it on for me”
Steve took the pendant from her and when Holly turned her back to him, she reached back and scooped her hair out of the way while he fastened it.
Then she went to the mirror, stood on her tiptoes and looked at herself and admired the pendant.
“I really love it” Holly said and then she let out a squeal as she rushed towards him and then for the second day running they ended the day with a passionate kiss.
Steve Berry had always had a distinct dislike for Christmas, in fact he hated everything about it, despite all the jollity and faux fun because unlike many of his Christmas mad friends he had no happy Christmas memories to anesthetise him against the season.
His parents were chronic alcoholics and each year their Christmas came in a bottle and thanks to his ill-tempered father, Steve’s came with a slap, so his childhood Christmases were festive memories he would rather have forgotten.
But adulthood brought no relief from the season and it always seemed to him that when shit happened Christmas just magnified the misery.
If someone died at Christmas the very season makes it more keenly felt and he could testify to that fact as his own mother died on Christmas Eve when he was 19.
He had no idea where his father was and quite frankly he didn’t care he never bothered to show up for the funeral and for all he knew he could have been dead as well.
So as a result he had never trusted Christmas, because he knew that shit lurks beneath the coloured lights and paper chains.
That was until Holly Davis opened his eyes to new possibilities and he realised that Christmas could also magnify joy.
After an excess of alcohol and some sneakiness from Holly he found himself working behind the bar in her Uncle Phil’s pub, the Pig and Whistle in Abbeyvale.
He was still uncertain quite how she managed to affect that, but affect it she did and during the ten days he spent working for her, she had turned his life upside down and it culminated at closing time on Christmas Eve as the church bells at St Mary’s chimed midnight, with him wishing her a Merry Christmas and kissing her.
Judging by the way Holly responded Steve hoped that the kiss on Christmas Eve might have been the start of something between them but alas for him it didn’t lead anywhere.
Holly had indeed responded to his advance and in fact had been hoping for it, but she knew it was far too soon to throw caution to the wind.
There were scabs as yet unpicked regarding Steve Berry that needed to be attended to before she completely let down her guard.
Holly considered him to be a work in progress she thought he had potential but he still needed work but there was certainly hope for him, but he was progressing nonetheless.
The other event that occurred on Christmas Eve was a prolonged fall of snow which resulted in them being snowed in.
Holly was due to go to lunch at her cousin’s house but as she lived 30 miles away it was not possible to make the journey safely with the amount of snow that was still laying.
Steve was due to spend the day alone in his flat, not celebrating Christmas at all, but Holly invited him to spend the day with her instead as he hadn’t risked driving home the night before.
He would have been quite happy to have slept on one of the bench seats in the lounge bar as he had once before, but Holly insisted he use the spare room.
So that was how Steve Berry came to celebrate his first ever Christmas and why he was sitting at the bar nursing a cup of coffee in the clothes he had been wearing the night before.
(Part 02)
It was as a result of them being snowed in at the Pig and Whistle on Christmas Eve which led to Steve Berry celebrating his first ever Christmas at the age of 30 and why he was sitting at the bar nursing a cup of coffee in the clothes he had been wearing the night before.
“Morning” he said as Holly appeared behind the bar
“Happy Christmas” Holly said and reached over and kissed his cheek.
Now it was not the kiss he was hoping for and it was not possessed of the passion that accompanied the embrace of the night before but that simple peck on the cheek held within it something very special, and that was hope.
“God its cold in here” she said
“Yes, there was a power cut during the night and it knocked the boiler out” he said
“I’ve relit it but it’ll take a while to warm the place up”
“This was not the Christmas day I had in mind” Holly said putting the collar of her dressing gown up
“Nor me” he added
She was supposed to be dining on a sumptuous feast at her cousin’s house, while he was supposed to be in self-imposed exile at his flat pretending that Christmas was just a bad dream.
“Do you want a drink?” he asked
“Oh yes please” she replied and Steve got up and went to the kitchen returning a few minutes later with a steaming mug of tea
“Thanks hon” she said and winced at her involuntary over familiarization and quickly went on.
“I don’t know what we are going to eat today” Holly said
“We will need to ferret in the freezer”
“I didn’t know ferret was traditional Christmas fare” Steve said “but I’m no expert on Christmas.
“You know what I mean” she said smiling “Can you cook?”
“A bit” he replied
“Good because I’m rubbish” Holly admitted
Steve actually undersold himself when he said he could cook a bit
He could in fact cook very well, exceptionally well.
Steve not being a traditionalist or a fan of the season could certainly make something out of what was on hand in the kitchen.
Holly however wanted to have a roast lunch, with all the trimmings, but after they checked the freezer they had to rule out a roast dinner as the joints would never have defrosted in time, and they were too big for the microwave and as they were frozen hard, impossible to cut down to size, but there were alternatives.
The fresh vegetable stores were limited but more than sufficient for two people.
Although she couldn’t cook herself, Holly was determined to help, firstly by peeling the potatoes and carrots and then by getting out of his way so he could get on by taking herself off upstairs to get ready for the day.
While Holly was gone Steve finished preparing the food and when he was done he was very pleased that he had achieved something to suit Holly’s traditional wishes, at least in part.
(Part 03)
Steve Berry had just reached the point where he could safely leave the kitchen and get showered and shaved when Holly reappeared and he was stopped in his tracks.
She looked stunning, her mousy hair, washed and styled was adorned with Christmas slides and she was wearing a white wool dress decorated with poinsettias.
And her shapely legs were covered by black tights with motifs of bows and parcels and as he looked at her from head to toe he thought to himself that he’d like them to be stockings rather than tights, but nice legs were nice legs regardless of what they were sheathed in.
“Wow” Steve exclaimed
“Wow” he said again and Holly blushed
“It’s a Christmas dress you know” she said
“I don’t care” he said “wow”
“But you don’t like Christmas” she pointed out
“It’s growing on me” he said unable to take his eyes off her
“Good” she said “you won’t mind wearing this then”
When would he ever learn, he now had to wear another blessed Christmas sweater.
“Where do you keep getting them from?” he asked
“They’re Uncle Phil’s” she replied “I buy him one every year”
“But I’ve never seen Phil in a Christmas jumper, not ever” Steve said
“No nor of I” Holly agreed
Steve went upstairs, showered and shaved and returned to find Holly had laid a table in the lounge bar, complete with festive serviettes, candles, party poppers and crackers.
On the CD player the Puppini Sisters were in full voice and his natural aversion to Christmas music was tempered by the fact that he caught Holly singing and dancing along with the music.
He stayed out of sight in the doorway so he could enjoy the spectacle as long as possible.
When she eventually became aware of him she blushed redder than the poinsettias on her dress.
“How long have you been standing there?” she said suddenly flustered and began fussing with the table.
“Long enough” Steve replied
“You should have said something” Holly said as she headed towards the kitchen still flushed red
“What and spoil the show” he replied as he followed close behind her and chuckled.
Holly carried on with the table while Steve checked the oven and ten minutes later he was transferring everything to serving dishes which Holly took to the table.
All he had left to do was make the gravy and get the Yorkshire puddings out of the oven.
Christmas dinner was as traditional as he could manage given the limits of the provisions available but it was Holly’s turn to say “Wow” as he served Chicken breast wrapped in bacon, served with Roast potatoes, roast parsnips, carrots, peas, stuffing and Yorkshire pudding.
“What no starters” she said tongue in cheek
Holly lit the candles and Steve opened the wine, then they pulled the crackers and she made him wear a paper hat.
For desert he served apple pie and ice cream after which they watched the Queens speech.
(Part 04)
As soon as the Queens speech was over Holly switched off the TV
“What now?” he asked
“Now we sit and talk” She replied
“You mean “talk”” Steve said
“Yes”
“Do we have to” He said “It’s been such a lovely day”
“How are we supposed to learn about each other if we don’t talk?”
Holly replied
“So what do you want to know?” he said resignedly
“You’re childhood” Holly said with great interest
“What about it?” he replied
“Well, it’s not just Christmas that was unhappy was it”
“No it wasn’t” he replied and Holly settled back to let him unburden himself
“It wasn’t just Christmas, it was New Year’s, Easter, Halloween and birthdays”
He paused and took a drink
“You see my parents were alcoholics, when I was young they managed to somehow keep it under control and were functioning alcoholics, they held down jobs and to the outside world they seemed normal.
But once I got to school age I pretty much raised myself, which is how I came to learn to cook, because if I didn’t cook I didn’t eat”
They had spent a very pleasant Christmas day together, snowed in at the pub, the last thing he wanted to do was regurgitate the unpleasant moments of his life, particularly as he had been doing his best to forget them.
But once he started he couldn’t stop and by the end of it he was exhausted as they sat in the gathering darkness.
Holly was largely quiet throughout and just added the odd word of encouragement and support.
Holly broke the short period of silence.
“How do you feel?”
“Surprisingly good” he responded
However, despite his feeling unburdened by the lengthy afternoon revelations there was an awkward silence in the aftermath, so Steve disappeared down to the kitchen to make them both a snack.
He wondered if he should have held back and if he had unnerved Holly with his total honesty.
“I should have drip fed her” he said as he walked around the kitchen “Let her absorb it and then I could have said more, but no, you had to blurt out every sordid detail of your pathetic life and now she probably thinks you’re a nut job”
When he had finished with the rant and the snack he put it on a tray and carried it upstairs to the lounge where Holly greeted his arrival with a smile, but not a nervous smile, it was a kindly open smile, from someone happy to see him return.
“God that was good” Holly said after consuming the snack he had prepared with relish.
“Every cloud has a silver lining” he said referring to the reason that he had learned to cook in the first place.
“There is always a positive in life” Holly said sagely “you just have to look for it”
“Well that’s what I plan to do” he said and cleared the plates away
“I’ll pour us another drink” He added
(Part 05)
When Steve returned to the lounge Holly was sitting on the sofa with a Christmas present on her lap and she was smiling broadly.
“Happy Christmas” she said as she handed him the gift
“What’s this?” he asked
“Well open it and find out” Holly answered
“I wasn’t expecting a present” Steve said and sat down beside her on the sofa and squeezed the package
“Oh no not another Christmas sweater” he said and Holly giggled as he tore the paper open.
But when he had removed all the paper and unfolded its contents he saw that although it was indeed a sweater, it was not a novelty Christmas one like those she had made him wear for the previous ten days but a plain blue one in cashmere.
“That’s fantastic” he said enthusiastically “I love it
“Try it on then” Holly insisted and stood up
Holly took hold of the new one while Steve removed the one he was wearing and then they swapped.
As Steve pulled the cashmere over his head Holly held the novelty one he had just removed up to her nose and inhaled his scent.
“That looks great” she said when he had put it on
“It feels it” he said “can I keep it on?”
“Yes” she said and held the other one to her breast and he walked over to the Christmas tree and plunged his hand in between the branches.
It was perhaps testament to the progress that he had made over such a short period of time that he had actually bought her a present, which he removed from its hiding place and said
“Happy Christmas”
“When did you put that there?” she asked in amazement
“This morning” Steve replied
“That was sneaky” Holly said and ripped the paper off like a mad woman until she was left with a little blue presentation box embossed with gold relief.
She looked at it in wide eyed wonder, it was jewelry, he had bought her jewelry and from a quality jeweler’s.
Holly took a deep breath and then opened the box and then she gasped.
“It’s lovely” she said as she took it out the box and held the gold pendant in her hand.
It was in the shape of a holly leaf and it had her name engraved on it.
“I love it, I absolutely love it” she said “put it on for me”
Steve took the pendant from her and when Holly turned her back to him, she reached back and scooped her hair out of the way while he fastened it.
Then she went to the mirror, stood on her tiptoes and looked at herself and admired the pendant.
“I really love it” Holly said and then she let out a squeal as she rushed towards him and then for the second day running they ended the day with a passionate kiss.
Thursday 26 January 2017
A Jamboree Bag of Christmas # 3
BRUMALIA
In the Roman Empire on the great day of December 25th, came the Brumalia or festival of the shortest day. A day of great religious significance for the sun-worshipers.
This day was also known as Natalis Solus Invicti or the "Birth of the Unconquerable Sun"
This was the time when the day began again to lengthen.
In the fifth century the Western Church ordered Christmas to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol.
SATURNALIA
Saturnalia was a period of the year that was one of great festivity for the pagan Romans.
The four day celebration of Saturnalia began on December 17th with the feast of the god Saturn, the Roman deity of seed and sowing.
"The Roman Saturnalia was characterized by processions, singing, lighting candles, adorning houses with laurels and green trees, giving presents."
Many of these have passed into modern day Christmas celebrations.
A major part of the pagan Saturnalia festival was ritual turning everything upside-down which abolished for a short while the distinction of ranks, a reversal of all order and dignities where slaves were served by masters, soldiers served by their officers, a tradition which is still carried out today in the British armed forces.
TOPSY TURVEY
A major part of the Romans pagan Saturnalia festival, the ritual turning everything upside-down and the temporary loss of the distinction of ranks, a reversal of all order and dignities where slaves were served by masters, soldiers served by their officers passed on into the British Christmas celebrations.
It was probable a remnant of the roman culture left behind when the great empire first shrunk and then fell.
The custom was carried out to great lengths at Christmastime in England during the middle Ages.
It was customary to appoint a "Lord of Misrule" or an "Abbot of Unreason" or even the 'Lord of Merry Disport' who presided over the blasphemous foolery and this appointment was normally made by a significant noble.
However in England an 'Abbot of Misrule' was chosen in every large household though in Scotland it was an 'Abbot of Unreason'.
During the thankfully short term of the festival he was the master of the house.
The church hierarchy frowned upon this Blasphemy but had to put a brave face on it.
Church leaders would certainly not approve of the fact that it was quite customary even for the clergy to indulge in the paganism.
Thankfully the early Puritans who witnessed the jolly antics of the grotesque fools abolished the practise, the only good thing they ever did, and when the puritans lost their power the practise was never revived.
There is still a tradition within the British Armed forces and the Metropolitan Police service where the lower ranks are served Christmas dinner by the officers but that is all that survives.
EPIPHANY
January 5th or twelfth night marks the climax of the Christmas season.
The twelve days of Christmas are counted from December 25th until twelfth night.
The season of Christmas begins with the first Sunday of Advent and concludes with Epiphany.
The period between Christmas day and epiphany is referred to as Christmastide.
Epiphany usually shares the white and gold, colours of Christmas denoting celebration, newness, and hope.
But epiphany has a much more significant meaning to the Christian as it marks the time when the magi were the first gentiles to acknowledge Jesus as "king" and this act of worship by the magi,
Was a message to the world that Jesus came for all people, of all nations, of all races, and of all faiths.
GLUHWEIN
Gluhwein is a traditional German mulled wine served containing cloves to warm against the bitter winter days.
It is traditionally served at the many German outdoor Christmas markets to keep the customers warm and full of Christmas cheer.
THREE KINGS DAY
Three Kings Day is celebrated on January 6th, twelve days after Christmas and is the last day of the Christmas season.
Three Kings Day or Día de los Reyes is Also known as The Epiphany, the Christian celebration commemorating the Biblical story of the three kings Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar who followed the star of Bethlehem to bring gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Christ child.
Traditionally in Spanish speaking countries, Three Kings Day is the time for gift-giving, rather than Christmas day.
In some regions it IS customary for children to leave their shoes out on the night of January 5 hoping the Three Kings will be generous, the children’s shoes will often be filled with hay for the Kings camels.
When the Spanish children wake on January 6 they find the hay has gone and their shoes are filled with toys and gifts.
TRADITIONAL GLUHWEIN RECIPE
Ingredients:
1 bottle red wine
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 cloves
2 sticks of cinnamon
Orange and lemon peel
Instructions:
With the exception of the wine boil all ingredients together and reduce the volume by half.
Remove from the heat Strain and then add the Wine.
Return to the heat bringing the mixture to the boil but not boiling.
Remove from the heat and Serve hot.
TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS PUNCH RECIPE
Ingredients:
2 pints of water
8oz sugar
Half a bottle of rum
Half a bottle port
The juice and rind of 3 lemons
1 sliced apple
1 sliced orange
Grated nutmeg
Instructions:
Add the sugar and lemon rind to the water in a saucepan and boil. Remove from the heat and when cool strain before adding the rum, port and lemon juice.
Decant into large a pre-warmed punch bowl and float the sliced apple and orange on the top and finally sprinkle with nutmeg.
CHRISTMAS ALE
Most brewers will produce a robust and full bodied winter ale in time for the Christmas festivities.
It will be called Winter Warmer, Christmas ale, Winter ale or any combination of all the above.
In the 21st century when all the bars are stocked with many and various insipid imported lagers and the infamous Alco pops I just hope the brewers continue producing the traditional Christmas tipple
In the Roman Empire on the great day of December 25th, came the Brumalia or festival of the shortest day. A day of great religious significance for the sun-worshipers.
This day was also known as Natalis Solus Invicti or the "Birth of the Unconquerable Sun"
This was the time when the day began again to lengthen.
In the fifth century the Western Church ordered Christmas to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol.
SATURNALIA
Saturnalia was a period of the year that was one of great festivity for the pagan Romans.
The four day celebration of Saturnalia began on December 17th with the feast of the god Saturn, the Roman deity of seed and sowing.
"The Roman Saturnalia was characterized by processions, singing, lighting candles, adorning houses with laurels and green trees, giving presents."
Many of these have passed into modern day Christmas celebrations.
A major part of the pagan Saturnalia festival was ritual turning everything upside-down which abolished for a short while the distinction of ranks, a reversal of all order and dignities where slaves were served by masters, soldiers served by their officers, a tradition which is still carried out today in the British armed forces.
TOPSY TURVEY
A major part of the Romans pagan Saturnalia festival, the ritual turning everything upside-down and the temporary loss of the distinction of ranks, a reversal of all order and dignities where slaves were served by masters, soldiers served by their officers passed on into the British Christmas celebrations.
It was probable a remnant of the roman culture left behind when the great empire first shrunk and then fell.
The custom was carried out to great lengths at Christmastime in England during the middle Ages.
It was customary to appoint a "Lord of Misrule" or an "Abbot of Unreason" or even the 'Lord of Merry Disport' who presided over the blasphemous foolery and this appointment was normally made by a significant noble.
However in England an 'Abbot of Misrule' was chosen in every large household though in Scotland it was an 'Abbot of Unreason'.
During the thankfully short term of the festival he was the master of the house.
The church hierarchy frowned upon this Blasphemy but had to put a brave face on it.
Church leaders would certainly not approve of the fact that it was quite customary even for the clergy to indulge in the paganism.
Thankfully the early Puritans who witnessed the jolly antics of the grotesque fools abolished the practise, the only good thing they ever did, and when the puritans lost their power the practise was never revived.
There is still a tradition within the British Armed forces and the Metropolitan Police service where the lower ranks are served Christmas dinner by the officers but that is all that survives.
EPIPHANY
January 5th or twelfth night marks the climax of the Christmas season.
The twelve days of Christmas are counted from December 25th until twelfth night.
The season of Christmas begins with the first Sunday of Advent and concludes with Epiphany.
The period between Christmas day and epiphany is referred to as Christmastide.
Epiphany usually shares the white and gold, colours of Christmas denoting celebration, newness, and hope.
But epiphany has a much more significant meaning to the Christian as it marks the time when the magi were the first gentiles to acknowledge Jesus as "king" and this act of worship by the magi,
Was a message to the world that Jesus came for all people, of all nations, of all races, and of all faiths.
GLUHWEIN
Gluhwein is a traditional German mulled wine served containing cloves to warm against the bitter winter days.
It is traditionally served at the many German outdoor Christmas markets to keep the customers warm and full of Christmas cheer.
THREE KINGS DAY
Three Kings Day is celebrated on January 6th, twelve days after Christmas and is the last day of the Christmas season.
Three Kings Day or Día de los Reyes is Also known as The Epiphany, the Christian celebration commemorating the Biblical story of the three kings Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar who followed the star of Bethlehem to bring gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Christ child.
Traditionally in Spanish speaking countries, Three Kings Day is the time for gift-giving, rather than Christmas day.
In some regions it IS customary for children to leave their shoes out on the night of January 5 hoping the Three Kings will be generous, the children’s shoes will often be filled with hay for the Kings camels.
When the Spanish children wake on January 6 they find the hay has gone and their shoes are filled with toys and gifts.
TRADITIONAL GLUHWEIN RECIPE
Ingredients:
1 bottle red wine
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 cloves
2 sticks of cinnamon
Orange and lemon peel
Instructions:
With the exception of the wine boil all ingredients together and reduce the volume by half.
Remove from the heat Strain and then add the Wine.
Return to the heat bringing the mixture to the boil but not boiling.
Remove from the heat and Serve hot.
TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS PUNCH RECIPE
Ingredients:
2 pints of water
8oz sugar
Half a bottle of rum
Half a bottle port
The juice and rind of 3 lemons
1 sliced apple
1 sliced orange
Grated nutmeg
Instructions:
Add the sugar and lemon rind to the water in a saucepan and boil. Remove from the heat and when cool strain before adding the rum, port and lemon juice.
Decant into large a pre-warmed punch bowl and float the sliced apple and orange on the top and finally sprinkle with nutmeg.
CHRISTMAS ALE
Most brewers will produce a robust and full bodied winter ale in time for the Christmas festivities.
It will be called Winter Warmer, Christmas ale, Winter ale or any combination of all the above.
In the 21st century when all the bars are stocked with many and various insipid imported lagers and the infamous Alco pops I just hope the brewers continue producing the traditional Christmas tipple
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