Wednesday was St Lucy’s Day and after darkness had fully descended proceedings began with a celebration service and then after the Church service a parade of school children from the local schools processed through the town carrying their Lucy lights and then threw them onto the bonfire to light the Lucy fire in the park.
It was all very pagan and a
Swedish tradition originally, a mixture of the Christian and the pagan really,
something that the Victorian’s introduced to the island more than a hundred and
forty years earlier.
It is believed that St Lucy’s
light can lengthen the days and the St Lucy’s day festival was always well
attended as it’s such a unique event.
Christians from all the
islands churches attended the service and a healthy crowd both church and
secular turned out for the parade, even the odd humanist had been known to turn
up.
Lee Barnaby had unwittingly
got Steve Sharpe involved with the Church again as a result of their friendship
and apparently rekindled the flickering flame of his faith.
Also on Wednesday Molly and
Danny drove up to Abbottsford where they were spending the next two nights at
the Regents Hotel.
They drove straight there,
where they had a long leisurely lunch with publisher Max Parsons, where they
discussed a book signing tour in Australia, New Zealand and the far east, then
that evening they saw a play at The Empire Theatre and had dinner at The Wooden
Slipper.
Lily Beales was head of
housekeeping at the Beaumont Manor Hotel and was 5 feet 4 inches tall in her
stocking feet and was half a stone heavier than she should have been which was
thanks to her comfort eating.
She
wasn’t though disappointed with everything she saw in the mirror, she liked her
legs which she thought were quite shapely and her hair which she thought of as
her crowning glory, which was long, straight and light brown, and she was in a
long standing relationship, and the recipient of her favours, and the reason
for the comfort eating, was Adrian Greig,
28 year old Paramedic and part time firefighter who had been away on the
mainland on a month long residential training course.
Lily
and her family arrived at St Joan of Arc Church for St Lucy’s Day service and
milled around at the back of the Church chatting to some of the other
congregants, until it was time to take their seats, but as they walked down the
aisle, a murmur rumbled around those already seated and when Lily turned around
to investigate, she saw a figure walking towards her and she couldn’t believe
her eyes.
“Adrian?”
she exclaimed
“Were
you expecting some other hero?” he asked, and she launched herself at him and
wrapped her arms around his neck.
During the St Lucy’s event
Sally Swift had been in the coffee shop serving refreshments.
At the end of the evening the
shop was deserted, apart from Sally who was packing up.
When she saw Steve Sharpe
walk in, she quickly fussed with her hair.
“Hello Sally” he said, and
she instantly got very flustered
“Oh, oh, good evening, Steve”
she said and moved awkwardly to the counter
“Everyone appears to be going
home” he said
“Yes, it’s getting late” she
replied
Steve walked towards her.
“Here’s my chance” he said to
himself “Ask her now while there’s no one around”
So, he took a deep breath and
prepared to ask her as out, he was leaving the island at the weekend so time
was running out but before he could get the words out, she said
“So I’m closing up on my own
tonight”
“Let me help then” he offered
“Thank you, Steve” she said
smiling coyly and between the two of them they soon made light work of it and
when the last of the chairs and tables were inside, he said
“Well that’s everything”
“Thank you, Steve,” she said
and beamed him a beautiful smile so he thought he would test the measure of the
smile
“If there’s nothing else,
I’ll be going” he said, and the smile left her face
“No, no” she said “come in,
come in”
And she pulled him forcefully
aside, so she could close the door
“You must have a hot drink”
she insisted, “You must be very cold, come on in”
This was a side of her he had
never seen before, and when the door was closed and the shutter was down, she
led him through the shop, and behind the counter and the lovely Sally went to
the sink to fill the kettle.
Steve didn’t think she wanted
a hot drink any more than he did, so he walked up behind her and put his hands
round her waist and breathed in her perfume as he kissed her ear and neck
“Oh Steve” she sighed
“I don’t really want a hot
drink,” he said
“Ok” she said and put the
kettle down before turning to face him
“Perhaps you would like a
soft drink or a beer” she suggested but he ignored her and before she could
speak again, he kissed her and the moment his lips touched hers she locked onto
his mouth like a limpet and her arms gripped him around the neck like a bear
trap and the shyness was gone along with his need to ask her out, he very
definitely had his answer.
While Sally and Steve were
kissing in the coffee shop Cheryl and Lee were kissing in the vestry.
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