October 2021 – Page 5 – derrickjknight

A Knight’s Tale (45: Far Less Traffic)

There were three weeks between my interview at Kingston and starting the job at Tolworth Tower. One question I had been asked was “How do you feel about driving?”. Not mentioning that I had never even sat in a driving seat, I replied that I felt it was just a way of getting from one place to another.

Jackie and I each had passed first time and each had made an error we thought would fail us, had another attempt, and got it right. Jackie’s was a hill start. Mine was reversing round a corner. I still remember feeling the rear nearside wheel touching the kerb. I stopped, came forward, straightened up, and then made a perfect turn. I must have been advised that that was the thing to do.

Just in case anyone is thinking that I am feeling smug about having passed my test first time, especially after only three weeks at the wheel, please let me disillusion you. Just days after I began life as an Assistant Child Care Officer in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (I had passed my test on the day I started the job), I used the Borough mini to drive myself from Tolworth Tower in Chessington to the Guildhall in Kingston. I had no idea where to park or what the various coloured lines outside the building meant. It was as far back as December 1966, so I was actually able to take the car there. ‘I won’t be long; I’ll leave it here’, I said to myself as I left the borrowed vehicle right outside the cast iron gates. I entered the building and secured the loan cheque for which I had come that was the purchase price of my Hillman Imp. So far, so good. I left the building. The unmolested little mini was still there. Intact. Getting away from the awkward position in which I had left the car required at least a three point turn. Easy peasy. I’d done it in my test. Reversing perfectly, turning the steering wheel appropriately, I gently approached the gate to stop and make the next turn. Then I made my fatal mistake. Coming to a standstill requires the use of a brake. So I applied it. I thought. Actually I hit the accelerator. And the mini hit the gate. And stayed on it. Stuck. The railings having given the bonnet a suitably serrated outline.

That took a certain amount of living down.

It was soon after this that I managed to run out of petrol on Piccadilly Circus alongside the statue of Eros. I carried off a spare can in search of a refill. When I returned my car was still there. More than 50 years ago there were no yellow lines, no clamping of cars; and far less traffic.

Ready For Her Close Up

This morning we drove Jan, Bob, and DeAna to New Milton station for the next stage of their journey to Switzerland. Jan e-mailed me three photographs taken on the platform for Waterloo.

Jackie and Jan by De;

Jan and Derrick by De;

and Bob and De by Jan.

A brief inspection of further storm damage revealed that Jackie’s favourite view from the stable door has been ruined by

a wind-blown lurch of the Wisteria Arbour.

Jackie had laid down the chairs on the decking, but simply closed up the parasol which had been lifted clear of the table through the centre of which it normally stands, and gently placed against the fence.

Plenty of flowers have, however, happily survived.

This afternoon we took a forest drive, intending to take the route to Pilley via Undershore.

A large tree had, however, been thrown across the now puddly path, so a reverse sweep was required on a lane requiring a numerous point turn.

As can be seen the day began with strong sunshine. This rapidly deteriorated into one of bright, brief, sunny spells forcing their way between dark, heavy, showers pattering on the car roof; spreading racing, rippling, rivulets such that the wipers could not keep pace to provide clear vision; and turning my T-shirt into a wet dishcloth when I stepped out at Pilley lake to photograph its current condition.

The water was now filling up, so that the lone pig which had a couple of weeks ago been part of a group that had frolicked over the dry bed must have been disappointed as it

stood on the surrounding landscape.

Rain now pelted where porkers had pootled.

On Cadnam Lane ponies reflected on pools; sheltered from the rain; or failed to dry their hair after another downpour.

Pigs were unperturbed by the elements, one was certainly ready for her close up.

This evening we sat at our lonely table and raised our glasses, containing more of the Sauvignon Blanc, and Chevalier de Fauvert Comté Tolosan Rouge 2019, to absent friends while reprising last night’s repast of sausages in red wine.

Under The Red Umbrella

This morning I posted https://derrickjknight.com/2021/10/02/a-knights-tale-44-a-concerned-single-father/

Later, with the storm winds blowing at 50+ m.p.h. and the pelting rain bouncing off the Prebendal School red umbrella that she struggled to hold aloft, a cheerful Jan wandered round the garden, determined to photograph the plants she had got to know through WordPress. Negotiating the various arches was managed most adroitly, despite the danger of taking to the air like Mary Poppins.

I, of course, lurked with camera,

trying not to look too closely at further damage.

Later, Jan, De, and Jackie enjoyed ‘Miss Potter’ on Netflix, and after one of Jackie’s splendid cold meats and salad lunches, the others all went shopping while I amused myself with WordPress and administration.

‘As Good As It Gets’ was the next Netflix fix, after which we dined on Jackie’s most flavoursome sausages in red wine; creamy mashed potatoes and suede; firm carrots, cauliflower and broccoli; and tender runner beans. Bruce Jack Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Apothic Californian red wine 2019, and 1000 Stories Zinfandel 2018 were consumed.

A Knight’s Tale (44: A Concerned Single Father)

Woodland sunlight I noticed in the New Forest in October 13th, 2012, took me back to July 1967. It was in a wood in Sussex that Michael and I had stopped off for a play en route to Brighton where, the summer after Vivien died, I planned a bed-and-breakfast tour of the south coast with our son.

The photograph I took of that scene could well have been captioned ‘Where’s Michael?’. After our break we travelled on to Brighton to find a bed and breakfast establishment. Of course we had to spend some time on the beach first. Although the weather was hot and humid the sky was completely overcast, so I thought a short time would be safe enough. Not so. After 50 minutes Michael was covered in blisters which required dressing in a hospital casualty department. The nurse there was very understanding and gentle in her explanation to this rather daft Dad that the sun can penetrate cloud cover and blonds burn more easily than people with dark hair. That was the end of our holiday. Michael was safer whilst I was able to receive the benefit of advice from Veronica Rivett, my future mother-in-law, with whom we then stayed.

This was the year that my little boy began Day Nursery attendance, in order to give my own mother respite from sharing herself between Michael and his Uncle Joseph, just three years older. By then I was working as an Assistant Child Care Officer in Kingston. I would travel from Kingston to Wimbledon to pick him up by 6.00 p.m.

One evening I arrived to find him missing. “Where [wa]s he?”, I asked, to be told that he had been taken to hospital because he had had a fit. No attempt had been made to contact me. No apparent knowledge of the history that had led to his admission to the nursery. Perhaps a concerned single father was beyond their ken.

I was able to collect him because he had apparently undergone infantile convulsions following a measles vaccination. There are details of this event that I can’t quite remember. My mother could probably have filled me in, but she is no longer with us.

Photographing Forest Fauna

From late morning Jackie drove our visitors and me around the forest. De had walked down to the coast at Milford where we joined her.

Jan photographed De seated beneath an umbrella, where their daughter was joined first by her father and then by her mother.

Choppy waves threw up creamy spray before sliding up and slipping back down the crunching shingle beach.

The trio walked along the clifftop promenade and down the steps toe the sea level.

Pannage pigs at Pilley snuffled and snorted their way around the verges.

We stopped for a drink at the Fleur de Lys, to find that it had been under new management for just a week. This prompted us to book a table for this evening.

Jan photographed and conversed with donkeys beside Beaulieu Lake, the banks of which

a preening swan and cygnets shared with gulls,

while one of the young swans reflected on the surface over which a crow took to the air.

At East Boldre we stepped out to photograph ponies casting shadows as the sun emerged.

This evening’s meal at the Fleur de Lys was excellent. We shared starters of Thai Fish Cakes and Belly of Pork; Jackie and I enjoyed Burger mains; I am not sure what the others chose; we all finished with sticky toffee pudding. We shared a bottle of Pinot Grigio and a Mendoza Argentine Malbec. I completed the meal with a Bailey’s, Jackie abstained and the others drank varieties of gin.