the house. Particularly during the winter months, and even on days he did work outside, he intended working on the house in the evenings. And luckily there were many jobs, like stripping the woodwork of chipped paint, that wouldn’t cost much - except time. Mike got up and put more wood on the fire. He was enjoying his new duties as stoker and slumped back into his chair, smiling happily as he did so. All things considered they were having a pleasant evening, and even Mandy’s ‘music’ had stopped.
‘This is nice, Darl,’ Mike sighed contentedly and lit up a cigarette.
‘Yeah, ‘tis love, we could do with more evenings like this,’ Jan clacked away at her knitting.
‘Yes very nice indeed,’ Mike mused, getting back to his job list.
‘Daad,’ Mandy drawled, ‘why is there water dripping from the ceiling. It’s going all over the piano.
S IX
‘Come on up, Jan, have a look at our bedroom, we’ve just finished doing it out.’ They climbed the traditional wooden stairway, the walls of which were painted in a bilious shade of lilac. The original balustrades and side rails had also recently been cleaned, varnished and renovated back to natural wood.
‘Here we are,’ Chris opened the door with an artistic flourish, ‘what do you think?’
‘Oo, lilac coloured walls in here as well, oh, the bedding and carpet too, and the curtains, very nice Chris,’ Jan lied.
‘I like lilac,’ Chris gave a sigh of satisfaction and pleasure at her choice of colour. I can see that, Jan thought, somewhat overpowered by so much, well, lilac.
‘I’ll be pleased when we can get started on our place, it’s a wreck at the moment,’ Jan commented, frowning a little at the prospect of the expense.
‘Don’t worry; you’ll sort it out eventually. It took us years to get all this done, and we still haven’t finished. These very old houses always need something done to them.’ Chris walked to the large double bed and sat on one corner.
‘Look Jan, if you sit here you can see down the valley towards your place. I hardly ever draw the curtains. It’s great looking at the sky when lying in bed.’
Jan sat beside her. ‘Oh yes I can just see the chimney of our house. Talking of chimneys, ours caught fire last night, God, what a mess it made. And then would you believe it, the water tank overflowed. Something went wrong with the cut out switch, or something. So, more expense, and Mike said we’ve had fire and flood lets hope we don’t get pestilence next. Still it is a wonderful view. Just fields and woods, its lovely. Mind you, from our bedroom we can see down towards the village too. And we haven’t any curtains at all at the minute either. We’re all very lucky seeing all this from our beds. Beats the town, eh?’
‘Yeah, I suppose so, but don’t you miss people, streets full of men,’ she gave a rather wry laugh, adding more thoughtfully, ‘and women of course? I miss the excitement of town, I was brought up in Newcastle so I’m used to big cities. Keith has always lived in the country, his mother and father are still farming.’
They continued sitting side-by-side staring out of the window as they talked.
‘No I don’t,’ Jan said emphatically, ‘I like the quiet life and one man is enough for me, Mike is a lovely husband,’ Jan wasn’t used to making such comments, and she giggled, self-consciously.
‘I get a bit lonely sometimes, especially at night when the dog starts barking at God knows what. Keith is a way quite a lot at the moment; well he has been for the last year actually. His father isn’t very well so he goes back up Newcastle way to help out whenever he’s got a couple of days to spare. He will be back home tonight, but when he’s here he’s off out at all hours, day and night. On business, he says, I’m not complaining he’s a good husband and most things I want, I get.’She gave Jan a little smile and a wink, and continued the rather false exposé. ‘And he’s good at,
‘This is nice, Darl,’ Mike sighed contentedly and lit up a cigarette.
‘Yeah, ‘tis love, we could do with more evenings like this,’ Jan clacked away at her knitting.
‘Yes very nice indeed,’ Mike mused, getting back to his job list.
‘Daad,’ Mandy drawled, ‘why is there water dripping from the ceiling. It’s going all over the piano.
S IX
‘Come on up, Jan, have a look at our bedroom, we’ve just finished doing it out.’ They climbed the traditional wooden stairway, the walls of which were painted in a bilious shade of lilac. The original balustrades and side rails had also recently been cleaned, varnished and renovated back to natural wood.
‘Here we are,’ Chris opened the door with an artistic flourish, ‘what do you think?’
‘Oo, lilac coloured walls in here as well, oh, the bedding and carpet too, and the curtains, very nice Chris,’ Jan lied.
‘I like lilac,’ Chris gave a sigh of satisfaction and pleasure at her choice of colour. I can see that, Jan thought, somewhat overpowered by so much, well, lilac.
‘I’ll be pleased when we can get started on our place, it’s a wreck at the moment,’ Jan commented, frowning a little at the prospect of the expense.
‘Don’t worry; you’ll sort it out eventually. It took us years to get all this done, and we still haven’t finished. These very old houses always need something done to them.’ Chris walked to the large double bed and sat on one corner.
‘Look Jan, if you sit here you can see down the valley towards your place. I hardly ever draw the curtains. It’s great looking at the sky when lying in bed.’
Jan sat beside her. ‘Oh yes I can just see the chimney of our house. Talking of chimneys, ours caught fire last night, God, what a mess it made. And then would you believe it, the water tank overflowed. Something went wrong with the cut out switch, or something. So, more expense, and Mike said we’ve had fire and flood lets hope we don’t get pestilence next. Still it is a wonderful view. Just fields and woods, its lovely. Mind you, from our bedroom we can see down towards the village too. And we haven’t any curtains at all at the minute either. We’re all very lucky seeing all this from our beds. Beats the town, eh?’
‘Yeah, I suppose so, but don’t you miss people, streets full of men,’ she gave a rather wry laugh, adding more thoughtfully, ‘and women of course? I miss the excitement of town, I was brought up in Newcastle so I’m used to big cities. Keith has always lived in the country, his mother and father are still farming.’
They continued sitting side-by-side staring out of the window as they talked.
‘No I don’t,’ Jan said emphatically, ‘I like the quiet life and one man is enough for me, Mike is a lovely husband,’ Jan wasn’t used to making such comments, and she giggled, self-consciously.
‘I get a bit lonely sometimes, especially at night when the dog starts barking at God knows what. Keith is a way quite a lot at the moment; well he has been for the last year actually. His father isn’t very well so he goes back up Newcastle way to help out whenever he’s got a couple of days to spare. He will be back home tonight, but when he’s here he’s off out at all hours, day and night. On business, he says, I’m not complaining he’s a good husband and most things I want, I get.’She gave Jan a little smile and a wink, and continued the rather false exposé. ‘And he’s good at,
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