General Chat

There are some that remember The Village - some that have never heard of it. It was a serial on here and I used to write for it, along with many others. It got so that there were only two regular contributors - me and Sarah so we made the decision to take it onto a website of it's own called Kingslawton. It's my last day on GR today, so as a parting shot or gift, however you want to look at it, I'm going to post the extract that made Scatty Jan spit tea all over Rick's computer. The stories aren't all funny, nor are they all serious, it's a mix that hopefully entertains. Please go and have a look. Mags xxx

‘Oh Dolly, then why?’ ‘Because my own damned pride got in the way! I couldn’t admit that the house was not mine to do as I liked with, could I? I made a good proposition for someone, nice house, the appearance of being quite well off. I couldn’t tell the truth! They would have found out if…’ Her voice is lost in a small sob. ‘That wouldn’t have mattered if that person was really interested in you.’ ‘I realise that now.’ Her cup shakes as she sips her tea. ‘Let’s not dwell on it. Let’s talk about Jay and Katie.’ She says determinedly. ‘Nothing much to tell you that you don’t know already I expect but they are getting married early next week.’ Nelly’s brow furrows in concentration. ‘Can’t remember the name of the place they’re going now but it’ll be hot and sunny.’ ‘Oh, lovely. No need for balaclavas there then’ Doris forces a chuckle. ‘Nelly laughs. ‘No, no balaclavas but I expect there'll be no end of...' She glances up and, meeting Doris's stare on the way down, clears her throat. 'Er...Then they’re coming back and having a blessing at the church.’ Her brow wrinkles again. ‘I’m sure he said Christmastime but I could be getting muddled.’ ‘Do you think they would mind if I went along?’ ‘Of course they wouldn’t mind! It’s not as though anyone can stop people from going into the church anyway, it won’t be by invitation only!’ ‘I think they were the start of it.’ Doris says meditatively, staring into her cup. ‘Start of what? I can’t keep up with all this unjoined up thinking!’ ‘Katie was so kind to me when I was…you know….after Ralph and she didn’t really know me at all and as for Jay..’ ‘You fancy him?’ Nelly giggles. ‘Wish I were fifty years younger!’ Doris’s reverie breaks. ‘Oh Nelly, you are awful! No, he was very kind too over that….other business.’ ‘The knicker nicker.’ ‘Shush! Yes. He got the outside light sorted for me and his brother wouldn’t take a penny in return and then there was the matter of the rat.’ ‘The rat?’ ‘Oh goodness me. didn’t I tell you?’ ‘No, you didn’t.’ ‘Little Sandy brought it into the house, quite dead but you know I have a horror of those things. I am ashamed to say I ran out of the house and stood cowering on the green. Sandy thought it was a game and followed me with it. Chased me everywhere with it still in his mouth!’ She shudders. ‘I was almost on the verge of collapse! It was Jay that saw I was in trouble and came to my rescue.’ ‘He’s never mentioned it.’ ‘Because that is the sort of person I have come to realise he is. He would not have laughed at my expense. It was their unstinting kindness to me although I was very rude to them that started me thinking that perhaps people weren’t as black as I had painted them, that I could trust people. People weren’t laughing at me.’ ‘Only when they wear condoms on their head.’ Nelly titters. ‘That aside. You’re in a category of your own, I make special allowances for you.’ Doris says witheringly. ‘I never know whether you’re joking or not when you put that face on.’ ‘I’m trying to have a serious talk here.’ Doris chides. ‘I know, sorry. Carry on.’ ‘I spent forty years thinking the worst of people and it took Katie and Jay to make me see I shouldn’t. I owe them a great deal.’ ‘Have you told them that?’ ‘Oh, I couldn’t!’ ‘I think they would like to know that they have made a difference to someone else’s life too. When they came into mine, it was like…..like….sunshine!’ Nelly beams. ‘That’s it, sunshine.’ ‘Perhaps I will put a few words in their card. People will be sending cards won’t they?’ ‘I should think so. A nice little pile for when they come back.’ ‘What about gifts?’ ‘I honestly don’t know. Things have happened so quickly, I don’t think they’ve thought that far.’ ‘I’d like to give them a little something.’ ‘And I’m sure it will be appreciated. Shall we be really decadent and have a cream cake and another cuppa?’ Nelly hunches her shoulders in anticipation. ‘Oh. That would be very welcome. How’s William?’

‘Goodness me, it’s cold this morning.’ Doris Timmins shivers as the door of the Tea Rooms closes behind her. ‘Compared to last week. No wonder we get the sniffles.’ ‘Flippin eck, Dolly, Scott of the Antarctic. I thought we were being raided!’ Nelly Moss giggles. ‘What on earth have you got on?’ ‘I found a pattern in an old copy of Ladies Monthly…’ Doris says crisply as she takes the seat next to Nelly’s. ‘It must have been an old copy, that went out of circulation forty years ago! Not surprising, given the name.’ She adds in a undertone. ‘Who’d want to ask for that in the newsagents?’ ‘Never throw away what might be useful, Helen.’ Doris retorts. Nelly grimaces. ‘Hate to see your spare room. Tell you what, you don’t call me Helen and I’ll stop calling you Dolly.’ She says, transfixed by Doris’s headgear. ‘It’s back to tee shirts next week, according to the weatherman, must get myself one.’ Doris ignores her and continues. ‘The page was entitled ‘For the Man in Your Life’ but I thought, knitted in pink, it would do me just as well and for a chilly morning such as this, it has, hasn’t it?’ ‘I suppose you could use it as a shopping bag later when the sun comes out, it’s supposed to be quite warm this afternoon, you’ll roast.’ ‘You’ll eat your words when you get rheumatism in your head!’ ‘But, Doll…Doris….’ Nelly looks nonplussed. ‘You look like a condom with earflaps!’ Doris flushes as pink as her balaclava. ‘It’s warm!’ ‘Do those earflaps really work or are the buttons for decoration?’ Nelly peers at the neatly worked plain knitting that contrasts with the double moss stitch of the main part. ‘Of course they work!’ Doris puts her hand up to the side of her head. ‘Oh my giddy aunt! Matching mittens. It’s not that cold!’ ‘And these are very clever too.’ Doris says defensively and flips the top of one mitten to reveal fingerless gloves underneath. ‘Actually.’ Nelly notes the quaver in Doris’s voice. ‘They ARE a good idea. There’s nothing warmer than woolly gloves but it’s such a nuisance having to take them off when you’re paying for something. Would you make me some for winter?’ Doris blinks rapidly and flushes again. ‘There’s no need to humour me. I know perfectly well what a good knitter you are.’ ‘I’m not humouring you; I really would like you to make me some. The last pair of gloves I tried to make ended up with six fingers. God knows how! Anything else, I can do with my eyes shut but gloves? Not a chance.’ ‘I could do.’ Doris sniffs. ‘Tea, dear, please.’ She says to the waitress that arrives at the table. ‘I’ve upset you now, haven’t I?’ Nelly says as the waitress turns away. ‘Sorry Dolly.’ ‘Does it really look like a….’ ‘Condom? Yes.’ Nelly nods. ‘You would have been just as warm with a woolly pull on and a matching scarf, now that would look nice and a bit more seasonal.’ ‘Will everyone think…’ ‘The same way I do?’ She glances to the door that the waitress has just rushed through. ‘Probably. Come here, turn round.’ Nelly faces Doris as she turns towards her and deftly rolls the bottom of the balaclava until it sits above her eyebrows and tucks in the Pixie point on the top of her head. ‘That’s better.’ She tips her head to one side and then the other. ‘That doesn’t look half bad! You could get away with stitching that into place, I reckon.’ ‘Thank you, you’re a good friend.’ Doris smiles. ’Blunt but well meaning.’ Nelly giggles. ‘Thanks. I think.’

‘Now, tell me.’ Doris continues. ‘What’s this I hear about the Wakeley boy and the young lady from The Emporium?’ ‘She is not pregnant!’ Doris’s eyes widen and she looks affronted. ‘I wasn’t suggesting that she was! Nor was I trying to gossip.’ Nelly rolls her eyes apologetically. ‘Sorry. I’ve already fallen out with Veronica over it.’ ‘I wondered where she was this morning.’ Doris’s chin juts and her mouth tightens. ‘Some of the things she says sometimes..’ Nelly raises an eyebrow and smirks. Doris presses a pound coin into the waitress’s hand as she sets a cup in front of her and turns her attention back to Nelly. ‘Yes, I know I can be just as forthright but no one can ever accuse me of being malicious.’ ‘I don’t think Veronica is malicious or doesn’t intend being. I think she’s lonely.’ ‘Hardly surprising really is it?’ ‘Guess not.’ Nelly sighs. ‘Anyway, young Jay and Katie are getting married?’ Doris pulls off her mittens and lays them on the table, warming her hands around her cup. ‘They are. They decided to do it while they were away on holiday.’ Nelly confirms in an even voice, ready to come to their defence. ‘That’s what I heard. Oh, how romantic!’ ‘You think so?’ Nelly beams with surprise. ‘Oh yes. Good luck to them, I say.’ ‘Well, I have to say I never expected that from you.’ Nelly sits back in her chair. ‘And why not?’ Doris lifts her eyes, the question posed as a prelude to the first cautious, temperature-testing sip of tea. ‘Ok, bluntly.’ Nelly emphasises with a grin. ‘You can be quite old fashioned, a bit of a stick in the mud. You’re still living in the ten year engagement, ‘What are your prospects, young man?’ era where marriage is more of a business contract than anything to do with love. Impulse isn’t exactly a word in your vocabulary is it?’ She leans forward again and picks up her cup, swirling the remaining contents and taking a last mouthful. ‘Something I’ve come to realise very recently.’ Doris says sadly. ‘If I had known thirty odd years ago what I know now, I would have told Horace to stick his house where the sun don’t shine.’ Nelly splutters tea onto the tablecloth. ‘Doris!’ ‘I would!’ Doris sucks her bottom lip then gives an embarrassed laugh. ‘In a manner of speaking.’ ‘It was the manner of speaking that shocked me!’ ‘How could I have taken that lying down? I gave up any hope I had of finding happiness just to keep a roof over my head. Even from the grave he controlled me.’ ‘You were still a young woman, that much is true.’ Nelly agrees sympathetically. ‘A very lonely young woman that became…’ ‘A very lonely old one? You have friends, Dolly, good friends.’ ‘That’s nothing compared to having a good man in your life, is it?’ ‘You could have had a man.’ ‘I could but for whatever reason that made sense to me at the time, I didn’t. Something I will always regret.’ ‘This is all new to me.’ Doris looks up. ‘I want people to understand me. I think that’s it. There are not many that know what I went through. I’ve left it a bit late but I want people to understand why I was..am as I am.’ ‘Oh, Dolly.’ ‘All of my own making.’ She sits quietly for a few minutes, her mouth working. ‘Pride, my own stupid pride, I guess that’s the truth.’ ‘What truth?’ ‘The reason why I let my life slip away, why I wouldn’t or couldn’t let myself find happiness with someone else after Horace passed on. I had some interest, you know? I wasn’t so forbidding that men didn’t still find me attractive.’ ‘I know. There was that travelling salesman wasn’t there?’ ‘What do you know about that?’ Doris looks round quickly to make sure they aren’t being overheard. ‘Only that you had more polishes, dusters and brooms than anyone I knew!’ Nelly giggles. Doris blushes. ‘He never came any further than the doorstep.’ ‘But he would have?’ ‘He would. He asked me several times if I would care to have dinner with him and there were the little gifts.’

thanks for that Mags. Genius!! Have you and sarah thought about actually getting it published? Maybe serialised in a Womens mag? It certainly kept us intrigued Ann Glos

Thanks, Ann, that's very kind. Not sure we are good enough for publication yet awhile. I really like Nelly, she writes herself. I enjoy all of my characters but she's a favourite!

Mary, it went on for weeks. probably beginning 2006 was it Mags? Ann Glos

That is brilliant - must have been before my time on GR. You should try and get it published. Thanks for the taster. Take care Love Mary xxx

Ann - Oooooh - longer than that originally. It was an idea that stemmed from the Desert Island that Dorothy G dreamed up then it went through the SS Utopia and on to Chatston. Very different format then, more like the pub thread. It became more of a serial when I took it on and it changed to The Village. I'll have to have a look as to when that was. Our site has been going since September last year so probably a year before that??? Not sure without looking. Chatston was certainly on the go when I went to the first 'Gaynor' meet in Lewknor in October 2004 because Dorothy suggested I might like to join in - I did and loved it. I was only 2 characters then though, not the umpteen I am now LOL

Ah, I had not realised it was a continuation of Chatson and Utopia, that will be way back in 2004 then will it? Ann Glos

Not so much a continuation, it was and is very different from the original concept, it was just what came next LOL And that makes no sense to me either but I couldn't think how else to put it! I know what I mean. It was more of a serial/soap, more continuing stories than just odd posts and 'sketches'. *waves to Sylvia* Thanks for that - but I supposed it's too involved for some. They might have to use their imaginations a bit!

As always Mags... quite brilliant. So entertaining. I agree with Sylvia 100%. So pleased I popped in and saw this. Aaahhh those were the days :))) Jean x.

Daff - most of the characters are new to Kingslawton. There are one or two that were in The Village. Just g o o g l e Kingslawton! LOL It's a bit slow to get going perhaps and the last ten chapters are better than the first probably - writing wise that is. We are getting our hand in a bit now. Stick with it! LOL Hopefully the 'new look' site will be ready soon and will include summaries of each chapter which will make it easier to read. Stick it in your favourites and have a look again in a couple of weeks....or four....or six! LOL

little nudge cos it's me last chance LOL

I well remember The Village,,superb,, I was sitting in that cafe at the next table --wonders what the wedding present was,,,,,,,,,,??

Hi Mags Really enjoyed reading your extract - Thanks! I was eavesdropping with Kay on the next table - sipping a cuppa!!! Kaz x

Doris will be sooooo embarrassed! All these people knowing about her travelling salesman LOL Nobody told me what the pressie was - I'll have to ask and get them to mention it! There's loads more - lots of different characters and stories. Some swearing - not much but naughty words. I went hot the first time I published a 'bad' swear word without asterisks. I'm used to it now. LOL I hope you'll go and read more. I was trying to find which chapter of Kingslawton that extract was from - quite a way in I think. Thanks for the comments and byeeeee! You all take care. Mags xxx

Giving this one a nudge because I want to. Because if it wasn't for this site I wouldn't have such a wonderful lady to write with and I certainly wouldn't have had so many laughs. Sarah

Please, go and read Kingslawton ..... its the best thing on the net. Mags and Sarah .... go publish it ! Viv - former contributor to Chatston and The Village.

You're so right, Viv. Gwynne - former village schoolmistress and vodka lover