Friday 16 June 2017

Mornington-By-Mere – (82) Caterpillar Ride

(Part 01)

Downshire is a relatively small English county but like a pocket battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port, the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see, from the Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire Light infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton in the North but it’s in the east coast seaside town of Sharpington where our story takes place.

Sharpington-by-Sea is a traditional seaside resort complete with a Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, the Palladium ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre and illuminations, all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park.
The Fun was the first purpose built amusement park to open in Britain, which had an assortment of rides, like the Rotor and the Wild Mouse, The Cyclone and the Morehouse Galloper, and in the dull and austere post war years of the late 1940’s and 1950’s it was like a glimmering jewel.

In the summer of 1949 best friends Jean Fitzsimons and June Gough were travelling to Sharpington for a well-earned break.
Both girls were 24 years old, as well as being natives of Abbottsford. Although they had never met before they joined the Women's Land Army and were assigned to Mereside Farm in Mornington but they became instant friends.
And the friendship that resulted from that first meeting, considering they were on the face of it, two very different characters had lasted for six years and as they got on so well they stayed together long after the war had ended.
This was in part because they didn’t have anyone else, Jean was an only child and her parents were killed in an air raid in 1941 while June lost her parents when she was 12 and was raised by her two older brothers but they had both been killed in action, Tommy at Dunkirk and George in North Africa so they pledged that they would be each other’s family.
Of all the other land girls she had known, Jean found herself drawn to June from the first moment they met.
Their closeness was mainly because they got each other, they shared a sense of humour, a strong faith, a love of music, and going to the pictures.

When the war was over they were both loath to leave Mornington-By-Mere, which they had fallen in love with, but it wasn’t just a quaint chocolate box English Village, it was more than that to them, and 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 Mereside on the Southern side of the village where the girls were posted.
The Hoddinott family had farmed the land at Mereside Farm for several generation and with fair seas and following winds they would do so for at least several more.
But the war had depleted the labour force so they were over the moon that their best two girls wanted to stay on indefinitely.

Because they were both such hard working girls and because they rarely took time off Mrs Hoddinott suggested they take themselves off to Sharpington for a couple of days, and because the country had experienced the worst winter in a generation, and the girls were instrumental in ensuring the farm lost no livestock, old man Hoddinott told then he could borrow his pride and joy, a 1929 Austin 7.

(Part 02)

Because Jean and June were both such hard working girls and because they rarely took time off Mrs Hoddinott suggested they take themselves off to Sharpington for a couple of days, and because the country had experienced the worst winter in a generation, and the girls were instrumental in ensuring the farm lost no livestock, old man Hoddinott told then he could borrow his pride and joy, a 1929 Austin 7.
After one of Mrs Hoddinott’s substantial breakfasts they were later leaving Mornington than they wanted, but the fact they were an hour late leaving didn’t hamper them in any way, in fact because the weather was clear and the roads were empty they got to the seaside only ten minutes later than they had originally planned.
June parked the Austin on the promenade opposite the Ocean Vista guest house run by a very amiable lady by the name of Morwenna Penhale.
They had booked the largest room in the house, which they shared in order to save money, it wasn’t the grandest establishment but it was clean and their room did indeed have a sea view.
There was only one other room on their floor with whom they shared a bathroom, but as the other room was unoccupied they the luxury of a bathroom to themselves.

The girls both stood five foot two and were both 24 years old but that was where the similarities ended.
Jean Fitzsimons was brunette and had luscious thick curls tumbling down onto her shoulders and soulful brown eyes, with a lovely figure, curvaceous and perfectly proportioned and was a quiet cautious girl who lacked confidence in herself.
June Gough on the other hand was smaller framed, with delicate features and shorter strawberry blonde hair and more than enough confidence for the two of them.

Once they had unpacked they spent the rest of Saturday on the promenade and the pier before returning to the guest house where they ate dinner and found Mrs Penhale to be an excellent cook.

Because they had a bathroom to themselves, which was a luxury they would have paid dearly for because back at Mereside farm they had one between eight people and they could never dwell as long as they would have liked so after dinner they decided to have a bath before they went out dancing at the Palladium Ballroom.

Jean was lying on the bed reading a magazine, while June took first turn in the bath, and she was waiting impatiently for her to finish so she could have her go.
She didn’t see June vacate the bathroom as she had to go and spend a penny, but when she left the toilet she could see the bathroom was empty so she went in.

Washed, perfumed and powdered Jean went back into the bedroom where she found June sitting on the bed loosely wearing a dressing gown, which gaped from neck to thigh as she listened to the radio and painted her nails.
Jean’s mouth fell open when she saw her friend in her semi nakedness, not that she hadn’t seen her in various stages of undress over the previous six years.
She had never been a shy girl like Jean was, but she had never been so brazen before.
Suddenly June turned to the side to reach for her varnish and in that action she exposed even more flesh.
June seemed to be oblivious to her presence as she was listening intently to the radio, Jean couldn’t really hear anything because to be honest her attention was drawn to her semi naked friend rather than what was coming out of the radio.
Jean was rooted to the spot while June was still sitting on the bed but she paused her nail painting and glanced towards June and smiled.
“You’d better get a move on” she said but Jean didn’t move
“Are you listening?” she asked and then smiled as Jean got flustered after being caught watching her.

(Part 03)

About an hour after June caught Jean staring at her semi naked form they left the guest house and headed towards the Palladium Ballroom and when they got there they found it much quieter than they were expecting and there were three girls to every man so they spent a lot of time dancing with each other, which Jean preferred as she felt uneasy when men asked June to dance, and even more so when they asked her.
At the end of the evening they were in high spirits as they walked arm in arm along the promenade and they laughed like schoolchildren when they had to run the fifty yards so they wouldn’t be locked out.

The next morning Mrs Penhale served up a breakfast that rivalled Mrs H back at Mereside.
June polished hers off in double quick time and then ate half of Jeans as well as she didn’t have much of an appetite.
She hadn’t slept well as her night had been punctuated by disturbing dreams about her best friend, dreams which were made all the more disturbing by the fact that she was sharing a bed with the subject of those dreams and June was a very cuddlesome bed mate.
After breakfast they washed and dressed then they walked the short distance to St Lucy’s church for the morning service which was very well attended, June really enjoyed it and when her mind wasn’t wandering into sinful territory so did Jean.

After the service they walked along the promenade and paid a visit to Bizzoni’s Ice Cream Parlour, which was a must, it just wasn’t possible to go to Sharpington and not sample their homemade ices.
And following a very indulgent ice cream their next port of call was The Sharpington Fun Park which was also a must for the two girls it was after all the first purpose built amusement park to open in Britain, which was a very proud boast for the locals.
The Fun Park had an assortment of rides, like the Rotor and the Wild Mouse, The Cyclone and the Morehouse Galloper, something for everyone and the park was popular with visitors and locals a like.

They were in high spirits from the moment they walked through the gates and Jean seemed to have put her uneasy dreams behind her right up until the moment they climbed aboard the Caterpillar Ride.
Jean got in the car first and sat down and as June climbed in and began to take her seat the wind lifted her skirts and gave a tantalizing view of her stocking tops and underwear which triggered a kaleidoscope of salacious images of her friend in Jeans mind.
June was still giggling as the Caterpillar started moving and Jean couldn’t take her eyes off of her as they gathered speed and they followed the rides undulations and June continued to giggle and Jean continued to watch her and then after several circuits the canopy began to rise and after another circuit they were completely covered which was when it happened.
In the safety of the darkness and out of sight of prying eyes as the Caterpillar wiggled its way around the track, pretty, shy and cautious Jean Fitzsimons leant over and kissed June Gough passionately on the mouth and when she was finished June smiled.
“It’s about time” she said “I was beginning to wonder what I had to do to get your attention”
And then she kissed her back and that night as they shared a bed at the guest house neither of them slept very well.

No comments:

Post a Comment