Wednesday 19 November 2008

COSTA DEL EASTBOURNE


Next morning. A tap on the door awakened us. Into the room came Arthur’s mum, carrying two cups of tea. Because all our new furniture was still stacked up around the room, there was no space for a bedside table, and Mum Chapman stood holding the cups while we sat up to take them from her. It was obvious that I had no nightdress on and I felt so silly. To give her her due, she never batted an eyelid, but I don’t suppose Dad Chapman had ever seen her running around starkers!
After some tea and cornflakes we caught a bus to the railway station, and it was Eastbourne here we come! We soon discovered that we had a lengthy wait for the train, so decided to stand in the street and take in the beautiful sunshine while we killed time. There we stood looking every inch newly weds. Me in my white, flowery hat, silver grey dress and shoes, and long, white gloves, and still wearing a spray of flowers; Arthur so smart in his white shirt and new suit. Even our suitcase was new.
We stood there, observing a ‘spiv’ who looked like a role model for George Cole in his St Trinian films. He was gliding in and out of the crowds, tapping people on the arm, trying to sell them something on the black market: probably, nylon stockings. We were fascinated, as we’d never seen a real spiv at work before.
In due course, we caught our train and arrived at Aunt Beat’s house. She showed us up to our room. We unpacked before going downstairs to the dining room, where tea and sandwiches had been prepared for us. She told us what time dinner would be served, and off we went to explore Eastbourne. As I said earlier, we had very little money to spend, just the remains of our wages, and Dumpy’s cheque (which made up the lions share of our cash).
The weather was wonderful and we spent dreamy days lying on the beach, gazing into each other’s eyes and whispering sweet nothings. We decided that it would save money if we had fish and chips for lunch each day, and so we would sit on the sea wall or in the Botanical Gardens, eating them out of steaming vinegary newspaper. Absolute heaven!
One night after our evening meal, we decided to treat ourselves by booking seats at the theatre. We chose a show called ‘Goodbye Boys, Hello Girls! It was advertised as the show where you could ‘Come and see Betty Grable, Dorothy Lamour, and Bette Davies in the flesh’. We couldn’t imagine how this was going to be achieved and, intrigued, thought we’d go along and find out. Of course, it turned out to be a drag show! We had never seen anything like this before (drag wasn’t commonplace, as it is now) and we were enthralled. So much so, that we booked seats for later in the week and went a second time!
It was on a hot, sunny day towards the end of our honeymoon, when Arthur said he would take me out on the sea in a rowing boat. Because I didn’t own a watch, and Arthur’s was ‘on loan’ to
raise extra money for our honeymoon, we didn’t know how we were going to keep check on the rental time. We couldn’t afford more than one hour and since we would be out at sea and not
near any clocks, this was a bit of a problem.
Suddenly, Arthur had a brainwave! We hurried back to the digs, where we borrowed Aunt Beat’s alarm clock from our bedroom, smuggling it out of the house and taking it to sea with us. Arthur set it for one hour and carefully placed it in the bottom of the rowingboat. Problem solved.

12 comments:

weechuff said...

How romantic! I am enjoying this. I bet you had a good laugh when the alarm clock went off!!

granny grimble said...

WEECHUFF

Yes it was, 'Ain't love grand'
I don't know what we would have done if the clock had gone overboard! Incidently you wouldn't get me out on the open sea in a rowing boat now. I must have been lovesick!

Babs (Beetle) said...

Oh so sweet!

The sea! In a rowing boat? You were either madly in love or just plain mad ha ha!

Croom said...

Oh so romantic Leeta, aint love grand! You say the weather was warm, bet if it had been snowing you would still have felt warm :O)

Nothing but nothing would get me in any kind of boat on the sea, you were so brave. I am so pleased the honey moon went without a hitch.

Can’t wait for the next instalment.

granny grimble said...

BABs BEETLE

I can't believe I did it! Talk about the owl and the pussy cat!
I must have had complete trust and faith in Arthur's power of protection! I wouldn't even go on a river or a lake in a rowboat now!

CROOM
Yes it did all go without a hitch (apart from Mum's letter).
How about a cruise on a liner then?

Anne said...

Oh I was so looking forward to the next installment - what lovely memories you have - and what fun. Love is blind - first time I went away with Bill he said he would hire a lambretta and we would do a little tour. I soon realised he had never been on one before - the rental man was running after us as we left his office - luckily Bill soon got it together!!!
I can just picture you both in the middle of the sea with an alarm clock going off. Have you been back to Eastbourne a few times since to relive those wonderful carefree days?

granny grimble said...

ANNE

Had you ever been on a Lambretta before?
Have we been back to Eastbourne? Do you know I can't remember. I don't think so though. We spent our holidays in Jersey before the children, and then it was chalets and caravans in 'children & dog friendly' places like Devon and Conwall. I think I would hate Eastbourne now!

Anne said...

Granny Grimble
No I hadn't been on a lambretta before - and not since! Julian bought a Vespa for London and has now bought one to get around Sydney - loves it!
We went to Eastbourne about 5 years ago and had a lovely walk along the front - but I hadn't been before so no idea how much it has changed - probably massivly.

weechuff said...

You say it all went without a hitch apart from mums letter. What letter was that?

granny grimble said...

WEECHUFF
I knew some one would ask! You have to wait for the next thrilling episode to get the answer to that one!

weechuff said...

Well hurry up please:0)

GoldAnne said...

oh that was so romantic , such a lovely story ,fish and chips sounded great too!!
fantastic leeta super story
love anne xxx