Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
'Bardmin.'
'Where?'
'Bardmin.'
'Where's that?'
'You know, the big moor.'
'Oh, Bodmin. Yes, sorry.'
Just then, the lawnmower man reappeared in his car.
'My wife says you can kip at our place,' he said. 'Get your bikes. You'll have to follow
me, as I live up the other end of the village.'
The lawnmower man's name was David, and he lived with his wife Annie.
'We're really sorry to trouble you,' said Ben, after being introduced to Annie. 'This is
extremely kind of you to put us up.'
'Well we shall bond as best we can under the circumstances,' said Annie, grinning from
ear to ear. 'What would you like first, a cup of tea or a shower?'
'Well if you can bear us being smelly for a while longer, then a cup of tea would be
lovely, thank you,' I said.
We sat at the kitchen table and drank tea and ate biscuits. We explained why we were
homeless in their village, and they seemed reassured to learn that they had not taken in a
couple of tramps for the night.
David, as we discovered, was more than just a lawnmower man. He was a former coun-
cil chief executive, who had been responsible for the clean-up operation following the
floods at Boscastle in 2004. A flash flood washed away parts of the village, but a success-
ful redevelopment program - led by David - restored much of it by the following year.
He was smug, in a very amiable way. He'd had a busy career, which he was proud of,
and now he was equally proud of his retirement and the fact that he did very little all day.
'Idothecrossword,andmowthechurchlawnacoupleoftimesaweekandthat'sabout
it,' he said.
Annie was lovely, although slightly neurotic. She was probably about 60 - but looked a
lotyounger-andfromthemomentwearrivedshehadbeenworryingaboutwhatshecould
cook us for dinner. We insisted that we didn't need feeding and that we still had some pick
'n'mix,butshewashavingnoneofit.Noneofourinsistence,Imean,notourpick'n'mix.
Although she was having none of that either.
'Right. I'll sort out some sort of pasta dish,' she exclaimed, jumping up from her seat.
'David will show you to your room. Have a shower and then dinner will be ready in about
half an hour.'
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