Page 5 of Old Girls Go Greek
‘Yorkshire tea or compost? I’ve got some rooibos somewhere. Rick wanted to try it. We had one cup because he’d read it was health-giving. I told him it that might be true, but it would also cause me to lose 94 per cent of whatever joy I had left in life.’
‘Ordinary, and I’ve brought you some biscuits,’ I said, pulling them out of my bag.
‘Perfect, Rick’s just eaten the last of the Jammie Dodgers I promised you. Either that or Bonzo has got at the tin. Like master like dog. Both of them are so greedy. Now then, what did you think of our little gathering yesterday? I must warn you, take no notice of Dennis. He behaves like Michelangelo in a tweed jacket half the time. Beryl is far more of a leader and a much better artist too.’
‘She certainly is, and she seems very interesting,’ I said.
‘We all think she used to be a spy, but we have no actual proof of it. Not that you would expect to see her with a secret camera going round Tesco. Or lurking in the library waiting for her Russian handler to walk in with a copy ofWoman’s Ownunder his arm.’
‘Page ten,’ I said in a Russian accent. ‘The microchip is underneath the article about cholesterol.’
Anita spluttered with laughter and passed me a mug of tea.
‘So, you’ll keep coming to the art class? I do hope so. We could do with some fresh blood, and you seem very jolly. The tutor used to be Maud, who ran the village shop, but when that was sold she went to the Cotswolds to live with her daughter in Lower Slaughter.’
I agreed I would and we chattered pleasantly for a while, drinking tea and eating biscuits until Anita’s husband Rick appeared at the back door holding out his hands in front of him like a surgeon.
‘Boots!’ Anita shouted, and he kicked off his wellingtons.
‘You must be Meg,’ he said with a smile as he padded over to the sink. ‘I won’t shake hands, and don’t come too close. I’ve been up to my elbows in Blood Fish and Bone. Have you asked her?’
Anita fixed him with a glare. ‘Rick, mind your own business. I’m just softening her up with her own biscuits.’
‘Asked me what?’ I said.
Anita gave a dramatic sigh.
‘The painting holiday, hasn’t she mentioned it yet?’ Rick said, drying his hands on a tea towel. ‘You’d better agree otherwise Dennis will monopolise her. Did you know he’s got the hots for my wife? And no one wants to watch that all week, do they? Can you imagine him, telling everyone where to go and what to do all the time? Trying to corral everyone onto the bus and insisting everyone stays together?’
‘Well, I’m not having that, I’d rather not go at all,’ Anita said. ‘Look, if you’ll just let me get a word in, I’ll tell Meg the details. There is a painting group trip to Greece in May. So in three months’ time, Beryl, Gwen and I were planning to go with Beryl’s sister Effie, who wasn’t there yesterday because she’s walking the Pilgrim Way in Spain, probably with a cockle shell in her hat. And then she is off to America to stay with some friends, so we probably won’t see much of her at all before we go. Now Gwen has told me she doesn’t think she can come on the trip at all. She’s having her garden wall repointed and she feels she needs to be around to supervise things. And if he finds out, Dennis’s ears will prick up like Bonzo’s do when he hears the postman’s van coming down the lane, and I don’t think we could bear it if Dennis brought his brother Ronald in Gwen’s place. So please say you’ll come? Everything is arranged. Cassandra’s sister Jillian lives out there, and she’s going to be our tour leader.’
I did what I always did and tried to think of a reason why I couldn’t go. I played for time.
‘Wow,’ I said, ‘that’s a bit of a shock. I wasn’t expecting that.’
‘It’s his fault,’ Anita said, giving Rick a hard look, ‘I was hoping to ease it into the conversation more gradually. He’s going to be away birdwatching in Scotland that week with an old friend, so it was his idea that I should have a break too. You do seem good fun and it would be such a great opportunity. And Gwen is already fretting about what might happen to her wall if she isn’t there to watch. I don’t think she is planning to actually wield a trowel, but she was captain of the Girl Guides back in the day, and you never know what they’ve picked up. She is already starting to witter on about losing her holiday deposit, so you’d be doing her a favour too. It’s May seventh for eight days, flying out from Birmingham to Santorini, which is such a lovely Greek island. Nice hotel near the seafront in an adorable town, and a minibus to drive us to various locations.’
‘It does sound tempting,’ I said thoughtfully, ‘and I haven’t had a proper holiday for years.’
‘I’ll send you an email with all the details,’ Anita said. ‘Beryl went a few years ago with her sister Effie, and she says it’s lovely, and even if you don’t do any proper painting, it will be nice to get some sunshine, won’t it? In fact, I’ve got a printout somewhere. Maybe in this basket.’
She started rifling through the stack of paperwork, eventually pulling out some sheets of paper held together with a giant paperclip that looked like a fish.
‘Take a look. Don’t hang about. And then I’ll make you a copy and then some more tea.’
‘And me?’ Rick said, pulling up a chair. ‘By the way, I saw Steve this morning. He’s been riddling out his shed and he gave me some really great bits of wood he’s been keeping.’
‘And what are you planning to do with those?’ Anita asked, giving me a knowing look.
‘Oh, I don’t know, but they are too good to throw away. I’m sure they will come in handy.’
* * *
I got home to find my cat had left a dead mouse in the middle of the kitchen floor, which he obviously wished to exchange for something more palatable. Perhaps my daughter, who only lived twenty minutes away, would watch the house for me and feed Ivan if I went on holiday? Yes, the more I thought about it the more the prospect of a trip to somewhere different did sound really appealing. I felt a little shiver of excitement at the prospect.
The last holiday I’d had was to Spain with Malcolm, where he had made friends with a group of car dealers who were on a works jolly, and largely left me to my own devices. Except for mealtimes when he had complained about everything from the cutlery to the service. Being on my own and yet with some friends would solve the problem of being a solo traveller, and I would have my own room and bathroom, possibly one with a sea view, and the opportunity to do something a bit different for once.
I browsed through the paperwork Anita had copied for me. The hotel looked clean but basic. The views were simply wonderful. All the locals seemed to be happy and smiling. There was a little internal courtyard where breakfast was served, lemon trees in the gardens and olive groves on the hillside outside the town. And actually, the more I thought about it, I couldn’t think of any reason why I couldn’t go.
