"Does that look like that's everything?" Cynthia asked, casting a careful eye over the content of the picnic basket that was quite frankly full to the brim with all kinds of provisions. Trixie, the nearest person, looked over her shoulder and inspected too.
"Seems to be …" she replied lightly. "But if we are missing anything there's apparently a village shop we can go to…I don't think we'll starve..." she concluded with a smile resuming her previous occupation of putting away the breakfast dishes.
Cynthia nodded and closed the lid of the basket firmly shut, securing it carefully for fear of spillages on the journey as it would end up on someone's knee for the duration - inevitably hers. To her side, she saw two other figures arrive – Chummy and Jenny – the former with two tartan picnic blankets roughly laid in her arms freshly washed and straight off the line.
"Is Peter still coming?" Trixie asked as the other two nurses between them began folding the blankets up so they were neat for the journey. It had been her mission to invite him and include him for her friend's sake if nothing else.
"He said that if he is here by half past, he will be but if not to go without him" Chummy replied. "He said the briefing should be finished but…." She shrugged her shoulders. He'd warned her that Sergeant Berry could talk the hind leg off a donkey at the best of times and not to worry if waiting for him would spoil their day out. She knew she would feel guilty if they drove off without him but they had to pass the Police Station on the way out of Poplar so they'd see him and pick him up if needs be. She knew he'd try his best though and he had told her repeatedly not to worry about him. There's plenty of other times.
Chummy had been reluctant to ask him at first when the idea had been mooted; not sure whether he would even want to spend the day in the country with a gang of women, even if Jimmy was there to balance them out. It seemed clear he enjoyed her company but the only time they had spent together was on their own; not with a group and not with people who, on the odd occasion, would tease her relentlessly if she was five minutes late from a date as to what she had been up to. She really wasn't sure if she might become too embarrassed if something was said in his company.
"Well" Trixie stated, glancing at her watch. "He has fifteen minutes before we go…."
"IF we go", Jenny interjected, now sitting down and finding that there were no more jobs to do. "Jimmy's not made it yet with the car…."
"He better had appear and quick smart!" Trixie retorted. "The amount of organisation it's taken to make sure we can all go together…If he doesn't appear you can tell him he has me to contend with and you know I might struggle to be merciful in the circumstances!" She was not joking.
Jenny smiled. "He will be here. He promised me".
"Hmmm…." Trixie replied skeptically, sitting down herself, entirely unsure of Jimmy's 'promises' when it came to her friend.
"It's not his fault Trixie" Jenny responded, feeling defensive on his behalf whilst he was absent. "Whoever it is he is borrowing the car off wouldn't let him pick it up until nine. He did ask if he could collect it earlier but they said no..."
"He did promise" Cynthia added, having witnessed the conversation last week. "And he's not let us down in the past has he?"
Indeed, Jimmy having seen Peter on the way through to Nonnatus, both men arrived together very shortly afterwards and with six people jammed into the car they made their way to the countryside; the men in the front and the girls practically sitting on each other's knees in the back on the slightly ratty leather seats and with the door that took a good shove to close.
Chattering away about anything that took their fancy; the journey, perhaps from Jimmy's rather speedy driving seemed to spirit away rather quickly and before they knew it, the grounds of the country house were laid before them as they all departed the car. Poplar seemed centuries away as they all let their eyes wander over the vast lawns and the magnificent buildings that surrounded them.
"Look at this place!" Cynthia whispered as the six stood on the gravel quickly in awe of this spectacular place as the sun shone down onto them all, almost inviting them to relax and savour every second.
"Isn't it just heaven!" Trixie replied from by her side, casting her eye over the lush freshly mowed grass and lines and lines of trees that seemed to run for miles over the horizon. "So much...fresh air!" she concluded with a laugh. "And look! Do I spy a swimming pool?!"