So my job has undergone some changes lately and we are now having to compete for projects again which is both a bit scary and a lot exciting. Suffice it to say it's kept my days and some evenings very busy but it's also reaffirmed my passion.
The rest of the news most of you following me on twitter already know so, on the whole, yours truly has been a happy little Froggie.
In honour of happiness and fun times – our ladies are out for a day of relative frivolity.
Disclaimer: Yada yada yada... boilerplate…
The last ball ricocheted off the canvas at the back of the stall as it missed the remaining can. Emily stared down the last tin can that stood stubbornly between her and the bright blue ukulele she had been eyeing off over on the prize table.
"Shit a brick!" she muttered under her breath.
The older gent manning the stall reached for the roll of coupons at his belt and tore off a ribbon of three. He shuffled over and handed them to her.
"You've got quite the arm on you there, young missy."
Emily continued to pout.
He smiled indulgently. "Best work on that aim though, eh?"
I looped my arm through hers and walked us off. It wasn't long before we bumped into Cassie. Now when I say "bumped into", that's not just a figure of speech. We quite literally ran into the waifish blonde, a little walk down the green which had been transformed for the day into a small fairground. She came out of nowhere, wandering out from behind a marquee with her hands deep in her pockets and her eyes up in the sky.
"Oh hey" she gave us a great toothy grin as Sid and Tony caught up behind her.
Sid tugged at the hem of his jumper. The garment looked about two sizes too small and rose back around his midriff as soon as he let go. "Did you guys see the juggler, near the kids' tent?"
"Total and utter loser that one," added Tony, "Kids were bored fucking witless."
"You might not have lit your spliff on his torch though." Sid pointed out meekly.
"He was lame; I was bored. He was asking for it, mate." Tony shrugged.
Sid took the joint from Tony and drew a toke "So you put your hand up when he asked for a volunteer and then fucked with his show."
A smirk was Tony's only response.
Cassie placed a slender hand on Sid's and smiled patiently at Tony. "The kids loved it. They loved you Tone. It's like... you're their example. Like cool, you know."
"Thanks Dippy." Said Tony, already stepping backwards, before he turned on his heels and jogged off in the direction of the licensed area.
Cassie swung Sid's hand back and forth in hers, looking at the scene around her in awe. Her eyes looped back to their joined hands and she seemed almost startled, like she hadn't realised they were attached to her own body.
It was Sid who decided to move on. "Ladies" he nodded and tugged gently on her arm, leading her along through the crowds.
We spent the rest of the afternoon strolling through the grounds. The council hadn't bothered to mow the area of Castle Park that was playing host to the fairgrounds so the grass was long and squeaked pleasingly underfoot. The outskirts of the green were lined with marquees, big and small. Most were old-fashioned game stalls with fittingly basic trestle tables, laden with cheap prizes. Designed to attract the ideal kind of player: kids young enough to still find the game appealing and happy enough to keep spending mum and dad's irresponsibly endless supply of pocket money trying to win prizes that would have cost less at your local Asda.
Still, every five or so of these tents, there stood a larger gazebo. Some held dance stages, turn-tables in the corner and mosh areas. Some had slow snaking lines of revellers queuing for overpriced booze. Some were filled with noisy raffle and exhibition stalls, others were just general standing shelters in case the fickle Bristol weather decided to turn on us. One in particular covered a big mess of tables and benches, surrounded with every kind of food stall imaginable. The smell was amazing.
Inside the deceivingly plain white tarp tent, the clamour was deafening. Food orders were repeated over counters and full trays handed over in return. The same trays quickly returned empty only to be piled again with more food and the cycle continued. Children ran between tables, tapping the empty benches to the rhythm of their own made-up games. Conversations all melded into one mighty din. Colourful mobile papier-mâché ornaments balanced from the bare trusses. Indian women in bright saris topped up buffets with more and more appetising cooked goods.
Ems sniffed out the tastiest deal like a bloodhound and we feasted on a buffet of all-you-can-eat curries with fluffy flatbread, mounds of fragrant herbs and rice. Let the record show, my demure redhead can sure put it away! I'm not entirely sure where she put it, but she put the "all you can eat" concept through its paces. I remembered something mum used to say to me as a child about "hollow legs" and smiled to myself as she tucked into her third helping of dhal.
As I chased the last bits of sauce around my plate with naan bread, I saw a hand reach swiftly around me from behind. A second later, a cloud of turbid liquid swirled through my soda cup.
"Should watch your cup around these parts," came Cook's voice as he swung a leg over the bench "just about any miscreant could spike your drink if you're not careful."
"Save you the licensed area nonsense though." Reasoned Freddie with a smile, taking a seat on my other side as Effy and Katie appeared next to Emily.
Cook began to help himself to the food on Emily's plate, much to the displeasure of a few passing wait staff. Em reached for the flask he had deposited on the table and topped up her own cup generously. Effy produced a few more cups which she filled before tucking the flask out of sight under her skirt.
Katie was the first to take a gulp. "Ugh! What in the cock is this stuff Eff?!" She wiped her mouth roughly with the back of her hand.
"JJ's potato moonshine" Freddie answered for her.
"Basically authentic recipe vodka." JJ placed his tray beside Freddie "My dad's creation but I perfected the distillation process. The fermentation of the dextrose still produces the same amount of ethyl alcohol but I distil the liquid at a higher temperature and don't add quite so much water which allows me to maximise the potency. So what you're drinking is 150 proof, which is to say 75 percent alcohol." He finished, as if he had just been explaining all this to his food.
"And 100% free and deadly!" toasted Cook.
Katie raised her eyebrows and took a deep breath before her next sip. "So this..." gulp "stuff... is made from potatoes?" she asked.
"Yep! Seen it done myself." Emily piped up between mouthfuls.
"Gives meanin' to getting mashed if you ask me." Cook added with a helpful illustrative hand gesture.
We were joined by Lara and Albert not long after and the conversation dissolved into everyone's recounts of their respective discoveries of the day. Before too long night was falling and the tents were lit up. LED rope lighting had been run along the extruded edges and metal framing of each tent, turning them into skeletal outlines of their former selves. The venue was transformed into a field of luminous dotted lines and silhouettes where people meandered between black solids and even blacker empty space.
The air started to smell of smoke long before the bonfire was lit. Our growing group pushed to the front of the crowd just as the western speakers crackled into life. The looming ruin backdrop of St Peter's church suddenly shone with uplights. A set of spots came on along the length of the main hedgerow and a stage was outlined between the ferry landing and water feature. A troupe of dancers in red, yellow and orange ran onto the stage and began to undulate like flames to the music.
The sight was a rush. The dancers seemed to break free from the heavy, grounding bass and transcend their physical limitations. The fluidity of their collective movement was impeccable. They became liquid in the flickering lights.
Without a detectable cue from the music, more performers materialized from the crowd around us. Shrugging off hoodies and long coats to reveal more bright costumes, they sprung up onto the stage to join the melting party. Eventually the mass of bodies split through the centre; three dancers all in white emerged out of nowhere bearing a lit torch.
The music hushed until it was reduced to a single instrument track. A short and sporadic snare drum trill mounted the tension while the flame was passed smoothly from one performer to the other. The other dancers' movements became jagged and mechanical in contrast as they died around the edges of the stage.
Emily's elbow found me square in the ribs. "There he is!" she whispered urgently.
"What? Who?" I puzzled.
At the same moment she answered, I saw the wash of blonde hair of the dancer who had just reclaimed the torch with an elaborate pirouette. Maxxie.
"Beautiful, isn't he?" Said the young man to my left. He wasn't one of us.
The handsome, boyish chap smiled and continued to gaze at the stage as he addressed me. "Enjoying yourselves?"
"Uhm... yeah."
His hair needed a cut; tight ringlets fell around his face in an endearingly dishevelled way, making him look younger than he probably was. Unusually tanned skin highlighted his greyish blue eyes. Though he probably stood about a head taller than me, his long body was swaddled in ill-fitting baggy clothes, giving what must have been a pretty fine body an unfortunate amorphous quality.
When he caught me giving him the once-over he extended his hand towards me, still without taking his eyes off the dancers.
"Jesse." he offered. I heard Emily giggle quietly.
I took his hand and shook it firmly "Naomi." I smiled.
And for the briefest of moments, he looked at me and smiled back. "Really nice to meet you."
He was indeed arrestingly endearing. There was something utterly captivating and charming about the sincerity he conveyed in a single look. Like every encounter was treated with equal enthusiasm as an opportunity for him to broaden his social horizons. I like to think of myself as a good judge of character and a natural warmth just shone straight through this guy. It was what made him rather beautiful. Nice one Maxxie.
Jesse's eyes were already riveted back on the stage and the drum roll was speeding up. Maxxie had the torch again and was nearing the edge of the stage. A set of the earlier dancers reached for his arms and supported his weight as he leapt clean off the stage and rounded the water feature. He turned the far end of the gulley and began to sprint up the hedgerow. The spotlights along the channel between hedges went dead one by one as he came level with each of them. He was headed for the church. The lit end of the torch bobbed up and down gracefully, charting his quick progress. As the last spot went out, right by the tall entranceway to the church, a solitary spark shot out from the belly of the ruins and burst against the freshly blackened sky.
By the time our eyes adjusted to the darkness and fell back to the ground a great blaze had engulfed a slender pyre inside the abandoned nave of the church. Without a roof to the ruins, the bonfire's flames rose high into the night and backlit the ghostly, towering archways. The building seemed alive with fire and all the while it looked like the fire was consuming it. To our left, the reflection of the controlled inferno shimmered across the water between the few boats of the floating harbour.
Emily's hand crept into mine and we looked on in wonder. Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators' ambition realised, visually at least, and it was quite spectacular. The council team involved in approving this daring display were to be congratulated.
"The fire trucks are on standby, just around back there." Jesse motioned with a wicked grin "On St Peter's Square. Took some convincing... and a shitpile of paperwork."
It turned out, Jesse's optimistic outlook extended to his professional lot in life too. Not content to kick around with the stale stigma of 'city council employee' on his back, he approached his job as a challenge. Looking at every proposal as a chance to raise the profile of city events, not to make a name for himself or for professional advancement but, in his own words: "to get Bristol the kind of events I actually want to go see myself."
Maxxie appeared while we were still chatting with Jesse. He slung his toned arms around the taller boy's shoulders. Jesse grinned and congratulated the blonde warmly but his arms stayed glued to his sides. Hands still in his grubby jeans' pockets he nodded towards the bandstand and we followed his lead. We made our way up the steps of the dim structure, Emily and I bringing up the rear.
Suddenly, Effy rounded on me, tugging on my arm as I heard Panda's voice ring out clear as a bell.
"Oh hi, Mrs Naomi's mum! You're like the coolest mum ever, totally super-duper. My mum would totally flip and go ra-ra if she saw me doing that with a boy."
My feet froze on the spot and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust. I caught sight of my mother just as Kieran's hand was pulled so hastily out of her hideous blouse that it hit one of the bandstand's steel pillars with a loud clang and a yelp.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... my mother – in one word: mortifying.
I climbed the remaining steps and fronted up to the sheepish pair "Jesus mum! Don't you have any inhibitions left?"
"Not really, no." Kieran supplied helpfully. Mum's fist landed very deliberately on the hand he was cradling after the impact with the pole. He let out another indignant yelp.
Pandora was still wearing a broad grin "I think it's whizzer! Perfect way for Emily to meet her new parents in love."
"You mean to say 'parents in law'?" Thomas quizzed.
Panda rolled her eyes. "No silly, 'parents in love' cos the law doesn't recognise them here, innit. But 'love' is way better than the law anyway."
The gang erupted in peals of laughter and Tony stepped forward to slap Panda on the back. "I like you Popsicle. I can see why Effy hangs with you."
In the face of such genuine poetry from Panda, I completely lost my train of thought which was previously barrelling full steam towards my mother for yet another appalling exhibition. I shrugged and threw my hands in the air.
"Mum, Emily. Emily, the embarrassing loin of my fruits." I gestured.
Mum shot up and hugged Emily. I could tell by the wild frenetic look she gave me over Ems' shoulder that she was bursting at the seams trying to control herself from embarrassing me further but there was an effusive tirade just brimming beneath the surface.
"Wonderful to meet you Emily." Were the words she chose. "You must be incredibly patient or a wise woman indeed to see the kernel inside this one."
Alright mum, well played.
Emily sized her up immediately and didn't even hesitate "It's lovely to meet you too Gina." She smiled as she was released.
A lesser person could have fawned or fumbled over such a 'meet the parents' situation, but Emily went straight to the first name basis as if it was obvious upon first encounter. She didn't need to be told that Gina would respond to familiarity and confidence. From the little I had told her about my mother – and I realised now that she'd successfully transcribed a lot of it from my negatively biased and probably rather unfair portraits – she'd worked out exactly how to play her. No formalities, no insincere fanfare; Emily, pure and simple. Gina was putty in her hands.
Mum pursed her lips and nodded her approval while Kieran and Emily hugged slightly more awkwardly. "Well then we'll be off won't we Kieran? Let these fine young people have their fun without us 'geriatrics' cramping their style." She affected air-quotes to highlight her self-deprecating chosen title.
Kieran shuffled off in her wake. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do, eh kids." He offered as a parting shot.
"That leaves the field gaping open." Said Chris taking a seat on the bench.
"Gina eh?" I teased Emily as we balanced side by side on the railing.
She shoved me playfully "I figured I'd dispense with the formalities after that meeting."
I parried and regained my balance on my perch. "She's embarrassing."
"She's refreshing."
"She's overbearing."
"She loves you."
"She has a funny way of showing it."
"Let's not play the mum competition now, shall we?" Emily's foot nudged mine gently and I fell silent.
They were packing up the smaller tents and hauling the equipment and unclaimed prizes away around us. The dance stages were in full swing, their respective waves of music competing for decibels as they reached us. Cassie stood in the centre of the bandstand and raised her arms around her, twirling to the sound of the general cacophony. Effy reached for her flask and took a swig, stepped across the crowd and held her hand out to Katie.
The older Fitch sister had been staring at her shoes. She looked up at Effy's hand, then at her face. Effy offered her a shrug. Katie took her hand a little uncertainly but allowed herself to be led over to where Cassie stood. Eff took a small bow and Katie curtsied. The moonshine soaked waltz that followed hypnotized the rest of us into quiet submission.
Freddie, Chris, Sid and Tony started up another spliff in a corner and the heady smell of weed wafted over in drags. JJ returned from exploring the rubble of Bristol Castle with a sleepy Albert balanced precariously on his back. Lara made their quiet goodbyes and the three of them beat a huddled retreat along Queen Street.
I watched discretely as Maxxie dropped a pill on Jesse's tongue. Jesse let out an intoxicated giggle that remained mute, drowned out by the surrounding noise.
Cook was busy hoisting himself over the gutter line of the structure until even his legs disappeared onto the tin roof above us. Our unlikely sentinel was neither seen nor heard for the rest of the night.
I was watching the gang's goings on and beginning to relax when I felt Emily's hand creep timidly across my lap. She collected my hand and turned it palm side up, prizing my fingers open one by one. Her other hand delved deep into her jacket's oversized pocket and pulled out something red.
Placing the soft creature in my hand she leaned across and grazed my cheek with her lips. A flutter built up in my stomach at the simple sensation. I looked down at my hand.
It was a small stuffed toy, a lobster. And I was sure I'd seen it before. I wracked my brains for the memory of where I had spotted it earlier until it came back to me through the drunken haze. It had been sitting right behind the blue ukulele on that prize table. When I looked back at the face of my girlfriend she was smirking sweetly.
I didn't know what to do first: laugh or kiss her senseless.
So our main protagonists being themselves and some other characters' introduction. A nod to my mate Jesse who is the loose inspiration for the eponymous charmer in this chapter, I repeat: loose…
Thanks for reading. Into thicker, choppier waters next time.
BE F xx