It’s now 1:30 am 10th April …………..a couple of hours after Mrs. C. and Mrs. Bessie Mate finished their 2hr conversation/catch up on the phone…………………Mrs. Bessie Mate lives nought but 5 mins walk away…
The chat centred around the village Scout Group and it’s impending demise.
Mr. Bessie Mate used to be GSL, he roped me into being Chairman. Mrs. C. was already Secretary, their next door neighbour was Treasurer and Mrs. Bessie Mate was Scout Leader………….a real Village ‘mafia’………..
He did so much for the Group….the kids……………Kandersteg, Switzerland…..Kielder Forest in sub zero temperatures…….County Rallies……..etc. etc.
Fast forward to 3 years ago……..Mrs. C. had already resigned and the Treasurer followed shortly after. Mr. Bessie Mate had retired from his seafaring ways and decided to resign from GSL and take up the Treasurer role, Mrs. Bessie Mate took over as GSL……..2 yrs ago I relinquished my role as Chair…………………..Like us all………getting too old for the job.
Within 12 months Mr. and Mrs. Bessie Mates went on a trip of a lifetime to China. Now Mr. Bessie Mate had, in his time, docked in most countries in the World but not China, so, it was understandable. An experience, they told us, they were glad they did.
Then about 12 months ago Mr. Bessie Mate was diagnosed with prostate cancer…………
55 years ago my Mum, divorced, got together with the ‘old fella’ soon to be my Step-Father and they gathered me and my siblings and moved us all from Morecambe, into the village I still reside in now. One of the best things that ever happened to me. As a 10 year old running free in a place where everybody knew everybody and I knew that if I committed an ‘offence’ Mum would know before I got home.
It was at the village Primary school I met Banny, Gaz and Worzy, they lived doors away from me. Worzy is Mr. Bessie Mate. The four of us roamed the village, playing out til dark, swimming in the tidal channel behind the church, did Cubs and Scouts together. Banny’s Mum and Dad ran the Troop. Banny was my age, Gaz a year younger and Worzy another. One time the ‘old fella’ gave me a bike out of his Scrap Yard, it was an old ‘sit up and beg’ shopper, see Granville from Open All Hours. It was just what we 4 needed, an old settee cushion in the basket for Gaz and Worzy to sit on me on the seat and Banny on the pedals and steering…….we roamed our little World with aplomb……….then we grew up.
University, Naval College and work called……………and life…………Parents passed.
Banny went to Uni and is now down in Southampton, both his are gone.
Gaz……………..we’ve lost touch with….his Mum still lives in the village.
Worzy lost both of his before and during his training at Naval College. But with his inheritance and careful budgeting, he bought a bungalow in the village…………..he’s sat there now.
Worzy’s marriage was a big do………..Mrs. Worzy has a big family………….Banny was Best Man, Gaz was there…so was I …………that’s 35yrs ago…………probably the last time the 4 of us were together…………….
We all move on, have our own lives and proper wordly problems, mortgages, bills, kids…etc.
Just over 30 years ago when Mrs. C. and me had moved into the house I’m sat in, Master Worzy was born, a year later, Miss C. and the rounds of Nappy Club and Primary school followed. Mrs Worzy and Mrs. C. hit it off………..fully Bessie Mates. Especially ‘cos Worzy was sailing the seven seas…..
We often delayed Birfdy Parties to ensure Worzy could/would be there.
Then Master C. came along 11 weeks premature…………Deciding on Godparents was easy, Mrs C. chose her mate Joan, I chose my youngest Bro’, Best Man at our wedding and ……………Worzy. Mrs. C. agreed…………an excellent choice. When we asked him…he was close to tears………’You’re my oldest friend, why not?’
When he went up for GSL he needed references, one from ‘Someone you’ve known for a long time’………..that was me, I gave him the most glowing reference eva…..with, ‘If I couldn’t trust him with kids, why would he be my only son’s Godfather?’…….nearly brought him to tears again.
We argued as kids, throwing our testosterone around but as adults never……….well maybe about the best Jam song…………….naah, we agreed without question……… it’s English Rose………..very, very apt for Worzy.
There are more stories and escapades through childhood and beyond…….like he wasn’t having a Stag do and me persuading him to ‘Let’s just go down the bottom pub and have a few beers…’ Gaz was there and we got royally pissed……..so much so, the silly idiot was wearing his wedding shoes and on the way home, fell through a hedge and scuffed the be jezus out of them…….
At this late hour more and more come flooding through and my solo finger typing ain’t quick enough………..but you get the jist.
This last 12 months have been worrying, laughable, jokey, stressful, panicky, morose…………every emotion……………and that’s just Mrs. C. and me……….what Mr. and Mrs. Worzy have been going through?
There but for the Grace of God.
Just before we went to France, they went to Barbados. Which surprised Mrs. C. as Mrs. Worzy hates heat but, in the buddy chat tonight……………she fukkin loved it, drinking rum punches whilst watching the sun set…
But………..since they’ve come back……………Worzy can’t bend down, his thoughts of doing the garden are fading……………it’s like Barbados was a last throw of the dice………a last adventure.
The girls are aiming to be in the bottom pub next Friday, 17th, I’ll pack up my cool bag ice blocks, beers and……………..Pastis or spiced rum, lemonade or cola?..
Mmmmmm, decisions, decisions…………………………….and maybe, just maybe………………………I’ll find out how he really is…..and……we’ll get royally pissed………………….and…………we’ll worry about it in the morning…..
© Croxj 2020
