Apple Pie and Peppercorns
[Following on from 'Octava - my first horse love - may be long gone, but the spirit of Horse is still close by.']
The spirit of Horse seemed far too wild when it came to the chestnut who became my next equine beloved.
Are you ready to face meter deep mud, a hurricane and being bawled at? Best have lunch in London first.
We’re in a traditional coffee now public house, renovated and priced for people who work in The City. It reminds me of another life as Secretary to the Senior Partner of one of the oldest partnerships of Stockbrokers, Cazenove & Co.
Don’t eat too much - peppercorns and apple pie follow...
The figure dominating the room is looking at my fiancé rather than addressing his prospective Tenant.
Leaning across the table, he announces
‘Peppercorn rent.’
My prospective circus owning Landlord and fiancé know more about popcorn than peppercorns. I hold my breath. What size of peppercorns?
‘I’m doing this a favour to you, Chris…’ My fiancé bows his head. ’An apple pie a year from our orchard.’
Oh! Not peppercorns but apples. It will be the best apple pie EVER – albeit it my first.
‘That’s incredibly generous, I’m really…’ I can’t help interjecting before being interrupted.
‘… you’ll have to keep a quiet eye on my elderly manager and his poorly wife. One day, one of them will GO. I want to know immediately. I need to be there for whoever’s left’.
Ah. I’d forgotten. No time for small talk if you’re in the circus business.
Asking for the bill, it seems lunch is over. My static caravan – one of those houses on wheels which takes up two lanes on the motorway – has got a new home. Never entirely comfy ‘north of the river’, Bromyard in Herefordshire is already disappearing despite my fiancé being happily settled there.
Grinning like a cat given a bucket of cream, my new Landlord spots an opportunity.
‘One last thing. There’s Hurricane.’
‘Hurricane?’
‘He’s a horse. Took him on for a friend. Not suited to the ring. If you can get near him, you can do what you like with him.’
He sweeps out.
A new home. An uninterrupted million-dollar view over Berkshire fields. A horse to befriend. My thoughts galloped back to Bromyard while my fiancé graciously hid any dismay that the distance between us was about to lengthen…
So shortly after Easter 2015, in driving rain and wind, my static caravan wobbled its way onto the farm side of the circus ground. We have arrived back at the place where ‘Legs from the Dregs’ was first conceived.
And where the dregs immediately started to taste bitter, and my legs got wetter and dirtier.
#horse #home #generosity