Bourton

My strict father and the lessons I’d had at university about always cleaning up as you work in a kitchen have meant that I’m more than a little house proud. The curtains have to hand straight, sofa cushions must be neat and the Gtech cordless carpet sweeper is constantly in use. This also meant that cat or dog hairs would not be welcome, never mind claw marks on my furniture! Things would  change however…. but let’s get back to Bourton. We need to go back over 50 years, I’m second chef and we’re back at the Talbot Hotel, the year is about 1971. That family atmosphere reared up its fuzzy, laughing head once more when head chef David said how about us all going to Bourton-on-the-Water! Bourton-on-the-Water is a village in the Cotswolds of south central England. It has a Motoring Museum,  Birdland (a wildlife park) and a Model Village. It also has a small river running through it and it was the thought of cool running water that sounded so attractive. So David, along with wife Carol, Joan and myself quickly changed and we set off with Carol driving… David like myself had never learned to drive. As luck would have it there was a small fun-fair tucked in between the river and the High Street. It was a modest affair with a half dozen games, like Apple Bobbing, Skittles, Coconut Shy, Pop the Balloon Darts and  and Hook a Duck! There was only a small Carousel, Swing and Helter Skelter. Remember this was 1971 there was no loud music or vomit inducing rides. The only music came from the Carousel. After a cream tea we all got an ice cream and wondered around the fun-fair, where much to my surprise I won a goldfish on the Hook-a-Duck! In the few days that followed I ended up buying a medium sized tropical aquarium complete with a variety of fish that included a dozen or so  Tetra, just to keep Bourton (that’s was the name I’d given to my goldfish) company. I had this in my bedroom at the Talbot for many years, cleaning and adding new fish as older ones expired, until the thermostat broke and cooked the poor creatures. We now move to 2005/6 and I was now living in a quiet cul-de-sac Wollaston. Rita, across the street passes away and her two sons decide that her cats have to go and as Graham and I had already made friends with one of them we decided to take her in. She was my shadow for the next fourteen years and I was gutted when due to her very poor health I had to have my wonderful black and white companion ‘put to sleep’. I missed her company so much. However some years later Veronica ‘Ron’ next door was gifted a kitten, she’s 13 now but spends 85% of the day with us and Jermima has more or less replaced Sophie. It’s like having a cat and not having to worry about how to look after her while we’re away on holiday. As I type this she’s curled up and asleep on my bed.