A few years ago I was on an away break with Ma and my sister in law, Debbie. We were on a Turkey and Tinsel Break at the Cavendish in Exmouth.
One of the day trips out took us to Exeter......it was a beautiful day...very cold and crisp with a blue sky with whispy clouds.
Ma asked us to park her somewhere - I think it was in some coffee shop or other...we left her nursing a mug of hot chocolate and a cream and jam scone...off we went to peruse the charity shops.
When we got off the coach we noticed there were a couple of charity shops near the coach station so we headed for those.
I always head for the book section.......I was idly scanning the shelf when this small book fell at my feet. I picked it up and placed it back on the shelf.
I moved further down the shop to look at some knitting patterns and then Debs shouted of me to look at a sparkly top.....for her, not me.
I had a look at the top and said I thought it was just a bit 'lairy'...Debs went to try it on......I went back to the books and the same little book fell off the shelf again.
I picked it up and looked at it.
It was called 'Time for Joy' a book of daily affirmations.
It was priced at 50 pence. I bought it.
I reckoned it had jumped off the shelf at me(OK, so it fell off the shelf) twice so it must have been meant for me.
OK, Ok I know the cynical ones among you will think that there is an explanation for all this.
I put it in my bag and thought not much more about it.
Just as I had paid for the little book Debs came out of the cubicle in her sparkly top and asked me what I thought. I told her that it made her boobs look a lot like sparkly green melons. She didn't buy it, and told me that I had put her off it.....and couldn't I learn to 'sugar the pill' a bit?
When we got back to the hotel I had a look at the book that had sort of chosen me.
I was intrigued.
inside it was a little note - it went like this.
Dearest Huly,
So, it's come to this: we'll share a drink and I'll step back out on the road and leave you once again too soon.
Probably for the best actually.
A chance to watch admire the distance, sit and listen to the river, to the mountains and in them listen to yourself - my three most beautiful things in Switzerland.
Yours, with all my love,
Iain
'rendez-vous' tearoom Saanen'84
This note intrigues me still.
I try to imagine the man who wrote it and the circumstances it was written in.
The curiosity in me wonders if it was a last goodbye, or if these people would meet up again...and whether the 'rendez-vous tearooms was to be their next meet up, or whether this is where the note was written.
Of course I have googled, and there is such a tearoom in Saanen.......I just wish I knew more about the writer and the girl he left behind.
As for the book....it isn't something Iwould ordinarily have chosen, but it has been used quite a bit....it is one of those books that you can open at any page, (although it is diarised)and strangely, the words on the page always seem to fit, to offer comfort, or to shine a light.
This was definitely an occasion where a book found me.
It is a kind of 'spooky' story(in a good way)..but true...for Halloween
I have been meaning to write up this incident in a blog for a long time, but thought it sounded 'kookie'.....a bit weird and for some of you out there, a bit implausible...but now I've done it...I will wait and see what you make of it. Mark my card NUTTER!
One of the day trips out took us to Exeter......it was a beautiful day...very cold and crisp with a blue sky with whispy clouds.
Ma asked us to park her somewhere - I think it was in some coffee shop or other...we left her nursing a mug of hot chocolate and a cream and jam scone...off we went to peruse the charity shops.
When we got off the coach we noticed there were a couple of charity shops near the coach station so we headed for those.
I always head for the book section.......I was idly scanning the shelf when this small book fell at my feet. I picked it up and placed it back on the shelf.
I moved further down the shop to look at some knitting patterns and then Debs shouted of me to look at a sparkly top.....for her, not me.
I had a look at the top and said I thought it was just a bit 'lairy'...Debs went to try it on......I went back to the books and the same little book fell off the shelf again.
I picked it up and looked at it.
It was called 'Time for Joy' a book of daily affirmations.
It was priced at 50 pence. I bought it.
I reckoned it had jumped off the shelf at me(OK, so it fell off the shelf) twice so it must have been meant for me.
OK, Ok I know the cynical ones among you will think that there is an explanation for all this.
I put it in my bag and thought not much more about it.
Just as I had paid for the little book Debs came out of the cubicle in her sparkly top and asked me what I thought. I told her that it made her boobs look a lot like sparkly green melons. She didn't buy it, and told me that I had put her off it.....and couldn't I learn to 'sugar the pill' a bit?
When we got back to the hotel I had a look at the book that had sort of chosen me.
I was intrigued.
inside it was a little note - it went like this.
Dearest Huly,
So, it's come to this: we'll share a drink and I'll step back out on the road and leave you once again too soon.
Probably for the best actually.
A chance to watch admire the distance, sit and listen to the river, to the mountains and in them listen to yourself - my three most beautiful things in Switzerland.
Yours, with all my love,
Iain
'rendez-vous' tearoom Saanen'84
This note intrigues me still.
I try to imagine the man who wrote it and the circumstances it was written in.
The curiosity in me wonders if it was a last goodbye, or if these people would meet up again...and whether the 'rendez-vous tearooms was to be their next meet up, or whether this is where the note was written.
Of course I have googled, and there is such a tearoom in Saanen.......I just wish I knew more about the writer and the girl he left behind.
As for the book....it isn't something Iwould ordinarily have chosen, but it has been used quite a bit....it is one of those books that you can open at any page, (although it is diarised)and strangely, the words on the page always seem to fit, to offer comfort, or to shine a light.
This was definitely an occasion where a book found me.
It is a kind of 'spooky' story(in a good way)..but true...for Halloween
I have been meaning to write up this incident in a blog for a long time, but thought it sounded 'kookie'.....a bit weird and for some of you out there, a bit implausible...but now I've done it...I will wait and see what you make of it. Mark my card NUTTER!
