Of Sea and Sand by Jonah
Simon and Garret are here again,looking after their young family.If you are unfamiliar with this family,we first met Simon in 'A Letter from America' back in 2019. He was a teenager then,now he is well into adulthood. Garret originated in another author's story. I want to thank Jacob Lion, in the USA for his permission to use his characters in my story. That's one of the things I want to make plain,all the characters in this,and all my other stories are wholly fictitious. They aren't based on real people. The other thing I want to make plain is that, while Simon and Garret are both gay, as are some other characters, this is a story about love - not sex,lust,or any other substitute,but real Christian love. If it's pornography you want, you'll have to find it somewhere else. Lastly,this story is brought to you by Nifty,free of charge. Nifty doesn't charge me to publish it, nor you to read it,but it does cost money to bring it to you. Please consider donating to Nifty at https://donate.nifty.org/ so that these stories continue to be available for all to read.
Chapter 11
On Friday morning Garret decided that we needed to be going out somewhere. He hadn't thought about where but the boys were, predictably, behind him. For my part, I was happy to go along with it but, I had to point out, it would be necessary to be back in good time since we needed to be packed ready for Saturday morning.
All twelve guests packed the dining room for breakfast and both Tommy and Timmy insisted they wanted cuddles with me, Garret and Grev.
"They got up in that sort of mood this morning," said Sharon apologetically.
"I'm glad they did," I replied.
"Canterbury!" said Grev,suddenly.
"Canterbury to you too," said Garret.
"Yes!" said Philip and Barry together. Lloyd just put on a beatific smile.
"Well that seems to be a majority vote at least." I said.
"Canterbury's got my vote,"said Rob.
"You're not going," said his wife.
"I know that, but I'm sill voting for it," he replied.
Twenty minutes later we were strapped into the car and heading out on the Canterbury road.
A drive to anywhere, of course, was going to end up with me in the back with the boys - one boy in particular.
"Mr.Stockdale says he used to do single line working." Now guess which boy that was.
"Yes, I expect he did."
"What's single line working. Is it like you do at Sheringham?"
"Not really, though that is a single line. You know how we stop trains in any of the single line sections from bumping into each other?"
"There can't be another train to bump into in a single line section because there's only one token for it."
"That's right. No train is allowed to be on a bit of single line without the token on board. That's how you stop collisions on single lines, but what about double lines?"
"Well the trains only go in one direction on either line."
"So what if you had to close one of the lines? It'd be a single line then, but there isn't a token for it."
"So the trains can only go one way."
"Well you'd have trains for both ways so you need a way to control them. You need something to act as the token."
"How do they do that?" Barry knew all the right questions to ask.
"They get a man to be the 'pilotman', I expect that's what Mr. Stockdale did. He acts as a human token and no train can be on the single line unless he is in the cab with the driver. He has a form signed by all the signalmen and he gives one to each signalman. While the forms are out the line is a single line. The pilotman authorises which trains go on it and in what order. It's a very responsible job."
"How do they work the signals? The single line only has signals on it for one direction."
"You'd better ask Mr. Stockdale about that. He'll know all about it."
"I'll ask him tonight."
Phew!
Many people think that Canterbury is a large city with a cathedral. They're not wrong, but it's so much more than that. It is a walled city, not unlike York in that respect. Its streets contain many mediaeval buildings, and a few Tudor ones. It has an attractive river running through it, upon which it is possible to set sail.
Predictably, our boys wanted to be seeing the cathedral.
It was not difficult to attach ourselves to a guided tour. The most important Church in the land is not necessarily the largest, nor the most beautiful, but it doesn't do badly for itself. Its Gothic architecture certainly catches the eye. Our guide showed us both the spot where Saint Thomas a' Beckett was murdered, and the place where he is buried. We also saw the single candle that marks the place where his shrine used to be before King Henry VIII demolished it(not personally, I shouldn't think. I couldn't imagine his majesty swinging the hammer). We admired the soaring pillars and the vaulted roof; we purchased souvenirs.
After a bite to eat we embarked upon the river. This is a good way to see the town. Finally we could not avoid taking the boys to the railway station. Here we hit a snag - there are two of them. At the East Station we spent half an hour on the platforms. The boys were not the only ones impressed by the large overhead signalbox, though I couldn't tell whether it was still functioning.
The boys wanted to go and see the West station as well, but I had to put my foot down. We couldn't afford to be late back.
We weren't late back. In fact we still had time to wander down for a last look at the beach at Margate. What we found was the Ryan family. Sharon was nursing a fretful Crystal while Rob lay on the sand and let his sons jump on him. Grev supervised our boys in a game of dodging the incoming tide while Garret and I sat down on the sand. That was a mistake. Tommy and Timmy instantly transferred their attentions to me.
It was not long to dinnertime so we soon rounded up our respective charges and walked back to Ethelbert Street.
Mrs.Kesteven was soon ready with Toad in the Hole, with mash, peas and carrots, and no less ready with the jam sponge pudding for afters.
Dinner having been consumed, most of us were upstairs packing. Barry was conspicuous by his absence but I could guess where he was. Before long Lloyd was next-door helping Grev pack. Ah well, we still had Philip.
By eight o'clock the packing was all finished. Thinking to release Mr. Stockdale from his single line working we ganged up with the Ryans and proposed a last expedition to the Britannia.
Les was not unwilling so all twelve of us set out together. It was a pleasant evening and the streets were busy. I suspected that, if we had walked along to Dreamland, we would have found that busy too.
Personally I found that a relaxing evening, supping Best Bitter in the company of good people, was very pleasant. Nor do I think I was the only one to find that. It was a contented dozen people who strolled back to Ethelbert Road a little before closing time. Mrs. Kesteven was ready with hot chocolate - something that I hadn't known her to do before. It had been a good day and we all settled to a good sleep.