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Ellie and Hub lived in Lagoa 10
years ago, while in their early 40's, they had a carpentry business near
Algoz.
You can reach Ellie at: Gantree1@aol.com |
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Jobs Galore
The front door slammed just as my eyes had started to droop and the
girl’s eyelids half opened. I patted her on the shoulder and said
there was nothing to worry about, that her father had come home; she
closed her eyes again. Seeing that she was once more sleeping I rose
gently from the end of the bed, just as the bedroom door slowly
creaked open.
“Ellie? What are you doing here this time of night?” was the gruff
whisper,
It was Sir, standing halfway in the doorway, a riding hat in one
hand and riding crop in the other.
“She couldn’t sleep, so I made her a hot drink” I whispered back,
“Right! Jolly good show, thank-you. You can get along home now.”
I stared at the riding crop that swung from his fingers. Following
my gaze he continued to whisper,
“Just sorting out my riding gear, only a couple of months and Ill be
chasing old foxy again”
My flesh crept at hearing those words. Hub and I are opposed to fox
hunting, finding it a barbaric, so-called ‘sport’! I didn’t answer
him, only to say a curt goodnight and made my way down those
creaking dark staircases and round the dimly lit pathway and across
the shadowy garden to the cottage. As expected, Hub had dozed off in
front of the TV!
The following day Sir had gone out to lunch and the girl had taken
her pony for a ride, so Jane and I set about tidying and polishing
the large main sitting room.
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Although I was aware of the baby grand piano that stood centre piece
in the room, its surface covered with family photos, I had never
touched the keyboard. It really was ‘grand’ and it didn’t belong to
me. I hadn’t played piano since we had left Len and Joan’s villa in
Algarve and my fingers itched to play once more but I hadn’t had the
nerve to touch this lovely instrument.
I polished the surface and the lid, then, on impulse I raised it and
gently stroked the keys. It was a little out of tune. Jane came out
from the adjoining study,
“Do you play Ellie?”
I nodded “Just a little. Does anyone play in the family?”
“Not really. The girl has lessons but she doesn’t seem very
interested. Play something”
I didn’t need asking twice and pulled out the piano stool, sat down
and ran my hands over the keys. Although I was taught classical
music and have a love of Mozart and Schumann, I like the music of
the 20s and 30s; mostly Cole Porter and George Gershwin compositions
and I have a love of jazz too. So I played a Porter number, a
popular song and as I did, Jane started singing! We carried on like
that for about half an hour, with Jane waltzing around the room,
feather duster in hand as I thoroughly enjoyed myself running
through a few old songs, making the odd mistake as I didn’t have my
music with me. It didn’t matter, we were having fun laughing at
ourselves. But we had work to do and as I continued to dust and
polish I saw the framed photo of Sir on horseback and he was wearing
the riding pink of a huntsman.
“Is that right Sir goes hunting?” I asked Jane.
“Well you could say that” she replied and fell about laughing.
I couldn’t see anything funny in hunting foxes and asked why she was
laughing?
“He’s always falling off his horse!” she answered and roared with
laughter once more.
Her laugh made me laugh.
“He’s always coming home with his arm in a sling, or something
bandaged up. I’ve never yet seen him come home without his either
broken, or bruised something. He spends more time on the ground than
on his horse!”
“Poetic justice” I said, and with that, we both collapsed onto the
armchairs, laughing our heads off, till tears streamed down our
faces. |
Her ladyship was due home on the Sunday; she was motoring back from
their Spanish villa and all had to be prepared for her and the
oldest girls return to the Manor.
I was very nervous about this. Although Sir and his son were quite
fussy about their meals they didn’t seem to take much notice of the
‘housework’ in the Manor house, but having the lady of the house at
home would be different. From what old Bob told us, she was
extremely fussy and checked all surfaces to see that they were
dust-free. I also heard from Jane that she was quite an expert cook;
I didn’t need to hear this and I knew by Sunday I would be a bundle
of nerves!
I have to say here, that although we had to work hard at the Manor,
doing ‘jobs galore’, we did have our fun moments and being a
terrible giggler I was often caught off my guard and the giggles let
me down!
For example, one day, I was wandering round the grounds dead heading
plants, when, I stood up and looking around me, I saw Sir, swinging
his long shepherd’s crook through the air, as he proceeded to point
out various things he wanted done by old Bob. Bob was hobbling
around carrying out his wishes, when Jane, who must have been 70 if
she was a day, suddenly appeared with a large basket of washing and
sort of limped towards the washing lines outside the kitchen door. I
started to giggle, then laugh. There were these 2 elderly folk
running around after this man as he swung his stick through the air
and continued to call out his orders. He saw me and looking puzzled,
asked me what I was laughing at? I made up some cock and bull story
about a funny incident I was thinking of,
“What? Oh well, glad to see you happy in your work” he replied with
a smile.
That made me laugh even more, it was like being in the middle of a
comedy sketch and I remember hurrying into the kitchen to get a
glass of water; I had laughed so much I had the hiccups! I really do
think it was our sense of humour that kept us sane in those days.
Everything seemed so dated at the Manor and the people ‘eccentric’,
almost like living in medieval times, with the master and his
servants, but I could see the comical side of it all. |
Sunday arrived and Hub and I had made sure everything was spic and
span in the big house but I was nervous and needed something to
occupy my mind. So we set to and started to weed the flower borders
leading up to the Manor doors; it was early afternoon on a warm
summer day. Suddenly there was the roar of an engine and a bright
red Porsche sped through the wide open gates, sending the gravel
flying as it came to a screeching halt just a few metres from where
we were working.
An elegant silver haired, quite young looking woman climbed out from
behind the steering wheel… her ladyship had arrived!
Wiping our hands on jeans, we shook hands, just as the back door of
the car opened and a tall dark-haired teenager got out; the older
daughter. She just about muttered ‘hello’ and stalked off into the
Manor.
“Would you fetch my things from the boot please Hub?” the lady of
the house requested.
I followed him and while he struggled with her luggage, I took out a
large picture covered with a cloth and we followed her ladyship into
the house. A couple of trips back and forth fetching more pictures
and bags then the boot was finally emptied.
I saw the small study door open and on looking inside found her
ladyship in front of the blazing fire; hands stretched out towards
it!
“Nice to see a good blaze Ellie”
I was quite astonished but then realised, that although it was July
in England, it was nowhere near as hot as the temperatures she had
left behind in southern Spain and that she probably did feel ‘cold’!
Nevertheless, I was finding all the family somewhat quirky.
I asked if she would like some tea and she replied that would be
lovely then,
“Could you fetch it up to me please Ellie. I have a slight headache
and I’m going to have a lie down”
This was another job I would be doing, taking tea up 3 flights of
stairs; not just today but every day, early morning tea for her and
his lordship whilst they were here. |
Of course Jamie was on school holiday now and his lordship surprised
him one day. He asked Jamie if he’d be willing to do some little
jobs around the grounds and that he would give him weekly pocket
money. Of course Jamie jumped at the chance; I wasn’t too sure about
it, after all, the family had Hub, me, Jane and old Bob running
around after them; they also hired local help at times, when there
was a party laid on or for an extra hand with the garden work, but I
didn’t like the idea of my young son working for them as well. But I
gave in as Jamie was keen to earn some money.
Up until the mother had arrived, I had been on call to the youngest
daughter each night. The child was obviously afraid of being in that
large gloomy house late at night and who could blame her? So I made
hot chocolate each evening, took it up to her and usually sat with
her till she went to sleep.
One particular night, she scared the wits out of me. As usual, she
called me and I went over to the Manor kitchen, making the hot drink
and as usual I found ‘stores’ of chocolate bars ‘hidden’ away in
drawers (the child seemed to exist on chocolate, for I never saw her
eat much at mealtimes).
I made my way up the dimly lit staircases and after knocking I
walked into her bedroom. She was sitting up in bed and looked
terrified. I asked her if anything was wrong?
“I saw something on the stairs”
She had come back from the bathroom and seen a grey shape going
round the turn in the staircase. I said it was probably her father;
she replied that her father was still out. Now she was frightening
me! I said it was probably one of the cats and she said, no, it was
something larger. I shivered inwardly.
I had asked Jane about the Manor. It was an old building and I
jokingly asked her one day “Was it haunted?”
She hesitated before answering then,
“Well, the oldest girl often says that she has seen a person, a
shape sometimes in the shadows but I’ve never seen anything”
Jane’s words came back to me, as I sat on the bed. There was no
telephone in the girl’s room, so I couldn’t call Hub and I started
to feel afraid. I was still getting the sense of ‘someone’ or
‘something’ in our cottage. I still woke in the middle of the night
and felt a ‘presence’ in the room. I never did sleep well in that
place.
I felt very nervous when I left her room that night, switching on
every light on each landing as I went down the staircases and fled
round to our cottage. When I told Hub he said it was probably the
older girl telling the youngster ‘ghost’ stories and putting ideas
in her head. But I wasn’t convinced and I felt that the big ‘lonely’
Manor and the old cottage held a slightly sinister atmosphere; later
on, something was to happen in the Manor that persuaded me I was
right. |
As usual, my weekly telephone calls to Maria lifted me from gloomy
thoughts. I so enjoyed our talks and she always managed to make me
laugh, though I did feel a little sad each time she asked ‘when are
you coming back?’
I can’t remember exactly which week it was, but during one of our
telephone chats she said they had taken their boys to Silves castle
one Sunday, after having had a meal in the City. That brought back
nice feelings. I always loved the drive to Silves from our
workshops; I don’t know why, but somehow it always seemed I was
going somewhere ‘special’, as we rounded the bend in the road and
saw the red-walled castle that dominates the green shallow valley.
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Being a lover of medieval history, I loved the stories of the Moors
and their dominance of Algarve; of the Crusaders sailing the Arade
in their ships from Portimao; of how they were ‘stunned’ by the
beauty of Silves, the former capital of Algarve, with its white
Moorish houses and fruit orchards set in the lush green valley. How
Dom Sancho of Portugal with the help of passing English and German
crusaders took the City of Silves from the Moors in the fierce
battle of the 12 century. I loved the atmosphere of that city and
its castle, with its legends of ghosts. I believe that Silves still
retains a lot of its ‘Moorish’ past.
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always, talking to Maria, I longed to be back there, not just for
her company but to feel at home again in the lovely sunny atmosphere
that is Algarve.
With all the family now in residence at the Manor, Hub and I hardly
at a moments rest during daylight hours. It was hard work,
especially with her ladyship wanting the bed linen changed every
day, plus she wanted all of her own summer clothes: blouses,
dresses, underwear etc, washed by hand and carefully ironed.
Sometimes at the end of each day, Hub and I were so exhausted, we
would fall asleep in the armchairs in front of the TV.
One Friday morning as we were about to go shopping, the Lady of the
house came round and told us they were having some friends around
for lunch the next day and would like it to be served outdoors; then
handed me a list. I always felt nervous of these occasions as some
of their friends were ‘high ranking’ and I worried about the cooking
of special meals. But the event turned out different to my
expectations!... |
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