Next month "the road was closed"
Brian's first
LARGE SPRING. In A small village in North Wales, they tell of an old legend.. That there was a beautiful young girl named Winifred. It is said that she was no older than Nineteen, of sweet face unmarked by disease, hair, dark as the feathers of a ravens wing, hung long and straight to her slender waist, her eyes were of the lightest blue. Her family was not of the peasant class, nor were they very wealthy. Winifred was in love with a tall handsome young man, Thomas, who's family was the richest and most powerful family in the whole of North Wales. Winifred and Thomas would met in secret, near a charcoal burners cottage in the woods near the village.
One day Winifred went to met Thomas, wearing her favourite red dress, over this a light woollen hooded cloak. She was a little late arriving at the spot to met Thomas, a bird shrieked in the tree top, as if to warn her. There standing in the spot where she and Thomas met was a dark cloaked figure, he grinned at her. He was a stocky man, grey haired and a square plaited beard in two thick ropes fastened with silver clasps. His forearms were scare, on his belt, around his waist hung a thick-bladed sword. The man was Thomas' father,
“ Listen to me girl, I told Thomas you will never see each other again. I have made a match for him with Lord Owen's daughter, I know that he can disobedient, headstrong, and foolish . So I have sent him to his uncles house, until the marriage.” With this Winifred fell to her knees and told him that she would pray that he would always remember her, and she would wait for him. With that the fathers face turned red with anger, he draw his sword and with swift slice of the blade he decapitated her. Her head rolled down a slight slope and from the spot where it came to rest a LARGE SPRING gushed forth. The murderer was immediately dispatched by a heaven-sent thunderbolt. Over time the spring became famous for it healing powers. Its waters it is said can cure a broken heart, if you wash you hands and face with the water you will never have any face scaring diseases. Is that why, to this day ALL the people in that village have beautiful clear, unmarked skin.??? Even in old age.
Rosemary's
L
Bill's
A large spring
I feel that my life is controlled by two clockwork springs, a large spring, that runs once only for my whole life and another small one that runs for a whole day. My imagination brings to mind a large brass mechanism with cogs and levers working harmoniously, ticking away away to power my self. My first day measured by the smaller spring was my birthday. My first actual day of birth when the spring was already tightly wound and concealed a huge amount of energy.
So that early in the day was the time to throw the body around and make noises that belied the size of the body that it emanated from. It was set to run fast and lasted only for a short period before suddenly stopping but as time flowed on it slowed so that it lasted a whole day before requiring a night's sleep to rewind. But now many years later it no longer has the energy of the past glory days but still serves me well only partially slowing after lunch when sleep beckons.
The large spring is fully wound on birth and slowly unwinds during a lifetime. In my case reaching the end of its life it slips occasionally, the attached pendulum momentarily falters and I find myself in a situation surrounded by people or places that I don't recall leading up to. But knowing that we live in such a mysterious unknowable reality I find it is best to accept it and continue to react to whatever presents itself. If anyone notices the sudden jolt of recognition as you struggle to make sense of where you are or who you are with, you have to smile at them reassuringly to stop them from running away in panic.
The main thing is that there is still enough of the spring's length to unwind to last a few more years before it finally stops for good. Scientists do say we have biological rhythms for measuring time so it is not far from the truth. These rhythms are driven by what they call a circadian clock, and rhythms have been widely observed in plants, animals and fungi but of course we all know that. Oh Dear I've just had another one of those jolts that accompany the spring jerking forward. It feels that it was only a moment ago I was sitting in front of my computer typing this out but now here I am reading out this daft story to the creative writing group. Never mind I'll just make the best of it and continue reading then they won't notice anything amiss.
