Daddy opened the door to a man in overalls.
"Mr Scott?" said the man.
"Yes," said Daddy, turning to smile at the two puzzled and curious children behind him.
The man in overalls went away to return with another overall man, and they were carrying a television!
"Is that ours?" said Frances.
"Yes, princess," said Daddy.
The men carried the television through to the sitting room. Mummy and Daddy moved the table out of the corner to make room.
"Will there do?" said Daddy.
The man looked round and then out of the window for some reason.
"Fine, sir," he said. "OK if we go round the back?"
"Of course," said Mummy.
Simon followed to see what they were doing.
"Don't get in the way, love," called Mummy.
"He's OK," said the man.
They took ladders off the van and took them round to the back garden. Then a big roll of round wire and of course! The aerial.
Simon watched as they climbed up onto the roof of the house. The large 'H' shaped aerial was strapped to the chimney and the wire fixed to the wall, in through the window frame to the television set.
"You're a lucky young fellow," said the man to Simon.
"Why?" said Simon.
"Why!" repeated the man. "Do you know what the waiting list is for these things? There's going to be a lot of disappointed people on Tuesday."
"Will we see the Coronation on it?" asked Simon.
"I expect so," said the man, laughing. "I expect it helps when your Dad works for the BBC."
Simon knew Daddy worked for the BBC and that this was important. Daniel thought so anyway. He said it was because Daddy had done well in the war. But Daniel's Daddy was a policeman and a high up one too, and Simon thought that was pretty important.
The two men, one up by the aerial and the other looking at an instrument on the ground, spent some time talking about something called alignment, then they seemed happy.
"What's that for?" asked Simon.
"The aerial's got to be lined up with the transmitter," explained the man. Simon liked the sound of 'transmitter'. It sounded mysterious and powerful.
Simon looked out across the garden and the allotments to see if he could see the transmitter.
"No, son," said the man, chuckling, "you won't see it from here. It's at Sutton Coldfield." Simon had never heard of Sutton Coldfield, so he let that pass.
The men went into the sitting room. They connected up the wires and the plug. Time to turn it on.
Nothing happened at first and then there was a noise from the set, a steady hum. The men seemed pleased, then the picture appeared. Simon was disappointed. He thought it would perhaps be cowboys or something interesting. Instead it was a load of black, white and grey patterns.
"That's the test card," said the man to Daddy and Mummy. "It's looking good."
"Thank you," said Daddy and went out with the men. Simon and Frances stayed, looking at the unchanging test card, with its thin lines, squares and the big circle in the middle with more lines inside. But it was magic. A picture coming through the air.
Daddy came back in. The two jumped up.
"Thanks Daddy," said Frances, and they hugged Daddy. Daddy smiled down at his children. Mummy was smiling too.
"You've got a telly," said Daniel when the two met up.
"How'd you know?" asked Simon, annoyed that his surprise had been spoiled.
"There's a damn great aerial on your roof, idiot!" said Daniel, laughing.
"Oh," said Simon, deflated. He had forgotten that. Daniel could see his house from his bedroom window. They had tried to set up a signalling system from their bedroom windows, but it had proved too complicated to devise a code with sufficient variety of meaning. Then it occurred to him that there was no aerial on Daniel's house.
"When's yours coming?" said Simon.
"Dunno," said Daniel, glumly. "Might not get it in time."
Simon remembered what the man had said about waiting lists.
"Well, there's a long waiting list for them, you know," said Simon knowledgeably.
"So how'd you get yours then?" demanded Daniel crossly. Again Simon remembered the man's comments.
"My Dad works for the BBC."
"Well, my Dad's important too, he's a high up policeman."
"I know," said Simon, suddenly aware of his friend's hurt feelings. It mattered to Daniel to be in the lead, in their friendship, in everything. He hated being second.
"You can come and watch it on ours if you like," offered Simon, generously.
"Can I?" said Daniel, smiling back now. Simon's soul warmed to that smile, as always. He nodded happily.
A very similar conversation, with a similar outcome was taking place not far away at Jennifer's, with Frances being equally expansive. So it was at tea, the usual place for family conversations, that the diplomacy began.
Sitting round the dining room table, the burning question was on Simon's mind. He was committed, he had asked Daniel, but now he had to make sure it was OK. But of course, Frances got in first.
"Mummy, is it all right if Jennifer comes to watch the Coronation? Their television hasn't come yet, so I said she could."
"I think that'll be all right," said Mummy. Daddy just nodded.
"Can Daniel come? His telly hasn't come yet," said Simon, hoping that the recently established precedent would work in his favour.
"Television," said Daddy. Daddy hated 'telly'. He said it was slovenly language.
"We can't have everybody," said Mummy, a bit worried.
"I've asked Jennifer already," said Frances.
"That was naughty of you, dear," said Mummy.
"You should ask first, Frances," said Daddy.
Frances looked at her parents, waiting for the decision. Simon waited, wondering what to do for the best.
"I expect it'll be all right," said Mummy. Frances smiled, and turned to Simon with a look of triumph.
"I've asked Daniel," said Simon.
"For God's sake! This isn't a public house!" said Daddy, getting angry.
Simon was taken aback by the sudden change and Daddy's anger. He got frightened when Daddy was angry. It showed.
"It's all right, Simon," said Mummy. "Harry, it is a special occasion. And you have done well to get a set in time."
Simon looked hopefully at Daddy.
"Oh very well," said Daddy, "In for a penny, in for a pound."
Simon and Frances cheered.
By the time Tuesday came, the small sitting room was full. Some friends of Daddy's and Mummy's were there, Jennifer and her brother and both parents, Daniel and his Mummy. His sister Louise was watching it somewhere else, and his Daddy was at work. They had brought some extra chairs round from Daniel's, the two boys struggling round the corner with them. Mummy had made some sandwiches and some jam tarts. Mummy's pastry was lovely. There were cups of tea and pop for the children out of their coronation mugs.
They watched, the end of Westminster Abbey used as a filler shot becoming very familiar, but there was the Queen, actually getting crowned. And it was happening at the same time as they were watching it. The children all had their special souvenir programmes, and it was a great occasion.
Simon and Daniel sat together in one chair as there were still not enough chairs to go round. But they enjoyed the close physical contact this afforded and when, to make more room of course, Daniel boldly put his arm round Simon, nobody seemed to care. So it stayed there. The two boys unified by the common bond of friendship, Daddy in his chair, revelling in being the generous host, who just happened to be the only person in the road with a television. Of course, certain people had not been invited, the nasty ones, and serve them right too! Simon rested his head on Daniel's shoulder, and was happy.
1953/8 Westward Ho!
A major event each year was the annual family holiday. The week before this was always one of chaos and stress, mixed with excitem
ent and anticipation. The packing of The Trunk was the centre of all this from Simon's point of view. The Trunk was a large brown case, easily big enough for Simon to climb inside, into which all the family's needs for two weeks away in the boarding house would be packed. There were lists, and lists of lists.
Simon looked forward to this. Things seemed different somehow when they were away. Mummy seemed happier, Daddy didn't get so cross with him and Frances played with him.
The journey itself was an adventure. The alarm clock would be set early so everybody would be up in good time. They now had a telephone, which Daddy had for his work, and not many people had telephones, although Daniel did because his Daddy was a policeman. The phone would ring in the small hours of the morning and Daddy or Mummy would go downstairs to answer and speak to the operator. This was safer than just using the alarm clock because sometimes you could go back to sleep.
To Simon, the world seemed strange and exciting at three or four o'clock in the morning. Outside there was a strange quiet, unlike the darkness of the evening, this morning darkness was somehow peaceful, the family's activity seeming out of place and a disturbance. Breakfast, prepared the night before, would be eaten, although Simon and Frances were usually too excited eat much, and then the taxi would come. Daddy always said the taxi had to big enough to take The Trunk, so it was usually a big car that came. It took Daddy and the taxi driver to carry The Trunk out. Then they went down to the station to catch the train to London.
Simon liked trains, they were big, powerful and exciting. The train would arrive on its journey south, everything would be loaded on board and off they would go. Sometimes it was a corridor train which Simon liked because he and Frances would explore the train, although Simon was always nervous about crossing the wobbly bits where the coaches joined. They tried to go from the very front to the back where the guard's van was, and among everything else, The Trunk would be there. The guard was usually friendly and didn't mind them looking in. When he went out along the train for something, he locked it. Then they would go back along, looking for their own compartment where Mummy and Daddy would be sitting. Sometimes they got the wrong coach and a moment of panic would set in, but Frances always knew which way to go.
Simon was always fascinated by the stations in London. Every other station he knew of the trains came in at one end and went out the other. But in London, the line stopped! When they got off, he would run to the front of the train where the huge locomotive was now at rest, hissing and steaming, say hello to the driver in his mucky overalls and battered cap and then look at the giant buffers with the front of the locomotive just a few feet away.
But the best part of this journey from Simon's point of view was yet to come. The Devon Belle!
This took them from London to Devon and their holiday. He loved the ornate Pullman coaches, the slab sided look of the powerful locomotive and especially the observation coach at the rear of the train with windows all round and armchair seating. Simon liked to sit right at the back of the train, looking out through the rear facing window, watching the track speeding out from under him and the wreaths of smoke from the locomotive many coaches ahead of him writhing away in the train's slipstream.
It was teatime before they arrived at Barnstaple, and from there to Bideford for the last leg of their journey, another adventure, by pony and trap to the boarding house at Westward Ho!
Mrs Thorne – there never seemed to be a Mr Thorne in this world of widows – ran the boarding house and Simon liked her because she was kind and gave him extra biscuits. Mummy and Daddy used to grumble about her rules though, but that was grown-ups' stuff.
In the morning after breakfast, they would fill bags with buckets, spades and walk down to the beach where the Atlantic rollers would come crashing when the weather was rough, but often there would be waves just right for Simon to jump around in, making Mummy and Daddy laugh. And then of course there was the pebble ridge. This long mound of stones, seemingly endless to Simon, was a source of fascination. He would lift the stones and find crabs, search for barnacles and pull out long strands of seaweed. There was a metal track laid over the ridge and he would watch tanks come over this, going where to and from he didn't know, and when they came, he had to watch from a distance.
But this was the last year of the Devon Belle, and Simon would never ride it again. A death and a legacy meant the end of holidays in Westward Ho! and a new horizon opening for Simon.
1954/8 Swimming Lesson
"Why don't you come?" Daniel looked at his friend and could not understand Simon's hesitation.
"I can't swim," said Simon dully.
"That's OK, I'll teach you," said Daniel confidently. Daniel had found swimming to add to his love of music and piano, and what's more found that he loved it just as much. He loved the feel of his healthy young body coursing through the water, the almost weightless agility it gave him to twist and turn, somersault and dive, and move in a way that was simply impossible on dry land. He looked at Simon, who although younger of course, was just as fit. "You'll love it," he continued encouragingly.
Simon looked at Daniel whom he trusted absolutely and nodded.
"Go get your trunks then," Daniel advised, adding helpfully, "You'll need a towel as well, and a shilling."
Simon ran off home. Mummy was at work but Frances was in.
"What's the matter?" she asked as Simon entered like a tornado.
"Need my swimming trunks!" shouted Simon back as he ran up the stairs. He found the rarely used trunks at the bottom of his drawer and bounded down again. Frances was in the sitting room.
"Which towel shall I take?" Simon asked his big sister.
"Any," said Frances, uninterested. But then, "You can't swim," she added, puzzled.
"Daniel's going to teach me at the lido," said Simon.
"Might have guessed."
"I need a shilling, Daniel says," said Simon hopefully.
"Well, don't look at me," responded Frances tersely. Then, seeing Simon's crestfallen face, added, "Wait a moment." Frances disappeared upstairs while Simon paced around impatiently.
"Here you are," said Frances returning with the prized shilling. "you owe me that."
"I'll tell Mummy," shouted back Simon, who was already half way out of the house.
Daniel was waiting at the corner.
"Shall I get my bike?" asked Simon.
"No," said Daniel, "We'll walk. They might get pinched."
Simon nodded agreement. The Lido wasn't far away and the noise of the bathers could clearly be heard.
"Race you," said Simon, impishly. He might not be able to swim yet, but at almost eight years old Simon was a fast runner and could hold his own against the older and slightly taller Daniel.
"One, two, three!" said Daniel, setting off immediately.
"Hey, that's not fair!" shouted Simon, taken unaware by the quick start. But soon he was off, hard on Daniel's heels. The two boys raced down the hill, along past the Parade and arrived at the Lido entrance, both panting out of breath in the summer heat.
"I won," said Daniel.
"Only coz you set off first," complained Simon, then punching Daniel playfully. Daniel punched back equally playfully. "Come on then," he said. "Got your money?"
Simon nodded.
They paid their ninepence entry fee. "The thruppence change, we can get some sherbet," Daniel pointed out. They were each given a locker key.
Then they were through the turnstile and the shimmering pool lay before them. It was semicircular, the straight side was the deep part below the diving boards, that looked horribly high to Simon. In the middle was an island platform. On the grass and paved area around the pool, people lay in the sunshine. The pool had quite a lot of people in it.
"Come on," said Daniel. The two boys moved around the semicircular building that followed the shape of the pool looking for an empty cubicle. They squeezed into one together. As they were only wearing a few summer things, there weren't many clothes to cope with. T
hey got undressed, each comfortable with the other in their familiar nakedness and then wriggled into their trunks.
"Wrap your clothes in your towel," said Daniel. Opening the door, he led the way out into the sunshine and along to a bank of lockers. They were next to each other luckily with consecutive numbers, and they put their things in and locked the doors, wrapping the key bands round their wrists. They turned and looked at the blue pool, its little wavelets catching the sun in a dazzling display that made the boys squint. Then Daniel ran forward and jumped into the water creating a large splash, some of which landed on Simon.
"What are you waiting for?" shouted Daniel happily as he surfaced and looked around for Simon. "It's OK, it's not deep," he said unnecessarily as he was standing up and the water was just above his waist. Simon ventured forward and jumped. The water was colder than he had expected and he gasped as the splashing subsided. Daniel was laughing, water streaming off his face and body.
"Right," said Daniel, "just do what I do." He launched himself forward into the water, burying his face and with a kick of his legs and strong arm strokes set off in a rapid front crawl away from Simon, who tried to follow but ended up floundering in the water and putting his feet down again after a couple of breathless attempts. Daniel swam back to his friend.
"Let me support you. Lie flat on my hands," said Daniel, extending his arms to make a platform. Simon leaned forward and lay trustingly across them. Daniel lifted Simon up in the water until he was lying along the surface.
"Now kick your legs." The result was a wild cascade of water as Simon obeyed, his legs flailing about in and out of the water.
"Keep them under the water if you can and sort of wave them."
Simon obeyed to some effect.
"Now pull over with your arms like I did." Simon made the front crawl arm movements, twisting his head to keep it clear of the water.
"You have to keep kicking as well, idiot!" said Daniel. Simon realised that in the effort to get the arm movement right, the kicking had stopped. As he did both together, Daniel stepped sideways to absorb the slight forward motion that Simon was creating.
The Secret Catamite Bk 1, The Book of Daniel Page 3