I'm
waiting in the waiting room at Whitchurch Hospital.
It's
very nice, clean, white with tasteful art prints dotted around,
a fish tank and three years' worth of OK! and Hello! Magazines.
There's also that unmistakable aura of death and hopelessness
that I have come to associate with Devon, and yet here I am, still
in Shropshire. It doesn't seem right.
Sophia
is still in labour. I offered a number of times to assist with
the delivery. I was ready to encourage her and suggest when (and
when not) to push, and I'd prepared a calming little poem about
epidurals to recite.
Then Sophia grabbed my arm with the sort of grip you can only
refuse with the aid of a crowbar and a blowtorch and explained
to me all about privacy, families and restraining orders.
I
decided they would be better off without me and left them alone.
There's
a little TV in the corner of the waiting room - it's been showing
the Olympics now for what seems like several days, but can't in
fact be much more than 3 or 4 hours.
There's a lot of nonsense about Athens being the "birthplace
of the Olympics".
As every well-informed Salopian knows, the Olympics originated
in Much Wenlock, when William Penny Brookes had a dream about
people of all nationalities competing athletically against each
other for gingerbread medallions.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin came round for tea and cake at Bill's
house one day, pinched his idea, swapped the gingerbread for Bronze,
Silver and Gold, moved it from the Much Wenlock playing fields
to Athens and the rest is history.
It's
the same old story. All good things come from Shropshire, but
people don't want to believe that a little English county could
be responsible for so much... They'd rather believe the forked
tongue of the media serpent.
They'd
rather believe that Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin in
1928, when actually George Rumsfold, an unemployed baker from
Wellington first discovered it in 1925 while trying out new gingerbread
preserving methods.
They'd rather think that Samuel Colt invented the revolver in
1846, getting his idea from watching the wheel of a sailing ship...
when in fact as early as 1820 they were using six shooters in
Ludlow to keep marauders from Devon away from the livestock.
Samuel Colt visited Ludlow as a teenager on a camping holiday
with his parents and bought a model of a revolver from a gift
shop next to Ludlow castle, took it to America and put his name
to it.
|
Reginald
Granger in action
|
I've
met people that still genuinely imagine that Neil Armstrong was
the first man on the moon in 1969, when everyone in Moreton Say
knows it was really Reginald "Lone" Granger that first
set foot there at 10:30am on the 15th of June 1973.
Neil's whole "one small step" fiasco was filmed in a
disused Laundromat in Washington DC. If you look carefully at
some of the footage you can see a tumble dryer poking out from
behind a moon rock.
People
will believe anything if it's told to them often enough. Sometimes
I wonder what the world would do without me to smash open the
padlock of falsehood that chains shut the rusty gates of propaganda,
so they can once again frolic in the garden of hidden truth.
The
nurse just came through. Sophie has had the baby.
Inside
the maternity ward, they have cheered up the place with stencils
of Disney characters, children's television programmes and a whole
wall with nothing but little pictures of people sewing, spinning
wheels, thread, and sewing machines.
I asked about the mural and one of the nurses explained it was all
a mix up with a local artist. They had asked for a wall mural with
a "Fimbles" theme.
I'm sitting in front of a lovely mural of a giant six fingered hand
with an eye in the palm and a different coloured thimble on each
finger as I type this on my trusty palmtop and reflect on the serious
nature of life, death and birth.
Outside
the rain is raining, as it often does. It's early in the morning
and I have just had the most tremendous experience of my entire
life.
I'm aware that I keep saying that... that each time I experience
something wonderful it pips the last "most tremendous"
moment and becomes the all-new most tremendous moment.
Well, it does, and it has and it is.
I've
just met a brand new Salopian.
Toby
and Sophia's new little girl - she looks just like a very, very,
very young Felicity Kendal.
After
Sophia, Toby, the midwife, the other midwife, a couple of nurses,
a doctor and a cleaner, I was the ninth person that the little girl
saw.
She looked like a freshly baked little person, soft and warm from
the womb.
I felt
very protective of her and very emotional, since Toby would never
have met Sophia if it hadn't been for me.
This little girl is the nearest I've ever come to a child of my
own and if it wasn't for my responsibilities enlightening the rest
of humanity, I'd stick around and buy her a pony and a junior bingo
set.
The
more I looked down at the innocent, inquisitive, slightly puffy,
tiny, new eyes, the more I was sure that I need to set off again
- so that every baby gets the same chance that this lucky little
lady has... The chance to taste the sweet air of Shropshire.
She gets it by accident of birth. But right now there are children
being born in far off countries (there are even poor little souls
being born in Devon), that need me out there, letting people know
about Shropshire, the Shropshire way of life, and the betterment
that awaits them over the rainbow in Moreton Say.
Sophia
comes home later today, so Toby and I are getting the house ready
for her homecoming.
I suggested a live brass band, a bouncy castle, fireworks and a
small but tasteful parade of local people, maybe one or two floats
to celebrate.
Toby
prefers a lower key approach so we have opted for a bunch of flowers,
a card and a bit of a tidy up instead.
Toby keeps explaining to me how important it is for Sophia to get
plenty of rest and how she needs to be left alone for a while, so
I've made sure no-one can come and disturb her by setting up my
camp bed near the door.
I've
already had to explain to Trent, my Mother, Aunt Felicity and a
man selling dusters that Sophia will be home soon and needs some
space with just her, the baby and Toby.
Some
people can be so inconsiderate.
Sophia
came home yesterday evening and got quite emotional when she saw
Toby. Then she got even more emotional when she saw me.
I always
imagined that when I first met Sophia it would be more magical,
much calmer than it's turned out.
I had
a phone call from Meat in Australia. Meat has regained his grasp
of the English language and is now doing a surprisingly successful
job running 'Morris Telford's Clip, Paper and Staplers' in Perth,
Australia.
He was ringing to tell me that the company is doing incredibly well.
They went multi-national last month and still send out a map showing
where Moreton Say is with every order.
Sometimes
I feel like some modern day King Midas. Everything I touch turns
to gold.
Like a transcendental version of Percy Thrower, everything I'm involved
in blossoms and sprouts and grows into something wonderful.
As local prophet Bruce Foresight said to me this morning, my hands
are fertile, my breath is life, my smile a toothy arc of brilliance
spreading good cheer and happiness, and wherever my feet take me,
there people will rejoice and sing.
I like
Bruce.
The
great thing is, Meat tells me, that 'Morris Telford's Clip, Paper
and Staplers' has been buying up smaller companies as they expand
their business, and it turns out that my old company, the one that
sacked me and Toby last week, is actually owned by MTCP&S.
So effectively, I sacked myself last week without knowing it.
As
chairman, I've emailed a minute to Meat outlining a few necessary
changes to operations at our Shropshire branch.
I've given Toby his job back, with a raise and a promotion, he does
have a family to support after all. I've also given out a hefty
cash bonus to Theresa who used to buy me Jammie Dodgers.
With
the same email I've also relocated Mr Magson so he gets to do my
old job ordering the paperclips. That'll be a nice surprise for
him when he gets back from the sub-continent.
I asked
Mother if she was prepared to give me my passport now.
She
said no.
Inspired
by Toby cleaning up for Sophia, I had a bit of a tidy up at home,
and went straight to the place where my Mother had hidden my passport.
It was down the back of the settee (which is, of course, the first
place you should always look when you lose something, but is often
the last).
I also found a pair of slightly worn, latex pointed ears; a copy
of 'The Catcher In The Rye'; a receipt from the chemists dated 1997
showing that Mother had bought some soap and some growth hormones;
the remote control for a Betamax video recorder; a local newspaper
clipping with the headline "Shropshire man first on Moon!"...
and some paperclips.
I pocketed the paperclips - you never know when you might need them.
Nothing
else is stopping me from setting off again to change the world,
so I packed my things, and went to say my goodbyes.
Trent
and the other Alaskans weren't at their barn. A note said they've
gone to a car boot sale in Telford to see if they could sell some
American military secrets.
Aunt
Felicity is at the dentists having her sockets moistened.
Mother
went out this morning to see a local sculptor/builder about getting
a statue of me commissioned. She isn't back yet.
The sculptor's name is Kenn and he specialises in cement life-size
images. Apparently he did a very good Henry Walford Davies for the
Church Fete last year.
She may not want me to go, but I like to think that she must be
proud of what I've achieved if she's getting a statue done in my
honour.
So
there's no-one to give me a send off, no ticker tape parade of adulation,
no cheering crowd chanting my name, no placards or banners or specially
printed "Good Luck Morris" T-shirts, not even a couple
of tearful local beauties clinging to my legs.
It's
probably for the best this way, if I slip out quietly without any
upset.
The light is on at Toby's next door; I'm going to see if he's in.
Toby wasn't in last night. He has taken his new little girl for a
ride in the car while Sophia, exhausted, got some much needed rest.
So it was unfortunate that I chose this particular moment to ring
the doorbell.
It's
funny, but as she opened the door to me, I realised that it was
the first time I'd ever been alone with Sophia.
Even though she answered the door tired and irritable, having just
fallen asleep for the first time in 50 hours, I couldn't help but
smile when I saw it was her.
I didn't
have to say anything. It was just nice to see her again, see she
was all right before I left. So I just mumbled an apology and told
her to let Toby know I had to go liberate some more people from
the shackles of ignorance.
To
her credit, she was really nice to me. She didn't bring up the fact
I'd disturbed her rest, or mention my over-enthusiastic offers of
help during her recent childbirth, or that I'd just got Toby sacked.
She just thanked me for all I'd done and she smiled and she kissed
me on my left cheek just on the cheekbone, just under my eye.
I want
to say it was like a butterfly, newly emerged from its chrysalis,
had chosen my cheek as the first thing its delicate, perfect legs
ever landed on... or that it was like brushing against a goddess
in a crowded room and feeling for that brief moment of contact what
it must be like to be perfect.
I want to say that, but to be honest it was just a kiss... Just
her lips on my cheek... Just exactly, precisely the sort of goodbye
I'd wanted.
It
occurred to me I should have told Sophia about Toby getting his
job back, but I'd rather she thought Toby did it off his own back
anyway. He's her partner; her baby's father and I want them so much
to be happy together.
I bumped
into Toby just now, this morning, as I waited for the bus. He wound
the window down and we talked.
He let me look in at the baby in her car seat. I told him how I'd
bumped into Sophia and how, although we had kissed, it was purely
platonic and he had nothing to worry about.
He laughed and told me they'd named the little girl - they've called
her Felicity, after my Father.
It's late.
I've spent the day in Market Drayton making travel arrangements.
Now
I'm sitting at the coach station, waiting to once more travel south
down the A41 to unknown climates, trying to avoid eye contact with
the skinhead sitting opposite me.
There's something inherently intimidating about a skinhead, stripped
to the waist, face painted like a Union Jack, with a Swastika tattooed
on their stomach... But I know I shouldn't judge by appearances;
I might like her if I got to know her.
It's
exactly the sort of challenge I regularly face in my daily struggle
to bring the new dawn of the age of Shropshire to a world darkened
by petty rivalries and selfish misunderstanding.
Should
I cast aside my preconceptions and embrace humanity one by one,
thinking the best of everyone until they prove otherwise; or should
I take the discretionary route and choose my battles carefully?
Should I hide in the rock face until the birds of potential violence
swoop by me; or should I wave my arms and shout loudly for the first
passing stranger, in the hope they will be quite nice?
Should I be a wallflower in the dance of life to the tunes of circumstance
I am unfamiliar with; or should I grab a random partner and dance
the dance of the determined traveller until I drop?
On
this occasion I'm going to securely hide my palmtop, pretend to
be asleep and hope the skinhead isn't getting on the same coach
as me.
|