[At the party that is being held at an Hotel in Muswell Hill]

“Come on Mum! Why don’t you want to say some words to all your friends? They have taken a lot of trouble to be here today.” said her eldest daughter Janice.
Her voice was rather strained as if she was pleading with her mother.

Vivienne grunted.

“Why won’t you do it? Jan and I spent a lot of time and money setting up this party in your honour,” said her other daughter Suzanne.

Vivienne just shook her head and tried to walk away. She had not wanted this or any other celebration to mark her becoming an ‘old person’. Reaching the age of Sixty was no cause for any celebration in her eyes. What had made it even worse was that her beloved daughters had even invited her philandering former husband Rex to attend. He’d arrived along with his fourth wife Tammy, who seemed to be even younger than their children. It was as if he was deliberately trying to rub her nose in the mire yet again. Then she realised that it was him just being him and he’d never change.

Janice wasn’t taking no for an answer. She literally backed Viv into a corner by tapping her wine glass with a spoon in order to get everyone’s attention.

“I’m sure you’d all like to hear a few words from our ‘Birthday Girl’… I give you my darling mother Vivienne.”

There was a smattering of applause from the room.

Vivienne glared at her daughters and reluctantly stepped forward to face the guests.

“I want to thank you for coming along today. My daughters arranged this thing despite me telling them in no uncertain terms that I didn’t want anything to happen but that fell on deaf ears as usual but, I find it strange that none of my friends have been invited. I wonder why?”

There were a few surprised faces in the crowd.

“Now that I have reached this milestone in my life and according to my grandchildren, have been put out to pasture, I am going to do things very differently from now on. I am going to live my life as I see fit and not according to some stereotype. For starters, I am certainly not going to wear those clothes that my dear daughters selected for me to wear today. I never wore anything from C&A when they were in business and I am not going to start now. Do I look anywhere near a size 16? Exactly and if that monstrosity is the only present they give me today then I really will know that they have lost the plot.”

There was some tittering in the audience so Vivienne carried on.
“Someone else might get some wear out of them but it won’t be me but honestly, they need to be cut up and used as rags. Then there is the fact that I am most certainly not a person who wears beige. I never have been and never will. Having to wear Grey’s and Black’s for work was one thing but now that I am free of that I can choose what I want to wear. If I want to wander around the house naked then I can. It is my house so why not eh? At the very least, what I wear in future will be a lot more colourful.”

A few people more tittered. It appeared to be mostly the men but their partners soon snuffed that out. Like her daughters, it was obvious that those present were mostly what you could call ‘prudish’ when it came to how they were dressed. Mostly blacks and greys. Only Rex’s latest wife was in anyway daringly dressed. Her vibrant pink outfit really stood out amongst the sea of drab.

Vivienne took another deep breath before continuing. She wasn’t used to giving speeches and she was now deep into thinking on he feet or what you might call ‘winging it’. What she’d planned to say had lasted all of ten seconds. Nevertheless, she carried on.

“As I said, I’m going to live my life differently. Being a so-called woman of Leisure, I no longer have to be in London.”

She looked at her daughters. They were not enjoying her tirade one little bit. Good! She thought. So, she addressed her next little rant to them.

“So… my dear daughters, after your frankly insulting visit to me this morning where not one of you even said ‘hello’ let alone, ‘Happy Birthday Mum’, I’ve decided that I’m going to sell up and move away which means I won’t be around to babysit my lovely grandchildren but girls, an hour is about anyone can put up with their astonishingly bad behaviour. Tammy, who for those who don’t know is not yet five told me to ‘Fuck Off’ last week when I suggested that watching ‘Breaking Bad’ was not really suitable for someone of her age.”

She paused to let that sink in.

“As I said, I will be moving away from London. I don’t know where yet but there are two things that I do know. The first is that whatever place I buy, there won’t be room for my daughters and their broods to descend on me for a freebie holiday. You all came over for last Christmas and only left when it was time for the children to return to school. Did I get any contributions towards the food or heating? Like hell I did. I’m sorry my darling, that was the last straw. Your days of sponging off me are over unless you want to bring a tent and camp that is? I’m sure that wherever I go, there will be a field nearby that you could use.”

Both of her daughters had a virtual phobia towards the outdoors.

“Secondly, I won’t be leaving a forwarding address to anyone but my Solicitor. I am not going to let my dear and well-meaning daughters organise my life from here on in and I certainly do not want to follow your advice and move into some bland identikit retirement apartment as you clearly want me too. Yes Janice, those not so subtle brochures you keep leaving around my house were noticed no, I didn’t read them and digest the wonderful details of retirement apartments where there isn’t room to swing a cat. Furthermore, I know that you want the money from my house sale so that you can move house again but as the yanks say, ‘not on my dime you ain’t’. Those expensive brochures went for recycling the day after to left them. As for your hints about me not being able to manage the house… I managed very well last week and I will manage again next week. I might have retired but walking Betty keeps me pretty fit thank you.”

Everyone looked at Janice. She cringed with embarrassment.

“Then Suzi, like your sister, there were those not so subtle hints about releasing some equity in my home in order to help you move to a larger house. If you won’t use contraception and keep getting pregnant, then Suzi, that is your problem not mine. I scrimped and saved in order to bring you two up with only the occasional financial help from their Father. Don’t forget that I paid for your University Education and even lent you the deposits on your first homes. Why don’t you ask your dear father to help out? After all, he owns how many virtual properties in Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Deptford? I think it was about fifty the last time his company filed their accounts which are more than a year overdue. He seems to have all the money not me. How else can he afford to have homes in Islington, Buckinghamshire, Greece and Florida if he does not have some spare cash. Go on girls, ask him. He might even say yes.”

“Yes, I’m ranting but I am also totally sane. The full medical I had two weeks ago showed that I was very sane and actually pretty fit for a person of my age. Now that I’m not working I can do what the hell I like with my life. I’m not going to sit down, watch TV and basically ‘wait for god’ to come calling. If I want to sell up here and buy something out in the middle of nowhere then I can and there is nothing anyone can do to stop me. I’m going to enjoy my life and if that means spending money and that is my money I’m talking about, then bring it on.”

Vivienne then looked directly at Suzanne who was standing by the birthday cake that had a single candle on the top. The green colour of the icing told Vivienne what was inside. It was just one of the cakes that she served in her Café. As if adding a single candle would make it special.

“You might be my daughter Suzanne, but I will not eat your vegan courgette and coriander birthday cake. To me, it tastes like rough sawdust. Always has done and always will. To be honest, you can take it along with your skinny soya or almond milk decaf latte and shove it up where it hurts. Only God knows where you got the idea that it is what I want to drink when I come into your Coffee shop. You keep trying to fob me off with crap and then have the nerve to want to charge me getting on for five quid for it even if I didn’t ask for it.”

Suzanne visibly cringed.

“I’m going to end now and exit stage left. As I said at the outset, I didn’t want this thing here today, I’ll let you all enjoy it. You can all take those presents back to where you got them as I really don’t want them but thanks for the thought. When I leave here, I’m going home and then I’m going to take Betty for a long walk and to hell with you all. I’ve been trying to tell my daughters about my plans for months but they have just put their collective fingers in their ears and not listened one little bit which is a trait you have clearly inherited from your dear philandering Father. I’m done with you trying to organise my life, my retirement and your desire to get your hands on my money. Henceforth, the bank of Mum is now permanently closed.”

Vivienne stopped talking and headed for the exit. Just like Moses and the Red Sea, a path opened up for her and allowed her to escape with her head held high.

---

Betty was very pleased to see her mistress when she arrived home from the disastrous party if you could call it that… She was waiting by the front door, lead in mouth and her tail rhythmically thumping on the polished wooden floor.

“Later Betty.”

Vivienne could swear that Betty looked disappointed that she wasn’t going out for walkies.

“We are going to the country. Lots of walkies there my girl.”

Her tail thumping rhythm sped up when Betty heard the word walkies.

---

Less than half an hour later, Vivienne had changed her clothes, packed a bag for at least a week and was ready to go. The car was packed with her things plus enough food and water for Betty so all that remained was for her to do was to put Betty in her travelling cage, set the alarm on the house and go. She would not be sorry to see the back of London for a while at least.

As Vivienne turned out of her street and onto the main road, she allowed herself a virtual fist pump. There, going in the other direction and obviously heading for her home was her daughter Janice and her useless twat of a husband Mark. That man was in Vivienne’s opinion, a waste of space but he’d been Janice’s choice and that was that. Their car was waiting at the lights to turn into the street where Vivienne was leaving. She knew that it would take them at least a couple of minutes to turn around and to get back on her tail again. By that time, she’d be long gone. Vivienne didn’t help their quest to find her by taking a few shortcuts that took her towards Maida Vale and the north end of Shepherds Bush.

Vivienne was headed for the A40 as her way out of London. She thought to herself, ‘I might be sixty but I am far from ready to stop living. Far from it. This is truly the first day of the rest of my life’.

Her enthusiasm didn’t last long. She’d not even reached the Hanger Lane Junction with the North Circular road when she came to a grinding halt in a queue of traffic.

Every few minutes, the queue moved a little bit. Out of frustration more than anything else, Vivienne turned on the Radio and tuned it to a local news station. She didn’t have to wait long before a traffic report told her that the road was closed in the westbound direction right outside the old Hoover factory. This was just a mile or so down the road from her present position. The news report went on to say that a car had caught fire and it was predicted that the road would be closed for several hours as some of the road surface needed to be replaced.

“So much for the Cotswolds,” she muttered to herself. Betty yelped from behind her.

“Yes Betty, I’m still here.”

Vivienne knew that there was only one way out and that was to turn left or right onto the North Circular at the Hangar Lane Junction that was a few hundred yards ahead of her. Vivienne chose to go south. Her thinking that was to get onto the M4 at Chiswick and head westwards that way.

As many people know from bitter experience, the A 406 North Circular Road is to be avoided at the best of times especially the section between the A40 at Hangar Lane and the A4 at Chiswick. Even at weekends it can be hell especially around the Chiswick roundabout.

Vivienne tried to use the SatNav to find a way of avoiding the A 406/A4 junction. She found one that would take through Acton. When she reached the A4, it was jammed going west so she carried on into Chiswick. It looked to her that she was going to end up on the M3 rather than the M40.

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” she muttered.

Betty piped up just to let her know that she was still with her.

“Mother is here Betty,” she called out.

Vivienne made good progress but the slow traffic was hitting the battery of her car pretty hard.

As she passed under the M25/M3 Junction near, she realised that while the just over one-hundred-and-thirty-mile range of her car was perfect for nipping around the city but was not ideal for a trip to the country especially as she had no idea where she was going to end up. She was also starting to wonder if it was the right vehicle for a trip to… where she knew not where. She laughed said out loud,
“I Know Not Where the Road Will Lead.”

That’s as far as she got. Sunday School was a long time ago. They used to sing that hymn almost every other week.

---

[Sutton Scotney Services just over an hour later]

Vivienne was struggling to get the charger working with her car when another Electric Vehicle pulled in beside her. There were two ‘electron pumps’ as she called the charging points.

The driver got out and gave her a smile. She relaxed. It was a woman of around thirty years of age.

Vivienne watched in awe as other woman plugged in a cable and fiddled with her phone and then she heard a fairly loud clunk from the charger as it powered up to begin work. The woman smiled and locked her car.

The woman began to walk away but stopped before she’d gone very far. After a moment’s hesitation, she came back.

“Are you ok? You look as if you are having a problem with the charger?”

Vivienne was slightly thrown by her directness.

“Yes… yes I am. I’ve never used one of these before. I… I normally charge at home.”

The other woman smiled.

“It is quite easy once you know how.”

“That’s just it. I’m a bit of a fish out of water at the moment.”

“Well then we need to get the river of electrons flowing into your car so that you can breathe normally.”

Vivienne could tell that she was trying to put her at ease.

“Do you have the app on your phone?”

“I think so. I loaded a whole raft of them when I got the car.”

“Can I take a look?”

Vivienne handed the woman her phone after turning off ‘Airplane Mode’.

When it connected to the network, it seemed to go mad.

“It looks like a lot of people have been trying to get in touch with you?”

“Yeah. My daughters. I’m in their bad books but they’ll get over it.”
Then Vivienne added,
“Eventually.”

“Sometimes, families can be a real pain in the you know where,” said the woman as she fiddled with Vivienne’s phone.

“Oh good, you have the app all already setup. All you need is your credit card.”

Vivienne produced the card she vaguely remembered using for this and a few other apps.

“Put in the security number from the back and you are all set to go.”

She did as she told. A few seconds later, the charger started to power up.

“There you are it is charging.”

“Fancy a coffee? My treat,” the other woman added.

“Don’t you have to be somewhere yourself?” asked Vivienne.

She laughed.

“When my car has enough juice to get me there, yes I do but I’m in no rush now. I had to drop dear two friends off at Heathrow. We were attending a wedding in Norfolk. Now I’m going down to Devon for the weekend and then I’m going to be visiting some businesses but generally taking things easy. I’ve been a taxi service these past few days.”

‘If you are sure…? I don’t want to be any trouble.”

“You are no trouble. We all had to start somewhere with these things. I didn’t get it right straight away.”

“Forgive me for asking, but you seem rather unprepared mentally for going away in your car?”

She was right on the nail.

“Guilty as charged. It was a very spur of the moment thing. Mostly to get away from my Daughters. I’m afraid I had an almighty rant at them earlier.”

“Where are you heading?”

Drat! Vivienne thought to herself as she tried to think of a destination.

“Well, I was intending to head out towards the Cotswolds but the A40 was closed at Hangar Lane. Somehow, I found myself on the road to Kew Bridge in Chiswick and saw the signs for the M3, so here I am.”

“What about you?” asked Vivienne.

“As I said, I’m going down to South Devon. I’m attending the opening of a new Pub and Restaurant on Sunday,” replied the woman.
Then she added,
“Do you have somewhere to stay tonight?”

That threw Vivienne a bit.
“To be honest, I don’t know. My original plan was to stay somewhere like Stow on the Wold but I’m not really familiar with this part of the country.”

The other woman smiled back at Vivienne.

“Lets’ get that Coffee? While we wait for our cars to charge?”

“Ok, why not. But I’ll need to let Betty out for a bit.”

A yelp came from inside Vivienne’s car.

The woman smiled.

“There are some tables outside. Why don’t you take Betty there while I get the drinks? What’s your poison?”

The word ‘poison’ threw Vivienne for a second.

“Tea, milk and no sugar thanks.”

“Great. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Vivienne turned to look at Betty. Her gaze what just as I’d seen her that first day.

“Come on Betty. Time for a stretch,” she said as she opened the hatchback.
Betty didn’t argue one little bit.

---

Vivienne was beginning to wonder what was happening as the time ticked by and the other woman hadn’t appeared. Her car was still parked there right next to Vivienne’s. She had to admit to herself that the vivid blue colour of her car was stunning compared to hers.

Then she saw the other woman appearing out of the building. She smiled when she saw Vivienne.

“Sorry for being so long. There was a coach party of older folk who could not make up their mind in the queue ahead of me.”

“It does not matter. I just looked at this app thing and it was saying that my car was only forty percent charged.”

“Those chargers tend to time you out after 45 to 50 minutes.”

“Oh? I didn’t know.”

“Just one of the things you learn about using an Electric Vehicle. Be prepared…”

“I feel so inadequate.”

She smiled back at me.

“Nonsense. As I said, I was just like you a while back. You will soon pick up all the tricks.”

“I hope so.”

“I’m Maxine. Maxine Forsythe by the way,” said the woman.

“Vivienne Carter. Thanks again for your help.”

“No problem Vivienne. Now do you have any idea about where you are staying tonight?”

“Not really,” replied Vivienne hoping not to sound too depressed.

“The traffic going past Stonehenge is sure to be heavy what with it being a Bank Holiday Weekend. I generally divert through Salisbury and Blandford Forum when going down to Devon.”

“Oh?”

“I know somewhere to stay just outside Salisbury. Very close to Sarum, the old roman town.”

“Will they have room?”

“I’m sure they will. There is a pub next door that has a charger and the food isn’t bad either. Being a country pub, they are also dog friendly.”
Then she hesitated before adding,
“If you don’t mind staying at a B&B that is run by two gay men that is?”

She’d thrown Vivienne once again.

“I don’t think so.”

“Good. Let me give them a call. Their names are Duncan and Charles. Really nice people. Both of them are graphic artists. I’ve used them a few times professionally so that’s how I know them.”

Without waiting for Vivienne to react, she pulled out a number from her contacts list and pressed ‘call’.

“Hello Dunc!” said Maxine.
“I’m fine. What about you two?”

“Good. Do you have anyone staying tonight?”

“You don’t? Great. I have a client for you. Her name is Vivienne. She drives a Leaf and has a delightful dog called Betty.”

“We are at Sutton Scotney Services giving our cars a charge. Half an hour more for that then just under hour for her to find you? Is that ok?”
She put her hand over the microphone.
“Are you ok with me reserving you a room?”

“Thanks. Please go ahead.”

“That’s settled then Dunc. I’ll give her all the details of how to find you and all that.”

“No, I’m going down to Devon tonight. I’ll drop by on my way back next Sunday. Do you want your usual order?”

“Good. See you then.”

Maxine finished the call and smiled at Vivienne.

“That’s all settled. Let me text you their details? You can put their Postcode into your SatNav and it will take you right to them. You can’t miss the pub.”

“What usual order? If you don’t mind me asking?”

She chuckled.

“Oh that. If I’m passing near to their place on my way back from Devon, I usually bring them some smoked Mackerel from the smokie in the village where this Pub is that I’m going to on Sunday… That’s tomorrow. My… how the days fly by when you are enjoying yourselfß.”

Vivienne’s almost closed life seemed to be so… inadequate when compared to this confident young woman. She began to envy her.

Her brief encounter with Maxine had made Vivienne even more determined not to sit and vegetate in some… The words would not come. Whatever it was, she knew that sort of life it wasn’t for her. The events of the day had been bad almost from the start when her daughters arrived but seemed to be brightening up at last.

[to be continued]