CHAPTER 65
We ended up borrowing the class minibus for the trip up to Shrewsbury, our housemates pulling out various excuses for coming back to college early. We stayed Thursday night in a Holiday Inn on the edge of the town so that we could get a decent pitch the next morning, and settled down in our rooms after a rather limited choice of evening meal.

The breakfast was adequate, and not long afterwards Jordan was steering us aimlessly through the town centre. It was only when I spotted a particular pub that I remembered the way to the site, despite all the big signs we had been passing. Some navigator I was!

“Turn right, Jordan! Follow this road”

Around the odd gyratory, along the river, into the ‘waiting room’ car park, and finally up to the area around the enormous Woodruff tent. Alys had texted ahead, and there was the usual huge teapot being agitated by Jan as we parked.

“Get a cuppa in you before starting the erections, folks”

The lads exchanged looks, Tref beginning to blush, and Alys simply said “You are worse than your sis in law!”

Jan gave a theatrical bow, spare hand twiddling.

“She sets such high standards to aspire to! Anyway, do the intros while I pour. Tea for everyone?”

Alys started pointing and naming, and when she got to Lee, Jan put the pot down and went to give him a hug.

“You’re the one who dug her out, I believe”

Lee looked at his shoes, almost echoing Kitzy in the pose.

“Aye, well, it was six and two threes, really”

Kitzy herself piped up.

“He means six of one and half a dozen of the other, Miss”

“None of that! Jan, that’s who I am. Steph’n’Geoff’n’Annie’n’Eric’n’Darren are out on their bikes, the idiots. Bill’s at the little shop for some more bread, and the three girls will be here later today, as will my own and her boy”

Jan grinned.

“Don’t worry about sorting folk out. You lot all know Steph’n’Geoff, am I right?”

A round of nods.

“…and these two already know all the rest. Enfys?”

“Yes?”

“Any of these need a spare room in ours?”

I looked round, at a sequence of head shakes.

“No ta, Jan. We have our tents”

“Fine. I’ll mark out some space for Ginny and Kell, and then it’s time to relax before the first session. This lot know who’s on? Or rather, do they know who the people who are on actually are?”

Jordan held up his hand.

“I do. Miss!”

Jan laughed out loud.

“Yes, Steph told me. Don’t worry; you already know she doesn’t bite. Anyone else?”

Kitzy waved, a little nervously.

“My mum likes Show of Hands. She plays some of their stuff at home, sometimes”

Jan nodded.

“They are actually headlining Saturday night. When the others get back, we’ll sit down with the programme and talk the newbies through the who’s who and that. Now, drink up, and then get your homes sorted”

We did as instructed, before a wander round the site and then the first ‘session practice’. Yes: I HAD fitted my harp into the minibus, and while Alys and I, plus various Woodruffs and Johnsons, played away from the tune book, the rest of my friends simply sat and, I hope, enjoyed the sound.

We had the first of our ceilidhs after said Johnsons and the rest had arrived, and that was slightly awkward, as while Alys and I were comfortable in a set as a couple, there was no way Tref and Jordan would take the plunge unless one of the women dragged them up.

I could almost understand it; there is a lot of rubbish heaped onto gay women like Alys and myself, but it is almost as nothing compared to what gay men suffer, and women dance together at ceilidhs all the time. Steph understood, and almost giggled, which was never really her thing.

“First time, yeah? Me and Geoff? First ceilidh, I ask Kell if she wants to dance, and he complains about single men being left with nobody to dance with, and…”

I took the bait.

“And?”

“And we have never, ever looked back. The lads going to be okay? We can spread it about a bit, give them someone to dance with, and you could start by letting Alys go”

Arsebollocks, as Annie would no doubt say. Anyway, there was beer, and dancing for most of us, and the music was as eclectic and enjoyable as ever. I was delighted, as we finished off in the Berwick Bar, that Kelly had brought her bag of shaky and bangy things for our musically challenged friends to dip into, so that they felt included.

All in all, it was a bloody good night, and Alys and I ended up happily asleep together, wrapped together as well, and from the sleepy expressions the next morning we hadn’t been the only ones. Breakfast was the usual Edifice Special, and then there was a general dispersal as people ambled off in twos and fours for their own exploration of the site.

That was something that made me smile: it was all even numbers, couples or multiples thereof. The world was a warm and comforting place, and that was the way things should be.

Jimmy was there again for the Saturday, playing two sessions once more in the afternoon and early evening, and Hannah James was there in an all-woman group, plus Nancy Kerr and her man, and the music and the day unrolled like fishing line from its reel, the only distraction being the smiles on the faces of my newer friends as they succumbed to the magic of the sound, the seduction of the words. They were all amazed when Jimmy actually joined us for a meal after his first set, but as always with him, they were chatting like old friends before we had finished eating.

Our last event that evening, before we settled back into our seats in The Berwick, was Show of Hands, an old favourite of most of our group, and an only slightly newer one for my lover and myself. We found our seats, three people walked onto the stage, and I was lost in the music for the best part of an hour.

I sang my heart out at each chorus, Alys wept through ‘Columbus’, we all snarled through ‘Country Life’ and I found myself almost floating with the refrain in ‘Santiago’. When I looked around at our newbies, several of them looked stunned, while others simply smiled, eyes a thousand miles away.

We linked into our various couples once out of the marquee, Jordan sighing happily at yet another gig by what seemed to be his favourite band, Kitzy almost hanging off Lee’s arm as she came out of her own daze, and everyone else in our group in pretty much a similar state. It was a minute or two before I registered that there was a rather familiar man standing in front of us.

“Christina?”

She jerked upright from her slumped position next to Lee.

“Dad? What are you doing here?”

His eyes flicked over our student group, clearly ticking off the partnerships as being radically different from what he had been shown earlier in the academic year. Just as clearly, he was not pleased with the results.

“And who is this?”

Lee held out his hand.

“I’m Lee, Mr Salter”

“I wasn’t asking you, son. I’ll ask you to keep your nose out of things while I am speaking with my daughter”

He turned back to Kitzy.

“Well?”

“My boyfriend, Dad. This is Lee”

“I do not recall you asking me if you could start seeing him”

“Dad…”

“DAVID!”

Linda had appeared behind him, clearly having emerged from one of the toilet blocks. She was using a little bottle of hand sanitiser as she stepped past her husband.

“You’ll be that Lee, then? ‘Scuse hands, etc. Pleased to meet you, lad. Kitzy has said a lot about you, keep it shut, David. What did you think of the band?”

Lee was almost stammering, right back to his usual shyness.

“Um, very good, but, well, those two, and Jordan there, they already knew them, so I was a bit lost with the choruses. Still, got to sing along with them, aye?”

“Aye. Yes. David, our girl has not been going behind our back, as you will no doubt have put it. She’s been going behind yours, and this is why”

“My child---”

“Is not a bloody child, David. See Enfys there? Yes, you’ve met her. Don’t pretend you don’t remember; never works with me, does it? See her nose? She got that in an accident when our girl was on that Scottish trip. That boy there, Lee, he’s the one who dug her out of a snow hole, and our girl, there, she’s the one who pulled Lee out. She is NOT a little girl, and bugger me, I hadn’t planned it this way, but it is about time YOU grew up and accepted that fact!”

“Linda, this is for me to decide how---”

“I’ll change the sheets on the spare bed when we get home. Your job from then on, as well as making your own meals. As I said, about time you grew up yourself”

She turned back to Lee, the little bottle in her handbag.

“Hi, son. Hands are dry now. Will you take a hug?”

He stepped away from Kitzy for that, and it all looked firm, as well as honest. Linda grinned at us all.

“Not exactly how I planned letting all those cats out of their bags, but never mind. Bar is still open, and that’s a hint to you, David Salter. Looks like our girl has a lot more friends to introduce, especially that tall one with the dyed hair”

Ginny laughed.

“Why pick on me?”

“I don’t know, love. Possibly down to the way I thought you were about to deck my husband. I mean, he’s far from perfect, as you will have noted, but he’s still mine, and without him, I’d only have the dog to kick”

Tref let out his breath in a whoosh.

“Kitz, love: no wonder you’re so quiet! Ginny?”

“Yup?”

“You deck people often?”

“Fuck yeah! Well, no. Not that often. Usually just need a quick word. Smile usually works”

Annie burst into laughter this time, waving a hand at her tall friend.

“Linda, was it? I should explain that when Ginny says ‘smile’, it tends to carry a rather different message”

That woman shrugged.

“Works for me. Now, can we haz boozahol and settle down? And you two, Kitzoids? You play anything?”

Linda held up her handbag.

“I do. We only got here this afternoon, so missed some sessions. Got some whistles here. Don’t look at David. I can see all the cases there. Shall we get going?”

She settled herself next to Lee and her daughter, and off we all went towards the Berwick, where Jimmy was waiting in his usual way, a number of chairs secured by one of the big round tables. As we walked in, he laughed.

“Ye’ve got two mair! Whe’s these?”

Kitzy did the honours.

“My Mum and Dad, Linda and David, Mr Kerr”

“Ah’ve telt ye, lass, it’s Jimmy. And Jimmy’s glass is empty”

Steph did the business, and after the rest of us had sorted out drinks for couples to avoid the idiocy of such a huge round, we settled down and began pulling out our instruments. I just had some whistles with me, as the harp was not something we could drag to and from the gigs, and as I ran up and down a couple of scales, Mr Salter whispered to me.

“Isn’t that one of the professionals?”

“Jimmy? Oh yes”

“But he’s just sitting with you and drinking…”

“He’s an old friend of Steph there”

“I’ve never sat with… He is a very, very good player”

“So are Steph and Annie there”

His manner was shifting, and I could almost hear the gears turning. Sitting with a big star. Being seen by people who might see him and not just Jimmy. Stardom by association.

I didn’t care, really. If it calmed down his attitude to Kitzy and Lee, that was all I needed. Just then, a group in the top corner started playing some morris tunes, and the night got going in its usual way.

Arguments could be left for tomorrow.