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Darryl’s
Diary
– or: Life on the Edge at a
Gay Guest House
in Southtrend-On-Sea.
The Last Chapter,
Number 28
What a
relief to get back home again, it seemed as if I had been away for weeks.
Dave the
builder had done a wonderful job on restoring my place back to normal. All
the fixtures and fittings put up by the film company had been removed as
soon as the technical college had vacated the rooms and Dave had
redecorated where necessary, so my guest house looked all pristine and
workable again.
Of
course, Southtrend on Sea is quite dead now. Most of the SHAG group
members are either doing up their places, have gone on holiday, or are
putting their places on the market after a dreadful season - some doing
all three. I was not in a hurry to open again too soon myself, deciding
out of season to just open for the Friday and Saturday nights. I might
make enough to at least pay the overheads if I am careful.
The
second evening back I thought I would give Julian and Tristan a visit, to
see how they were getting on. They were really very excited. Without
anyone’s knowledge they had some time ago put their place on the market,
and last week actually lined up a buyer at the full asking price.
Consequently they were all ready making plans and packing personal
belongings. They have decided to leave England for good and use the
capital, after paying off their mortgage and loans, to buy or even build a
village property in Nandipur, in the district of Kokrajhar some 156 miles
from the state capital of Gauhati.
They
had trekked this area many years ago and fell in love with the forest and
really friendly peoples. They now thought they could open up a sort of
cultural exploration and holiday centre there. Property was next to
nothing to buy or build, and with the right connections in the UK for
adventure holidays they might clean up by being the first in this
particular district.
Catching
up with Raymond the following day, I found him busy building an outside
plunge pool for his more fit guests next season. He seemed to be in high
spirits and was eager to pass on the news about Norman and Fred from
Dickeys Drive-In Hotel. There had been a serious fire at the building
early last Tuesday morning, whilst the two of them were out swapping the
laundry baskets at the hospital. Norman had left a chip pan on, expecting
to be back within 15 minutes, but the police were waiting for them behind
the loading bay at the hospital and they were well and truly nabbed. What
with that and the dodgy car with false number plates, it was off to the
cells with them. In the meantime their place well and truly burnt down.
Further
to the investigation of the cause of the fire, the rewired electricity and
the gas meter that had been turned round, plus no alarm system etc were
all discovered and have led to even more charges by the police. Out on
bail, by the end of the week they had both completely disappeared from
Southtrend. Some say they have done a runner across the channel.
A few
days late, sitting and wondering over breakfast just how I was going to
pay Dave for all the work he had done, I was interrupted by the post
arriving. Thumbing through the circulars and all the rubbish that comes,
amongst it there was a letter from my solicitor to inform me that . . .
Regretfully this is as far as Darryl had got with his Diary before
tripping over and banging his head on the corner of the kitchen table. He
was discovered by me and rushed to hospital. At the moment he is in a coma
and it is not certain just how long this will last. The doctors are saying
it could even be a matter of months.
Whatever the news was from his solicitor, I cannot say anything other than
tell you Darryl and the care of his property will be looked after.
Raymond.
The End - for now that is!
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