Farm Life - 6. FAR Chapter 6

As I ate, I took the occasional look over in his direction, and as I was finishing my desserts, the young man saw me glance over at him, and I smiled and indicated for him to join me, at first he hesitated, but eventually he stood up, wiped his face with his shirt sleeve, and slowly walked over to the table where I sat.

“G’day mate, please take a seat, would you like to join me for a cup of tea? My name is Lewis Grantham, from Australia” I said with a smile and I held out my hand, which had accepted and shook gently.

“Hello, my name is Preston McCullough, from Drummore, south of Glasgow, Scotland” the young man said as he sat down, I indicated to the waitress, and she came to my table right away, “Thank-you for the meal, it was delicious, may my new friend and I have a cup of tea please” I said and she nodded and walked back to the kitchen.

“I don’t want to interfere, but it looked like you just got dumped by your boyfriend a little earlier, would I be permitted to ask if you free to be my guide while I am here” I said, and the tired and sad face suddenly changed to a happy face with a broad smile, “I would be honoured to be your guide” he replied with his thick Scottish accent.

The waitress returned with two cups of tea, and my bill and I handed over a 50-pound note and said for her to keep the change, as I drew the cup close to my face I could smell whisky in the tea, and I smiled as I took a sip, when Preston took a sip, his eyes grew wide and he took another few sips before putting the cup down.

“How long have you been in England” Preston asked me, and I laughed as I looked at my watch, “Oh about 7 hours, I arrived this morning your time” I said and Preston laughed with me, “I came down to see my… my now ex-boyfriend, I was planning to be spending New Years and a week after that with him, now I got no plans for tonight and nowhere to stay” Preston said sadly.

“Well mate, if you are going to me my guide, we are going to the Batavia Hotel for tonight’s celebrations, and I have a twin room at the backpackers, which you can share with me while I am here in London” I said to him, and Preston’s sad face changed to a smile.

After we had finished our drinks, we managed to find a cab and we went to Preston’s ex- boyfriend’s apartment to collect his belongings, I decided to remain in the taxi cab out of sight, so as to make it easier for Preston. When he returned to the cab, we were taken back to the backpackers, where I paid for Preston to share my room, and I took him up there, suggested that he showers and changes, and I would be down in the lobby waiting for him.

Twenty minutes later, Preston reappeared in fresh clothes and looking happy, and we began the walk towards the Batavia Hotel, which is known as a popular spot for backpackers. The place was already humming with the sound of lots of young backpackers, and we bought a couple of pints of beer and found a small table to one side of the large room.

Sitting down we both took a few dips of our drinks before Preston began to speak, “I don’t know how old you are, but I’m almost 20, and just starting my 3rd year of university, studying Veterinary Science in Edinburgh. My parents have a wee farm south of Drummore, where we have Scottish longhorn cattle and goats.

I have one younger brother Ronnie, he is 5 - years younger, he is furious that I am attending university, escaping from our father’s bad tempers, verbal abuse and drunkenness, instead of staying at home and helping run the farm, I had made these plans to stay in London, so I could stay away from home” Preston said sadly.

“I come from a farm too, north of Perth, Western Australia, we have Angus beef cattle and grow crops for summer hay, I have 4 siblings, Gertrude is 12, Nicholas is 10, and the twins – Edward and Samuel are 6, we had a big fire in the district last year, which burnt a part of our farm land, plus our main home and part of the machinery shed, luckily my grandparent’s home and my cottage were not damaged.

We were able to move our belongings and most of our furniture to safety, before the house caught alight, my grandmother and mother took the siblings to the city for safety, and none of the stock were injured” I said to Preston.

“You have your own cottage? he asked me surprised, “Yes, I guess it’s mine, when we lost our family home, I moved into the cottage, while my parents and siblings moved into my grandparent’s home, I still eat all my meals with the family, it’s just I sleep in the cottage, gives me my own space, and the siblings have more space for them, otherwise, I would have had to share a room with Nicholas.

The cottage was the first building ever built on the farm, way back in 1860, by my great-great-great grandfather a few years before he married, and when he did, he built a three-bedroom house from trees on the farm. In 1819 the house burnt down, and a year later they built a large 5-bedroom stone homestead, which is where my family live now, which is where my grandfather and father were both born and brought up.

The house that we lost in the fire last year, was built in 1974 when my parents were engaged, and it was finished before they married, it is where me and my siblings have grown up, so now I live in the first original home of the family, and I like it” I said telling Preston all about my home on the farm.

“It sounds like a nice place, is it a long way out from town?” Preston asked, and I smiled. “No actually the town of Kilburn is on the other side of the river, on our northern boundary, and the township of Rivervale, which is really just a community hall, some sports facilities and a heap of hobby farms, is located on our north eastern boundary, and we are only just 1½ hours north of the capital city” I replied.

“So are you here in the UK for just a short holiday” Preston asked, “Well its about 4 weeks in total, it’s a birthday and graduation gift from my family, maybe you could join me for some of it” I stated, which surprised Preston, “I’ve got …” and I told him my itinerary for the first 9 days in the UK, and I suggested that he join me for the first 8 days, to as far as Glasgow.

“That would be grand, are you sure you wouldn’t mind if I tagged along” Preston said all excited, “Not at all, I will contact my travel agent tomorrow to make the changes, so you are travelling with me, and sharing accommodation with me here in London, in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness, then you can go home if you like when we get to Glasgow” I said cheerfully.

Where do you go once you get back to Edinburgh?” Preston asked, “Well I fly to Dublin on Jan 10^th, for a coach tour of Ireland and fly into Liverpool on the 15^th, the following day I’m on a coach tour of southern England and Wales, arriving back in London on the 19^th” I stated, “That sounds so interesting, you are so lucky to be able to do this journey, and I’m honoured that you have allowed me to join you for part of it” Preston said with a big smile.

We chatted more and drank more too, till the time arrived to welcome in a new year, with lots of cheers and singing, when it was over, Preston and I staggered out of the hotel and managed to hail a cab to take us back to the backpackers.

It was late morning when I finally woke up from our late-night celebrations, the sound of a mobile phone ringing woke me up, realising that it wasn’t mine I tried to ignore it and get some more sleep, but it kept ringing, then I remembered Preston, I sat up in bed and threw my pillow at him to wake him up, “Wake up Preston, your phone is ringing” I half shouted, and he responded with a groan.

“Hello? ... oh, hello mother … yes happy new year to you as well … yes, I went out last night, got a bit too sloshed with my new friend Lewis” I heard Preston say in the phone.

“Lewis is a kind young man, just under two years younger than me and he is Australian … no mother, he publicly dumped me yesterday, while we were in a café, Lewis was there having a meal, and he’s been very kind to me” Preston continued.

And a few moments later he held the phone out in my direction, “Mother wishes to speak to you” Preston said, and hesitantly I took the phone, “Hello, Mrs McCullough, this is Lewis Grantham speaking”, I said in a polite manner, trying to ignore the thumping headache that I had, she spoke with a middle class Scottish accent, asking if her son was behaving himself and not being a nuisance.

“No, Mrs McCullough, he is being very helpful, actually I have asked him to be my guide for the next 8 days, as I look around England and Scotland, we will be arriving in Glasgow on the 8^th of this month, I already have tours and accommodation booked and paid for, so it’s no problem that he joins me… ok I look forward to meeting you when we arrive, bye for now” I said and I ended the call.

Preston was laying on his bed again and was fast asleep, I placed the phone near his head, and went to urinate and have a shower, when I came back into the room, I changed into some fresh clothes, and gathered the two lots of my dirty clothes and headed down to the laundry to wash and dry them.

When I returned about an hour later I could hear Preston was in the shower, so I picked up his phone and dialled my number, when my phone rang once I hung up, and put his phone back on his bed, before heading downstairs again, and into the small hostel café. I ordered a cup of tea and a sandwich.

While waiting for my order, I looked at the last call on my phone, and saved it to the directory as – P McC, I smiled as I put my phone in my waist bag, which also contained my credit debit card and my passport, and I looked out the window, noticing a light sprinkle of snow coming down.

Once I received my order, I took a sip if the tea, which immediately began to warm me on the inside, and I took out my phone and dialled Preston’s number, “Hello, who is this” came the answer when he picked up the phone, “It’s the ghost of your Aussie friend, come to haunt you” I said in a ghostly manner as best as I could, and Preston began laughing, I waited for a few moments, before speaking again, “I’m in the hostel café downstairs when you are ready” I said and hung up.

Preston appeared a few minutes later, and he was smiling broadly as he approached and sat opposite me, “Go and order some lunch and tell them to add it to my bill” I said to Preston and he stood up and walked over to the service counter.

After we had both eaten, Preston asked me what I would like to see while in London, I shrugged my shoulders, “I’m not sure, surprise me” I replied and he nodded, and after paying the bill, we headed out to explore London.

For the rest of the day, we just walked all over the place, looking at lots of shops, including the infamous location of where the Great Fire of London started. The following day, we went on the coach tour of London and surrounds, where we visited the Tower of London, drove past Buckingham Palace and Parliament House.

We visited a number of cathedrals and museums, and also drove past Windsor Castle. I took lots of photos of all the places, and collected lots post cards for my siblings, by the end of the day we were both exhausted, and the next day we just decided to take a walk along the River Thames, and we ate at a little cafe' and relaxed.

We had an early dinner and went bed, as we would be travelling to Edinburgh the following morning, I was really enjoying Preston’s company, and we were having lots of fun. For the five-hour train journey north, we either chatted or just watched the scenery pass by, occasionally Preston would mention an interesting bit of information of a place that we were passing.

When we arrived in Edinburgh, I could see the famous castle in the distance, it was a spectacular sight to see, and after we had checked into the backpackers, we hailed a taxi, and made our way up to look around the city. The following day we went up to look at the castle, and that took over 3 hours to complete, it was a grand place to see, after some lunch and a short rest, we went to explore a lot more of the city of Edinburgh.

When we sat down for dinner at a small restaurant, I noticed that Preston was unusually quiet and withdrawn, “Ok Mr, what is wrong?” I asked him, Preston looked up at me with a sad look on my face, and then it occurred to me what the problem may be, “Three days, and it all comes to an end” he said quietly, and none of us said anything as we tried to eat our dinners. “Let’s just wait and see, you never know what may happen in the future, I’m sure we will see each other again real soon” I said as cheerfully as I could.