Earl - 7. Earl Chapter 7

“George and I had a discussion earlier, and we have decided that it would be best if we head to the country house in a day or two, so as to get as far away from the media as possible,” Mary said to Tyler who laughed. “The only way to do that dear lady would be for me to fly back home to Australia,” Tyler responded, and Mary smiled at the comment, just as Lucas made an appearance.

“Good morning everyone,” he said as he staggered in and sunk into a chair, “My aren’t we a cheerful one this morning,” Tyler said to his good friend, and Lucas just grunted in reply, which made Tyler laugh again, as Mary handed them a cup of tea each. “Mary, let’s hold off on the trip to the island for a few days, I want to see my mother’s home, and I wouldn’t mind having a bit of a look around” Tyler announced, “as you wish, my Lord,” Mary responded, as she continued working on preparing breakfast.

George entered shortly after, and after greeting everyone, he informed Tyler and Lucas that the swimming pool downstairs is clean and ready for use, whenever they wish to take a swim. “Wow, a swimming pool, in wintertime, I’m not really sure about that,” Lucas commented.

“The pool is heated, master Lucas, so it can be used all year round,” George responded, “Good, I look forward to doing a few laps after all the long-distance travelling we have been doing lately,” Tyler said.

After breakfast, while Mary was heading to the shops to do some grocery shopping, George handed Tyler the keys and a note with the address of his mother’s home address on it and said that he had called for a taxi, which would be arriving shortly, to take them there, he also handed Tyler some British currency, so as to pay for the cab fare and a road map of Greater London area, so they can do some looking around.

Twenty minutes later, Tyler and Lucas were standing outside Tyler’s mum’s former home on Hurst Avenue in Highgate, which looked like any ordinary home, and they were about to step up to the front door when Tyler’s mobile began to ring. “It’s my parents in Australia calling,” Tyler said to his friend before answering the call.

“Hello, Australia calling,” Katherine said when Tyler answered, “Funny Mum, how are things back at home?” Tyler replied, “Everything is good here son, and you are on loudspeaker so Dad and Lucas’s parents can hear the conversation too,” Katherine said.

“Hey everyone,” Tyler said, “Hi Mum & Dad,” Lucas added, “Hello boys, are you having a good time in the UK?” Lucas’s father asked, “Yes, well we have hardly done anything yet, as we have been trying to avoid the media since we arrived in the UK yesterday morning,” Lucas replied.

“Yesterday, why the two-days delay in getting there?” Katherine asked, “We stopped in Singapore for a few hours and also Zurich for two days, and went snowboarding in the alps which were totally awesome,” Tyler replied.

“Oh, that must have been fun, so what have you been doing since arriving in the UK yesterday?” Matthew asked. “Uncle Charles took us directly to Welbeck to check out the abbey, as it had an open day to the public yesterday and his housekeeper was one of the tour guides.

Unfortunately we learnt that the caretaker couple, that my predecessor had employed just before he died, have been stealing from the abbey, by unofficially sacking a large number of the staff and pocketing their continued wages, and that brought about a bit of attention, which the media got wind of, who had already learnt that I had arrived at the East Midlands airport earlier in the morning

We managed to sneak out via a side gate out of the estate, and we were heading to Uncle Charles place, but his very efficient housekeeper, had learnt that there was media casing his place, so we went to the other house in Marston, where we rested for a few hours. It was well after dark before we set off with a couple who have worked part-time for the family, and they are taking care of us, we are at Uncle Charles townhouse in St John’s Wood, London, where we slept last night.

Lucas and I have just arrived at my mum’s former home in Highgate, which we will check out before doing a few things looking around, like the Lord’s Cricket ground and the London Zoo, which are both close by,” Tyler said. “Well stay safe boys, and enjoy your time there, and we will stay in touch, bye for now,” Matthew said, and he ended the call.

Tyler and Lucas spent the next 25 minutes exploring the Hurst Avenue house, which has an empty swimming pool, and a hot tub, and the back garden is fairly overgrown and unkempt and needs a fair bit of work.

Tyler spent a bit of time carefully looking around the inside of the house, which looks like it has been cleaned recently, looking at some of his mum’s personal belongings, and he liked the layout of the house, and decided that he would keep the house as a guest house for family and friends visiting from Australia.

After seeing the house, Tyler called for a cab, and they headed to the famous zebra crossing on Abbey Road, to take a few photos, before walking the few blocks to the Lord’s Cricket ground, next we caught a cab to the Sherlock Holme’s museum, and four blocks away is the Madame Tussauds Museum before walking the length of Regents Park to get to the London Zoo.

After having an early lunch, the lads spent the next few hours exploring the zoo, and feeling very tired from all of the walking that they had done, they decided to head back to the house.

So they hailed a cab with Tyler giving the address of the corner of Marlborough Place and Abbey Road, which is just one block away from the house, as he didn’t want to reveal the location of where they are staying, just in case the media maybe following them, and they slipped into the side gate to the property, which has a high wall all the way around for privacy.

After a good look around the private gardens of the property, the lads headed inside, where Mary was preparing dinner, “Hello my Lord and Master Lucas, did you have a good day out?” she asked the lads, “Yes, thank you, Mary, we have been to the Abbey Road crossing, Lord’s Cricket ground, Madame Tussauds, Regents Park and the London Zoo,” Tyler replied.

“My, you have had a busy day, well go and have a nice swim in the pool, and relax, and I will call you both when it is time for dinner,” Mary replied.

After an hour of relaxing in the heated pool, the lads headed upstairs to their rooms to shower and change, before going to the cinema room on the lower level to watch a movie on a giant screen with surround sound speakers, which the lads really enjoyed.

During dinner, with George and Mary eating with the lads in the formal dining room, they discussed what would be best for them to avoid the media, and when asked how far it is to the country house, the lads were informed that it is a two-hour drive to the town of Lymington and a 40 minute journey across the Solent to the Isle of Wight, and a 25 minute drive from the Cowes Ferry terminal to the house just out of the township of Shelfleet.

“His honour also suggested to me, that since you are keen with farm work, that maybe you may be interested in investing in some land on the Isle of Wight, and I have taken the liberty to do some preliminary searching of some land on the island,” George announced to Tyler.

“That is an excellent idea, and I look forward to working on purchases of land on the island, but not for the purpose of profit, but more for the security of land from being developed into housing. Like a favourite author of mine, I would like to turn the land into a sanctuary for all to enjoy, with the planting of trees to replace the planting of crops and pasture,” Tyler replied.

“Would that favourite author of yours, happen to be a Ms Beatrix Potter, my Lord?” George asked, and Tyler smiled and nodded his head yes. “I am very pleased to hear that, my Lord, very pleased indeed. She was one of my favourite authors when I was a child myself,” George said.

“Tyler, I have been thinking about this problem with the media, I took heaps of photos today, some of them of you with your backed turned, and I was thinking if we should post a few of them just to stir up the media,” Lucas suggested, and Tyler laughed.

“I think that is an awesome idea, but we will need to set up a new Twitter and face book account to keep both of our identities secret,” Tyler replied. “What’s that other title that you have?” Lucas asked, “Count Bentinck… Why? Oh… I see, excellent idea, you have my approval, ” Tyler replied, and right away Lucas got to work on his phone to set up a Facebook account.

”I will just start with FB for now and see how it goes, ” Lucas said as he was typing away at lightening speed on his I-Phone, and Tyler just smiled. A few moments later Lucas stopped typing and added a few photos before showing his friend what he had done.

”I like it, great photo of me crossing the zebra crossing at Abbey road, go for it, ” Tyler said after looking at the five photos that his friend had selected, one of Tyler facing the wax figure of Sir Paul, at the museum, one of him crossing Abbey Road, one of him with a lion staring at him up close, with just the glass separating them, one of him walking through Regents Park, and the final one of him standing in the spectator stands at Lords Cricket ground.

With the profile name of Count Bentinck, and the sub title of 14^th Earl of Portland, Lucas posted the new profile, which would take a little while to be approved, and while waiting, they finished eating dinner, and helped Mary with cleaning up.

When a notification came up saying that the profile was approved approved, there were suddenly a volley of likes to the photos that were posted, followed by a number of comments, most of them questions, which alerted the lads that they be media. ” You did remember to turn off your location before posting the profile didn’t you?” Tyler asked, ”Oops, doing that right now, ” Lucas responded, just as another message arrived.

”Oh, oh… Trouble, ” Lucas said as he handed the phone over to Tyler. ”Your lordship, welcome to the UK, would it be possible to arrange an interview with you at your place of choice, I see you are in the area of South Hampstead. Our BBC studios are close by in Paddington, if that is suitable for you? ” the message said.

”Where is South Hampstead?” Tyler asked, ”The suburb just north of here, why?” George replied, ”Because my friend here didn’t turn off the location on his phone quick enough, and a reporter is asking for an interview at the nearby Paddington BBC studios” Tyler replied.

”Right, that does it, turn off your mobile phones and remove the batteries, then go and get packed, as we are heading to the country house this evening, ” Mary announced in a cross tone. ”Im truly sorry Mary, I didn’t mean to slip-up like I did, ” Lucas responded sadly. ”Never mind that now, just do as I ask please, ” Mary replied, so the lads headed upstairs to get packed for the journey south, to Charles’s country home on the Isle of Wight, and they came down stairs twenty minutes later showered and packed, carrying their luggage.

”Slight change of plans, we have spoken to his Honour, and he isn’t too happy about the situation, and he has made some arrangements for us all. My Lord, you and Mary will be travelling by train from St John’s Wood station to London City airport, with one changeover at Canning Town station, where a charter flight will take you directly to Sandown Airport on the Isle of Wight, where some friends of his Honour, will collect you and drive you to the house, while young Lucas and I will drive down to Southampton, where we will stay the night, then tomorrow morning we drive the remaining 32 km’s to Lymington, and catch a ferry over to the island, and drive to the house,” George announced to the lads.

“I need to show you this,” Lucas said sounding cautious, and he handed over his phone to his good friend. “ Oh great, now we are being hunted like wolves, that’s not what I wanted,” Tyler said after reading the FB message.

“To everyone who was either at the London Zoo, Madame Tussaud’s, at the Abbey Road crossing or Lord’s cricket ground, yesterday late morning to early afternoon, we are looking for any photos of two young men, Caucasian aged 18 to 20 years, who are tourists to the UK, reward offered for any good face shots of the two young men.”