Tony Littlejohns: The Hoffmann Plague

The following Monday they had a visit from Sarah and Georgie, who rode into the yard on their horses. They hadn’t seen them for three weeks so it was a lovely surprise. After taking the horses up to the stable they all went into the farmhouse.

‘We had a lovely ride over,’ said Georgie. ‘We came partly by road, but mainly across country as we wanted to see what it was like. I took a bearing on the map from our place to here and just followed the compass; it’s almost due west and wasn’t difficult. There were a few awkward places with hedges and ditches, but it wasn’t too bad and we enjoyed it. I think the horses did, too!’

They sat at the kitchen table and had a good talk about what they’d all been up to since they last saw each other. The sisters were pleased that Jamie, Jane and Megan had settled well into their place and that they were all getting on okay with the horses.

‘Oh, we bumped into your friends Matt and Zoe and the twins last week,’ said Sarah. ‘We’d gone to the retail park for some things and they were there, too. We said hello and got talking and then found out that you knew each other.’ She chuckled; ‘I nearly said “small world”, but then, of course, it is a small world now! We invited them back to our place for a drink and a snack and had a lovely talk for a couple of hours. They’re a nice couple and they seem to be getting things organised for themselves. We said we’d be coming to see you today; they send their regards and said they’ll come over on Wednesday for a visit. Matt said he had a surprise for you, but he didn’t elaborate on what it was.’

Emma asked them to stay for lunch, which they accepted gratefully, and they sat talking for a few hours. They were surprised to hear about the refugee camp closing and the army disbanding, but said they could understand it under the circumstances and were pleased that Tom and Karen would be coming to live close by.

‘It must be a bit of a relief to you, Jane, that there’ll be a doctor and a nurse nearby for when you give birth!’ said Georgie.

‘Oh, blimey, you’re right, there!’ she replied, and everyone laughed.

‘Something else that Georgie and I were talking about recently:’ said Sarah, ‘how would you like to keep bees and have your own honey? We’ve still got a few hives left in the barn that never got sold and we can set everything up for you in the spring.’ The others looked at each other and, without needing to confer, they all nodded enthusiastically and said thank you. Having their own honey in the future when all the stocks of sugar had been used up would be a real boon.

It came time for the sisters to leave so Jamie went up to the stable and brought their horses down to the yard for them. They all kissed and hugged, saying they would see each other soon, and as the sisters rode off down the track in their Barbours, shotguns slung over their shoulders, Jane grinned and turned to Jamie.

‘The Sussex hunting set!’ she said, and Jamie laughed out loud. The others, of course, didn’t get the joke and Jamie had to explain.

‘Earlier in the year, before we met Sarah and Georgie, we went to get some new clothes from a shop in Battle. Jane was posing with her shotgun in a Barbour jacket and hat and asked me if she’d fit in with the Sussex hunting set. I said something like “Right now, we probably are the Sussex hunting set!”’ Everyone laughed and then they dispersed to get on with their work around the farm.

On the Wednesday, as promised, Matt and Zoe arrived in mid-morning. Jane heard the vehicle on the track from the top yard and got the binoculars to see who it was as she didn’t recognise the car. She saw it was them and went to tell Jamie then they walked down to the bottom yard to meet them. They pulled up in the yard in an ancient Mercedes estate that must have been forty years old. They all exchanged greetings and said how nice it was to see each other.

Jamie looked at the car and smiled at Matt. ‘I see you got yourself another vehicle, then? Couldn’t you find anything newer than that?’

Matt smiled. ‘I’ll tell you what, Jamie; when the fuel does deteriorate, I bet this old thing will still be going long after that BMW of yours has kicked the bucket! These Merc’ diesel engines can run on really poor quality fuel – they were designed that way for use in all sorts of environments. After you told us about the fuel situation I kept my eyes open as we were driving around the town and spotted this on someone’s drive.’ He gave a wry smile; ‘Of course, I knocked on the door to see if the owner wanted to sell it, but there was no answer! As it was on the drive and in such good condition I knew the owner must have used it regularly, so I broke in, found the keys and then jump-started it from the motorhome.’

Jamie smiled. ‘Good for you, and good luck with it!’

They all went over to the farmhouse and Jane introduced them to Bill, Emma and Sally, who greeted them warmly.

‘Our son, Peter, and Phil and Sophie who live here, are around somewhere,’ said Bill. ‘You’ll meet them soon, too.’

They went into the kitchen and Zoe gave Emma a couple of bags, containing two good-sized fish, a pheasant and a bottle of wine. Emma smiled and thanked her.

‘We haven’t had fish for a while, so these will be most welcome.’

‘You haven’t been out in the boat in this weather, have you?’ asked Jamie.

Matt laughed. ‘No chance, mate! I got some beach-casting gear from the tackle shop in Sackville a few weeks back. I went down yesterday and caught these using some worms I dug up from the beach.’

‘Ah, well done. I’d intended to try that myself but didn’t get around to it before we left.’

They sat down at the table while Emma and Jane got drinks for everyone. Max was moving amongst the newcomers, wagging his tail and getting lots of attention. Megan and Sally said they would take Luke and Amber for a look around the farm so they went off, with Max in hot pursuit.

‘It was nice that you met Sarah and Georgie,’ said Jane. ‘They came round on Monday and told us about it.’

‘Yes,’ said Zoe, ‘that was a nice surprise. They’re a great couple, aren’t they? And their place is really cool. Sarah, in particular, reminds me of Katharine Hepburn.’

‘Yes!’ said Jamie. ‘That’s who it is! She – well, both of them, actually – always looked familiar, but I could never pin down who it was they reminded me of. Ha ha!’

They all laughed and agreed with Zoe and Jamie, then talked about what they’d been up to in recent weeks. Zoe said she’d identified the sea beet growing on and near the beach, and that they’d been eating it regularly. ‘It’s great, isn’t it?’ said Jane. ‘We brought several plants with us and have planted them out the back. Apparently, they’ll grow well in normal soil or in pots, too, and not just by the sea. They’re obviously a tough plant.’

Zoe agreed with her and the conversation turned to other plants and herbs. She liked Jane’s idea of going out with them in the spring and summer to identify medicinal herbs and became very animated.

‘I love it down here; it’s fab! This area is so abundant with many varieties of herbs and other plants that we can use, both for medicinal and culinary purposes. It’s a herbalist’s dream, really. There are many more things we can eat than you might know about. Sussex was well-populated by Neolithic Man for good reason! There are several different habitats within a relatively small geographical area; from deciduous woodland, to chalk downs, to marshland like the Pevensey Levels, and down to the coastal areas. I’ve already been out a few times on my bike, out past the golf club, and identified many species that we didn’t have around Potters Bar. Between us we can identify and gather lots of beneficial plants that will help us in the years to come.’