That's What Friends Are For!

Urgh ! Urgh ! "Stop it Life you crazy bitch". The silly dog was standing over me on my bed and slobbering all over my face. "Okay I get the message", and with that I fell out of bed with a bouncing excitable dog by my side. I opened a tin of dog food I had bought from the dog pound and threw a couple of handfuls of mixer biscuits in for good measure.

 After showering I made breakfast of eggs and toast, and helped myself to a large mug of Kenco coffee. I hadn't got much food in the cupboards and freezer so I started to make a mental note in my head of all the groceries I might need.

 Now let's see....I drove through a town by the name of Riverview, then Hidden Springs and Twinbrook, finally drove into Pleasantville, and just a few kilometers more and I arrived at my destination....Thistledown Farm Riding Stables....such as they were ! Hmm, yes I remember seeing a large store in Pleasantville on a corner, I am sure they will have what I need. Besides groceries I needed paint, paint brushes, nails and screws, coveralls and a work shirt after all, none of the clothes I possessed were suitable - well when you had formally lived in a city, and your job had been an accountant in an office....need I say more ? In Bridgeport where I came from, the night life was good but I doubt you could get past the security wearing coveralls !

 Okay so where are my car keys ? Ah ! here they are. Checked to see if I had my wallet with me, mustn't leave that behind. I patted my thigh signalling for Life to follow me outside, locked up and was just about to get into my car when Life started to bark at a figure walking up my drive. "Quiet Life" I ordered.

 "Howdy and welcome to Pleasantville, I'm your neighbor from across the ways, the name is William Clinton".

 "Hello William I'm Kyle....Kyle McCormack". We smiled and shook hands.

 "Please call me Bill. My wife, Hillary and I saw you arrive yesterday". He pointed to the building and said, "You be renting the place out then ?"

 "No, I own it. I intend to do the place up a bit and get a few horses and hopefully make a living from the riding stables"

   "I'm well pleased to hear it. Need any help to cut the hay in yonder meadow ?" he said with a respectful nod in the direction of the meadow.

 "Yeah, that would be a great help. Um, at the moment I have to go into town to get a few supplies and such but don't let me stop you," I joked.

 With the conversation ended, Bill set off back down the track and I got into my car, pushing Life over onto the other seat of the car and set off to town. 

 The store owner chatted away to me as I told him what I needed and I thought it wouldn't hurt to tell him that I was planning on starting up a riding stables at Thistledown Farm. In a small town like Pleasantville I knew how gossip would spread quickly....so free advertisement you could say. Can't be bad. Jim was the name of the guy who owned the store which just about sold every thing....Jim McCloud.

 As I drove home and turned off the road and up the dirt track of my driveway, I had a 'pleasant' surprise....excuse the pun. In the meadow were three guys, one of which was Bill, cutting the hay with a big machine. Seems Bill had took me at my word ! He waved as I got out the car.Life jumped out and eased nature, then excitedly ran over to the meadow barking. All the guys made a fuss of her. Chuck, one of the guys introduced himself saying he would come by in a few days time to bale the hay as in this heat it wouldn't take long to dry. The other guy, Joe, said it would be good seeing the place used again. Neither would take any money for their hard work so I promised to buy them a few beers....quite a few beers, when we could arrange a convenient time to all meet in town. They all excused themselves as it was now time for sustenance and my stomach was beginning to growl too.

 Seems I had made some friends today.

I grabbed a sandwich and coffee and changed into my recently acquired gear. I got the ladders from the barn, fixed the guttering and cleaned out all the debris. Loads of leaves, dirt and tufts of grass blocking up the gutter were loaded into a bucket and disposed of. Next job. I painted the front of the building. Even with it all being on one level I needed ladders to reach into all those awkward places.

 At the end of a perfect day I got my laptop out and keyed in....Tomorrow clean the windows and get started on a few minor repairs to the two stables in the barn in readiness for at least one horse.

 Thought for the day....wonder if any of the guys I had met have daughters ?

Diary of a loser....?

 Vanessa was the cutest 'chick' I had seen and after a long string of girlfriends, of which one never lasted longer than a few weeks I decided to ask Vanessa if she would do me the great honor of becoming my wife.

And guess what ? She said 'yes'. So everything was planned. I bought her an expensive engagement ring. Both sets of our parents were well pleased.

 Vanessa became the center of my life. I couldn't stop thinking about....how married life together would be , and after all she had got the 'catch' of her life in me. I was....well I guess you could say I was handsome to say the least.

Oh yes....my name is Kyle McCormack, did I already tell you that ? I considered myself as the most eligible bachelor and catch of the year.

 Well to cut a long story short....Vanessa sort of got 'cold feet' and left me....standing at the altar....there I was....standing like an idiot....waiting for it to sink in. Loser or what ?

Things couldn't get much worse or could it ? Father called around to my rented luxury apartment to offer some well meaning advice. Like 'better forget her son' , and 'there's plenty more fish in the sea'.     You know the sort of advice, urging me to get back to work and stop moping about the place...not that I was feeling sorry for myself !

 Anyway two weeks later I got this 'official' looking letter in the post and I was toying with the idea of whether or not to open it. As I was buttering my toast with Flora, I could hear this little voice of my mother in my head saying, 'You won't know what's in it unless you open it Kyle'. She was a wise woman....my mother.

So there I was , sipping Kenco coffee from a mug, staring at the now open letter. My jaw must of dropped open....I could hardly believe my eyes. Seems a rich 'Uncle' of a cousin twice removed had left me....property in his will.

 I got the deeds from the appointed solicitor. Thistledown Farm Riding Stables it said on the papers, but what would I want with a riding stables ? Money, income for a start. Things were beginning to look up. I packed up all of my belongings and sent it ahead, said goodbye to the past and hello to the future. Future here I come.

 And as for my diary....well I threw it away. Much more sensible to type it into my laptop with a hard to crack password....like 'password'. Hey I was full of ideas.

 Was THIS the place ?  Well it did say 'Thistledown Farm Riding Stables' on the sign post that was half hidden under the grass and weeds that were more than three feet high ! I could make that out....just. Think I should of checked the property out first. I may have 'jumped the gun' here but I could see the potential of the place. After half an hour checking out the house I thought it's not  too bad, needs a lick of paint and the guttering seen to. Then I checked the barn....it had two loose horse boxes in need of a little repair and a place for saddles and tack. Also there was 4 empty bins which I suspect they had been used for feed of some sort and an area to keep hay.

 Then there was the other paddock area and a little grazing beyond.There also was a meadow in need of cutting and turning into hay.Hey ! Free hay. Yeah, I could really picture me here making a go of the riding stables. I could buy a few horses and hey presto ! That all sounds fine in theory you might say but I hadn't been around horses or rode since I was fourteen years old. All I remembered about the four-legged beasts were (1) they bite (2) they kick (3) they can throw you off when you least expect It....sure there was another one....Oh yes (4) keep YOUR feet out of THEIR way! Hmm ! I rubbed my chin in deep thought. I'm sure I could add more stables as and when needed.   Mother thought I would be lonely after 'city life', but I assured her I would not be alone for long.

 Have you met my dog ? I picked her up from the dog pound on the way over here. We hit it off straight away and I knew she would be loyal and never desert me like Melissa or Tessa or whatever her name was....see I have forgotten her already. I named my dog 'Life' , because life's a bitch....or so it seemed.

 Thought for the day....sorry....I will have to work on that one.