Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:39 am Post subject: Moving Frogs.
Once upon a time, about fifteen years ago, I was friendly with a couple, both of whom I had been friends with before they met each other and got married.
The girl was called Kim, and the boy was called Phil. Now Phil was a big, bearded bad-ass biker, a real rough diamond who was hard on the outside, but a real softie inside.
He was the Leader of the motor-bike club that I was Secretary of. We were, on the surface quite a collection of rough and tough leather-clad folk the kind your parents used to warn you about.
Bikes, heavy metal music, drugs, sex, and more bikes, you know the kind of people I'm talking about. Their "reputation" travels before them and stays on afterwards, long after they're gone.
Well, Phil, despite his bravado, beard, and Butch leathers, was lonely. He used to drink far more than was good for him, to help dull the lonely ache he felt inside.
Phil was born in London, within the sound of Bow Bells, which made him a true "Cockney". I was living away from my home, and was an exile far away from my beloved West Country. I had bought a small terrace house in South Wales, with the intention of "doing it up" whilst living in it for about ten years, then selling it on for a profit. I was five years into my ten, and things were looking good. I'd had double glazed doors and windows fitted, as well as done a lot of work inside the property.
Phil came knocking on my door one day asking to clean my windows. We got chatting, as you do, and one thing led to another when he asked me if I would like to be Secretary of his Bike Club. Naturally, I jumped at the chance, and this was the start of a really long-lasting and wonderful friendship.
Our Club, as these type of things always do, attracted "Groupies" both male and female, and other assorted characters. One of these Characters was Kim's soon to be ex husband.
To cut a long story short, one evening at the "Midge and Biker" ( our favourite watering-hole, not, of course it's real name, it was so called because in the Summer it attracted hoards of midges and mosquitoes, who enjoyed nothing as much as a bite of sweaty Biker).
Kim and her Old Man had an almighty row, and it seemed pretty final. They had finally split up for good. Phil comforted Kim, and took her home that night, moved in with her and her three year old son, and quite simply, never left.
On Kim's mantlepiece she had a pair of ornamental brass frogs. They had been sitting at opposite ends of the mantle for so long, because as Kim explained, when relations between her and her Old Man were good, she would bring the frogs close together so they were touching each other, but if they'd had words or a serious falling-out, she would move them apart until, depending on how serious the argument or fight had been, they would be at opposite ends of the shelf.
Towards the end of the relationship, the frogs had been as far apart as possible for months. The day when Phil moved in, she had placed the frogs together in the middle again, and that's where they stayed, from that day to this.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
