NEWS AND A PORT BROKEFERRY PIECE

(Busy week this week - for a holiday week! Signing books for shops. Lots of writing. Meeting writing related contacts. And the usual domestics. Competition news: was on the first shortlist for HISSAC, Highly Commended in Yeovil (novel), and placed 2nd in Trowell and District Short Story Competition. Am 19,ooo words into writing a new children's novel and 42,ooo words into an adult thing. And below, another Port Brokeferry piece that follows on from the one beneath it.)

THE BOBBING BOAT OPEN FOR BUSINESS

The lights are on in the café. The shutters fixed open and music playing. Outside a sign announces that The Bobbing Boat is open for business. Guthrie works a shine onto the windows. Uses vinegar and newspaper. That way there won’t be any smears left on the glass. That’s what his father before him did.

Guthrie has set two tables onto the pavement and three chairs to each. It is the first time this year that he has done so. He expects that today there might be the need. The hotel Victoria has several weekend holidaymakers. He saw them arrive. Three families. Leather suitcases. Boys with rucksacks, and sunhats on the heads of small girls. There was a woman too, not part of anything else. Fox fur stole and high shoes.

He wipes the tops of the tables and pulls down the striped awning. There’s a metal handle that he turns and the yellow and green stripes unfurl above the two plate glass windows. It makes a noise as he does it.

Inside Guthrie fills the coffee machine with water and pours fresh milk into the jugs and spoons coffee into the filter papers. The radio is on. He is singing along to the song. Not singing the words, but humming to the music. He sets small glass vases on all the tables, and fabric flowers in all the vases. Not on the tables outside.

On a cleared blackboard behind the counter he chalks up the day’s menu. His writing is neat, the letters running slow across the wall. Breakfast rolls with bacon or sausages. Toasted sandwiches. Soup and fresh bread. Baked potatoes with a choice of fillings. Fish and chips. A selection of fresh baked cakes and scones from Callum’s Bakery. Coffee and tea and fruit juices. Bottled water or canned soft drinks.

Guthrie checks the till. Makes sure there is enough small silver and pound coins. He pushes the drawer shut. He straightens one of the pictures on the wall. An oil painting of Port Brokeferry. Just the harbour, with ‘The Silver Herring’ in the centre. A small yellow card next to the picture has the artist’s name and the price.

Guthrie adjusts the bell above the door. Tests it so that every opening or closing of the door makes a tinny jangle in the air.

Then he stands at the door and looks out across the sand. The tide is on its way out. He sees Mad Martin dropping a trail of bread behind him and the gulls following him up the beach. Guthrie looks down at his watch and wonders if Eileen will be on time today. He is impatient, too, for the first customer.