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    Gin on the Rock
    Gin on the Rock
    Gin on the Rock
    Ebook109 pages1 hour

    Gin on the Rock

    By Diana Townsend

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    About this ebook

    A romantic getaway turns into an unexpected adventure when newlyweds Diana and Bob find themselves stranded in North Africa. What should have been a simple trip to Spain becomes a whirlwind journey through the winding streets of Tangiers and the imposing Rock of Gibraltar.

    As they navigate unfamiliar cultures, local customs, and bureaucratic nightmares, Diana and Bob's relationship is tested in ways they never imagined. From dodgy omelettes to illicit palace tours, every experience brings new challenges - and new discoveries about each other.

    With their return to England seeming increasingly impossible, the couple must rely on quick thinking, good humour, and a dash of gin to find their way home. "Gin in the Rock" is a charming, funny tale of love and misadventure that will transport you to sun-drenched shores and have you laughing out loud.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUssons
    Release dateFeb 2, 2020
    ISBN9781917314046
    Gin on the Rock
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    Author

    Diana Townsend

    From childhood, siblings David Hardie and Diana Townsend loved telling stories. While still at school, despite being dyslexic, David won a competition to have a play he had written produced by the BBC. As teenagers, David and Diana helped their father build an animated model of a three-ring circus which was exhibited around the UK. Later, the family bought a derelict school which they transformed into a tourist attraction. Diana has written a series of memoirs about these years under the title Me, My Family and the Poltergeist. When the tourist attraction closed, the family started a new business creating Christmas displays for shopping centres as well as hand-sculpting thousands of figures for model villages across the UK. In more recent years, David and Diana, together with Diana’s husband, Robert Townsend, have produced a number of short films and two feature films. While David’s children were young, he told them stories of the Dittos, invisible elf-like creatures who live in the seaside town of Dawlish, helping to look after wildlife and clean up after visitors. Working with Diana, David has now developed these stories into a trilogy of books under the title The Dittos of Dawlish.

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      Book preview

      Gin on the Rock - Diana Townsend

      Chapter One

      Soon after my wedding, I realised that one of the most difficult things about marrying a man twenty years older than myself was having to meet people that knew him far better than I did.

      I tried not to let it bother me but sometimes, when Bob introduced me to an old friend, particularly a female friend, I couldn’t help but wonder exactly how friendly their relationship had been.

      I never worried that someone from the past might come between us because I knew Bob loved me and I adored him but sometimes, when I watched him chatting or laughing over past experiences, I felt a bit of an outsider.

      I didn’t want to interrogate him about everything that had happened before we met but I longed to feel close to him and looked forward to building our own hoard of shared memories. As a result, I had mixed emotions when Bob first mentioned Anna-Maria.

      He told me that she ran an English-language school in Spain but, as it was the summer holidays, she and her husband, Arturo, were visiting Devon and he had invited them both to join us for a meal.

      ‘When are they coming?’ I asked.

      ‘Not until seven o’clock.’

      ‘What? Today?’

      ‘Yes. That’s not a problem, is it?’

      ‘No, of course not.’

      I looked around at the grubby covers on the sofa and the piles of designs spread across the table where I was working.

      ‘I guess I can leave this until tomorrow,’ I said. ‘It is the weekend, after all.’

      ‘True.’ He smiled at me. ‘It will do you good to take some time off.’

      I spent the rest of the day cleaning the house.

      As I worked, Bob told me more about Anna-Maria. He explained that they had met ten years ago, in the early seventies, when she had been teaching at a school in Exeter before returning home to start her own academy in Spain.

      ‘You’ll like her,’ he assured me. ‘She’s artistic too so you’ll have lots in common. I’ve never met Arturo but I think he’s a lawyer.’

      I guessed they would both be cultured and sophisticated and I wanted to make a good impression on them.

      Glancing around the lounge, I realised how stark it looked. Since our wedding, Bob and I had been preoccupied by starting our new business and there had been no time to think about making the house feel like a home.

      Most of the furniture had been donated by other members of the family and nothing matched. It was comfortable enough but suddenly I felt guilty that I hadn’t made more effort.

      Hurriedly, I sponged the worst of the stains off the sofa, turned over the cushions, carried all my artwork, my papers and the light-box up to the bedroom and vacuumed everywhere.

      Fortunately, I didn’t have to worry about cooking. Bob was an excellent cook and always jumped at an opportunity to try out a new dish. After poring through his books, he settled on a recipe for Chinese chicken in ginger sauce and disappeared to the supermarket for ingredients.

      Later, as I laid the table, the aromas wafting through the house were amazing but, as always when I had to meet new people or visit new places, I began to feel apprehensive.

      On the dot of seven, the doorbell rang and I heard a ripple of laughter as Bob greeted our guests. Moments later, a striking woman in a floor-length floral dress swept into the room and threw her arms around me.

      Anna-Maria was tall and slim with magnificent black hair piled high on her head and held in place by an ornate tortoiseshell comb.

      ‘You must be Diana,’ she trilled in a warm, heavily accented voice. ‘I am delighted to meet you! Robert has told me much about you. How beautiful you are!’

      Her perfume caught in my throat and made my eyes water. I wanted to cough but was afraid it would seem rude.

      ‘This is my husband, Arturo,’ Anna-Maria continued without waiting for me to speak. ‘He is a bore. You can ignore him. He doesn’t speak English so here I can say what I want. The truth is he is only good for money and in bed.’

      ‘Oh...’ I glanced at the tall, scowling man hovering behind her and was lost for words.

      But Bob burst out laughing.

      ‘Isn’t that all you women want from a husband anyway?’ he asked as he poured drinks and handed them around.

      ‘True,’ Anna-Maria giggled. ‘Here, it is a perfect match, but at home people expect me to listen to what he says and pretend to care. It is a nightmare.’

      ‘I’m afraid I have to finish off in the kitchen, so I’ll leave you two to make friends,’ Bob said as he abandoned me.

      I sat down in an armchair, clutching my wineglass, and Anna-Maria sank gracefully onto the sofa. She patted the cushion next to her and glared at Arturo who was still standing in the doorway. He muttered something under his breath but crossed and slumped down beside her. At once, she fired a stream of Spanish at him and he nodded curtly in my direction.

      ‘I tell him, he is rude,’ she said. ‘I tell him he is a guest in your lovely home and he should make an effort. It is not difficult, is it, to be pleasant for a few hours?’

      ‘Doesn’t he like England?’ I asked.

      ‘He does not like anything. He is a miserable bastardo,’ she replied sweetly, ‘but soon he will drink too much wine and then he will sleep.’

      I searched my mind for something to say but there was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

      ‘Do you like being married?’ Anna-Maria asked curiously.

      ‘Oh, yes, we are very happy,’ I assured her.

      ‘That is good. And how is everything in the bedroom?’

      I spluttered into my wine.

      ‘Fine.’ I tried to keep my voice level. ‘No complaints at all.’

      ‘That is good,’ she said, watching me intently. ‘You are lucky. Not many women can say such things.’

      I could feel my cheeks burning and my heart starting to race.

      ‘I’m sorry,’ I blurted out before she could say anything else, ‘I think Bob needs me in the kitchen.’

      *  *  *  *  *

      ‘Don’t get upset,’ Bob laughed as I told him what had happened. ‘She’s just more open about these things than most people.’

      ‘But I don’t know her!’ I protested. ‘I can’t talk about our sex life with someone I’ve just met!’

      ‘Then talk about the weather.’

      Bob was ladling the food into serving dishes and the grin on his face was infuriating.

      ‘No,’ I said firmly. ‘I’ll wait here. You’ll need me to help carry everything in.’

      *   *   *   *   *

      The meal was delicious. Even Arturo seemed to cheer up but that may have been to do with the steady supply of red wine.

      As we ate, Anna-Maria explained her plans for the language school in Seville. She had persuaded Arturo to invest a lot of money in a new building to provide extra student accommodation. She was sure the key to success lay in offering special activities and short courses during the school holidays.

      ‘English is more important than ever,’ she explained. ‘Every parent wants their child to have English but it is so old-fashioned for children to sit at desks and learn from books. It is not fun. Today they want to learn by activities, by cooking, by drawing, by doing sports...’

      ‘How can they learn a language by doing sports?’ Bob frowned.

      ‘Because they don’t think they

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