I’ve taken to walking the paths at night, and the other night I could have sworn I heard the sounds of voices on the breeze and the clash of armour. But that’s probably the product of an imagination that’s been stifled for so long and is running amok now. Either that or the DT’s have finally caught up with me.
The cottage I’m staying in is charming. Built of the same golden stone as the big house, it’s compact and charming. There are only two rooms up and down. A lounge and small kitchen downstairs, and upstairs is a small bedroom and a bathroom. All around are fields and trees and it’s as if it’s a cottage in a fairy tale.
England is basking in another hot summer. Midsummer here is always a beautiful time when everything is full of a rich fecundity and ripeness. It’s the time before the slow decay that counts down to autumn and winter and the air is full of rich scents and the sound of birdsong.
I leave all the doors and windows open during the day, and the whole cottage seems to smell of sunshine if it had a scent. Perhaps it does. What do you think it would be? For me, it would be a tart lemon smell intensifying to a warm citrus scent in the late afternoon.
To: Gideon Ramsay
From: Eli Jones
I think if sunshine had a colour here, it would be something that burns your eyeballs off. It’s so hot. The only time that it gets cooler is in the evening, and that’s when the mosquitos come out!
I’m still in the process of getting to know my new patient. It’s a strange sort of existence being a private nurse. You go to stay with someone in their home and move from being complete strangers to someone who knows more about them than their priest. I love the work, but I have to say that lately, I’ve been thinking of doing something else. I wouldn’t leave nursing, but travelling all over the world and staying in nice homes is getting a bit old because they aren’t my home.
I think my patients would probably be horrified to stay in my flat where the kitchen door sticks and practically concusses you before you can get in. They’d be startled by the fact that the man downstairs has a deep and passionate appreciation for the songs of Steps, and that the lady upstairs likes to do Zumba at three in the morning. At least I hope it’s Zumba. It’s either that or she’s a very noisy serial killer.
Despite it being the place I live in though, the flat still isn’t my home. I’ve never had a need for that before because I was enjoying travelling the world. But now I’m starting to want a home. I think we’re a bit alike in that.
To: Eli Jones
From: Gideon Ramsay
I think you can do whatever you set your mind to. However, I’m glad that you’re not considering leaving nursing because you’re brilliant. Funnily enough, I was thinking about this today. Have you considered being a paramedic or working in the ER? I think you’d be good at it because you’re very calm and focused. It would also give you a little taste of what you lost when you left the Red Cross. Minus, hopefully, the gunfire.
This house is extraordinarily peaceful. You would love it. There are certain parts of it that are already my favourites. Like the old armchair that nestles in a corner of the room by the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, so I only have to reach over and pluck a book out.
I’m reading like I haven’t done in years. I used to read voraciously as a child, but I grew out of it when I started acting. There was always something or someone to do and a great deal of trouble to get into.
Now, at night I sit in my chair and read rather than drinking the night away. So far, I’ve read most of Ruth Rendell’s backlist, and I’m now working my way through the works of PD James.
There’s no drink apart from tea at my side. I’m even drinking that disgusting green tea shit that you made me drink on board. Is it worrying that I find myself liking it?
To: Gideon Ramsay
From: Eli Jones
I have considered being a paramedic. But what could ever replace the excitement of getting you up in the morning and making you meditate?