FRIDAY FLASH FICTION 55, Famous Women (The ride of your life).

If I drape my hair here and there, nothing will be bare.
My husband thought I'd never dare, he never realised how much I cared. Mounting the saddle, I feel the leather.
Also the blushes flushing my cheeks...

Arranging my posture, my modesty amiss.
Pressing my heels in, we 'Trot-on'.
No peeping now, PROMISE!!!!!!




LADY GODIVA
Some 900 years ago an extraordinary occurrence took place on Market Day in the midlands town of Coventry.
Two monks at St. Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire first recorded this amazing story in Latin. Roger of Wendover wrote of it in the twelfth century and Mathew Paris in the early thirteenth century.
As the Abbey stood at an important road junction, it would seem that the monks may have heard the story from travellers who were on their way from the Midlands to London.
The astonishing tale that has come down to us through the centuries, is that sometime in the eleventh-century a proud, pious lady rode through Coventry on Market Day completely naked, covered by nothing but her long hair!
Was this true? Apparently so!
Who was this pious medieval streaker?

Lady Godiva was the lady, wife of Leofric, the Earl of Mercia. Earl Leofric was one of the all-powerful lords who ruled England under the Danish King Canute.
Lady Godiva was a rich landowner in her own right and one of her most valuable properties was Coventry.
Leofric was a tyrant, he tyrannised the Church and did not hold the same religious convictions as his wife, nor her fondness for the Midlands and its populace.

He mercilessly demanded from the people of Coventry an oppressive tax called the Heregeld. This tax paid for King Canute's bodyguard and Leofric made sure that the people of Coventry paid it!
Lady Godiva pleaded with Leofric to stop this hated tax and he is reputed to have said, "You will have to ride naked through Coventry before I will change my ways".
He was quite sure that his demure, modest wife would never do such a thing.

But Lady Godiva took him at his word, and on Market Day in Coventry she rode naked, veiled only by her long golden hair. As her hair was long enough to cover all her body, only her face and legs could be seen.
Leofric was so stunned by the whole incident that he believed it was a miracle that no one had seen his wife's naked body, and he immediately "freed" the town from paying the hated Heregeld, and at the same time ceased his persecution of the Church .

Leofric appears to have undergone a religious conversion after this incident and he and Godiva funded a Benedictine monastery in Coventry where they were both buried. Unfortunately all traces of this monastery have long since disappeared.

By the 17th century the story appears to have been altered slightly. The new version of the story said that before her 'ride', Godiva sent out messengers to go throughout the town insisting that all the people stay indoors with their windows shuttered on the day.
As she was very popular with the people (unlike her husband) and every taxpayer realised that they stood to gain from her 'heroic act', they did as she requested.
Everyone complied with her request except for one man who couldn't resist peeping, a tailor, 'Peeping Tom'.
He was, the story goes, 'blinded by the wrath of Heaven' for his temerity in not obeying the order.


A statue supposedly of Peeping Tom, a strange wooden effigy, can be seen in Coventry's Cathedral Lanes Shopping Centre. The eyes in this effigy appear blank, but that may be because the paint has worn off over the years.
The annual Coventry Fair kept alive the Godiva story until the Reformation when the festival was banned and it was not revived until 1678.
From this time on Godiva rode through the streets on a snow-white horse, accompanied by a man whose chief skill lay in his ability to make rude, suggestive gestures. Peeping Tom again!!

The Godiva Procession has been revived in recent years and takes place annually in June.
Today a visitor needs only to look in front of Coventry's Cathedral Lanes Shopping Centre to see a replica of the sight which tradition insists struck Peeping Tom blind!

I do hope it was a warm and sunny day, brave lady, very brave. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, doing what ever it is you do.

MY FRIEND THE WHITE WITCH!!!

My friends are a varied group of eclectic/eccentric or maybe just barking mad folks. It would seem that I attracted them to me or maybe it was the other way around, still, never a dull moment with friends like these.

I want to tell you about one of my precious friends and how we came to meet (she has given me a free hand in this and she'll be sorry). We will call her Judy, I don't know why I chose this name it just seems to sound right for her
It was my first day joining the community team as part of my nurse training. I felt as proud as punch putting on my uniform, and as I placed the felt hat on my head (yep it was that long ago we had hats), I had to take a double glance in the mirror at the person who starred back at me. She looked so professional (I just ignored Maths wolf whistles).

I recall the butterflies leaping about in my tummy as I arrived at my new place of work. As I knocked on the door with PRIVATE, COMMUNITY TEAM emblazed upon it, my knees started to shake. I heard a voice shout "enter ". It wasn't in my imagination that as I walked in twenty eyes looked me up and down. The next thing I remember was someone lifting my Nana's locket from my neck and saying "hello you must be queenie, I have a feeling from this locket you and I are going to be good friends". Was this woman mad. I looked into her deep brown twinkling eyes and as she smiled at me, I swear a calmness engulfed my whole body. She introduced herself, and I learned she was to be my mentor, and we were both under the strict command of Sister Lafaty.

For the first two weeks we worked from her car, visiting our clients. We passed pleasantries, but later as our time together passed on, she said she must do 'my cards' and do some psychic writing for me. "You have the gift" she told me (never blinking as she tried to out stare me). I wondered what gift she meant, did I forget to bring it from the office!!!!!!

Well the years passed by and although we nursed at different hospitals and then I left nursing our friendship grew and grew. She 'read' my cards many times, and to be honest not a lot came true, but Judy would rescript it and I would agree she had got things sort of right. (I know all the things she said are what she wished for me).

I recall once when we had gone out for lunch, some boys were playing 'CHICKEN' in the middle of the road we were traveling down. She had to slam on her brakes to avoid knocking one of the idiots down. She jumped out of her car and shouted at the boys "you stupid stupid children, I am a witch and I'm going to cast a spell on you". Well I waited for the reply of verbal abuse that would usually follow. No, they all stared at her, terrified eyes, looking very pale and with great speed they ran as fast as their sweet little legs would carry them away from this wild woman.

There are so many tales I could tell you about my friend Judy the white witch, alas I would be here till next Christmas, so I will move swiftly on. Judy became ill and after consultation after consultation she was diagnosed with meniere's disease. She had to leave work, much to her husbands protests, but instead of being completely beaten by this acute form of meniere's she applied to take a degree in Art and Design. Again her husband moaned and groaned, "woman of your age, blah, blah, blah. Thank goodness she paid him no heed. She said that her departed grandad had told her in psychic writing to go ahead, nothing would stop her now...

I watched my friend develop into this new confident woman, her clothes took on a new style, gone was the lady at her husbands beck and call, she made her children realise that they where in there late teens and capable of doing more for themselves.

Unfortunately, or maybe not, her new found strength and identity resulted in the breakdown of her marriage (her husband could no longer dictate to her), and leaving her beautiful home, she set off to start again. Even though she now had her degree, the dreams of selling her artwork had to be shelved, as this would not put a roof over her head nor food on the table. So she returned to nursing, taking a conversion course to become a staff nurse, holding down three jobs at one point to maintain the lifestyle she wanted.

There was to be heartbreak along the way, falling for men who took advantage of her generous nature. Never giving up, she worked and worked. There is now a new car on the drive of her home, she is buying an apartment in Devon that she rents out, and has the love of a man who adores her.

The other week she called me to ask if I would go to the consultants with her at the City hospital. It was to find out the results of her c.a.t. scan. She said that she had a feeling things weren't good. I told her not to be negative. She had been suffering with her back since before christmas, in fact we had giggled when she said that she was envious of my toilet (a special one fitted for me by occ health), not my looks or quick wit, 'no' my loo is what she envied me most for.
It was sort of surreal in the consultants room, he sat there with the scan in his hand, twisting it around at different angles. Judy grasped my hand as the consultant gestured with his other hand for us to sit down, I tightly squeezed her hand, maybe a little to hard when I think back. He turned his seat to face us. "Now then we have a bit of a dilemma here, I need you to have another scan, I can't make out if we (whats with this we business?) have a slipped disc here or possibly a tumour." The words fell out of his mouth like he had asked if it had stopped raining yet.

Now I'm not saying I have the gift or anything like that, but something inside me told me it was the least serious of the scenario's, we had been given. I kept repeating this to Judy as I wiped the tears from her eyes and told her that if she had paid for water-proof mascara she should demand her money back.

We had to wait ten days before we went to see the consultant again and Judy would not be comforted by my foresight (remember she is the witch who knows all). Well I'm thinking of donning a headscarf and crystal ball as this years new accessories.
Although it will mean her looking at alternative careers (maybe now she has a stable man of means behind her, selling her artwork is a possibility). It is her disc that is the problem and not a tumour, I know that's not great but it can be treated.

I'm sure she will be OK and in someways maybe this was something that had to happen to make her slow down and enjoy her life more, instead of working like a centipede on speed all hours of the day . Whatever, 'I the all Knowing' feels sure that things will turn out fine. Now did you want to cross my palm with silver???

PIECING THINGS BACK TOGETHER...

It seems that with a click of your fingers, more than two weeks have passed me by. Its not that I'm complaining, the opposite in fact. My heart wasn't in posting as I felt that they had become mundane and boring . So I took the decision that I would publish when I felt that I had something worthwhile to say, then 'CLICK' the madness started.

As I have mentioned, my son designs bars and restaurants, along with the odd hairdressing business, apartments etc.
Recently he has purchased a property in the town centre, which he wants to refurbish (actually almost a rebuild) into a coffee shop by day, and a wine bar in the evenings. I never realised the work that goes into this sort of venture when starting from scratch.
Obtaining permission for the thousand and one things you need to do this, licensing, planning, fire regulations, change of use to name but a few. I have lost count of the number of meetings and paperwork that have had to be undertaken to finally get the go ahead. Although my physical participation is limited, I have tried to help with all the rest, which has been time consuming, burning plenty of midnight oil to help him achieve his goals. I will be posting about how this adventure progresses and show pics of its development.

Two of my close friends have had life altering tragedies affect them. One of them I worked with, nursing in the community, nineteen years ago, and although our lives have taken different paths, our friendship has continued. Recently she had a frightening health scare and asked if I would be with her whilst she had the various tests carried out.
My other friend is the wife of one of my bosses from my nursing career. We struck up a friendship when her husband, my previous boss, asked me to do her hair (once a hairdresser always a hairdresser). She had become pregnant with twins in her forty something year, and was shocked and in disbelief, so he thought it would cheer her up by arranging for her to have a new hairstyle. (How simple is the male mind?).
The twins are now sixteen and they feel like part of my own family, along with her son and daughter who are both in their twenties. There hasn't been a single week that she hasn't phoned or visited me since I became stuck at home. In fact, she now takes me to her new hairdressers when my mane needs to be chopped.
Events have happened in her personal life causing such emotional pain and distress, it has had a negative effect on her health and the family I have come to love. So when she asked for my shoulder, I felt honoured to give her and the family my time, and anything else that would help them through this heartbreaking period of transition.

Then the hospital sent for me to go for more even more tests (no one can say that they are not being thorough).......

Finally, Math has been working in Europe and an opportunity arose for me to join him at a place he knows that I have longed to visit. So for a few days I joined him, how could I refuse the offer?????/
So, now I have somethings to post, which when I gathered my thoughts and words, I will be doing soon......