The Toymaster's Castle

Chapter Twenty-Four - St Davids

It rained in the night and, when we woke up, everything smelt new and fresh and springlike. Daniel was up before me and arrived with coffee which was a real treat!

After breakfast, we took the boat and putted over to a little harbour, just across the channel on the mainland. We tied up and then chatted to the harbourmaster for a bit... apparently, he was the car park attendant and ice cream salesman too. He quizzed us gently about our Lighthouse holiday home and Daniel told him a bit about it... nothing like the whole truth, of course.

Then our taxi arrived and took us up to 'The City of Saint Davids'.

You shouldn't get the wrong idea about St Davids. It's a lovely place but it's only a city because of a technicality and it's basically the size of a large village. It has a very pretty cathedral... set down in a little valley, presumably to stop it from blowing away in the storms... a couple of touristy-type shops, one small supermarket and a couple of pubs and restaurants.

We strolled across the city... it only took about five minutes... then we had a look around the cathedral and then strolled back. For want of something better to do, we found ourselves nosing around inside a tourist-oriented antique shop. I was just starting to get bored when I noticed a treadle operated sewing machine.

Daniel noticed me noticing. "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" he asked.

"I think I might be thinking what you think I'm thinking," I replied, making him smile. "If..." I hesitated because I didn't want to say what we were both thinking out loud because of the whole 'Information Security' thing.

"In a TEOTWAWKI situation," he suggested.

I gave him a funny look but nodded. "It could come in really handy... but only if it works."

Of course, because Daniel is Daniel, he had all the shop staff running around, trying to prove that the thing did actually work. In the end, they had to go and summon grandma from next door because she was the only person who had ever used the thing before. She didn't just show me that it worked, but I got a quick lesson in how to set the thing up... and how it was different from the electric ones I'd used in the past.

And she even found a box of spare parts and another with thread and zippers and buttons and things for me. I think she liked the idea that it was going to a good home!

Meanwhile, Daniel was chatting to the store owner and, when he mentioned the unreliable electricity supply, the guy pointed him in the direction of some hurricane lamps. And, after some negotiation, he bought all four they had on offer and a couple of large bottles of lamp oil.

And then, when we were about to leave, we spotted an old mangle and, even though I really didn't want to think about it, I had to agree that it would come in handy if we ever ended up having to wash our socks by hand...

Or nappies!

About an hour later, we left the shop and Daniel's wallet was a fair bit lighter!

By now, it was lunchtime so we left everything we'd bought at the shop and went along to the 'Travellers Rest Inn' which was in the middle of the village opposite the war memorial. It was a bit full and rather touristy but we managed to find a table in a big dining room at the back. It made a change from me having to cook... and from all the 'long-term storage' food stuff I'd been forcing Daniel to eat.

At least, with all the people, there wasn't much danger of us being overheard and so I could quiz him about the 'Twarky' word he had used.

"TEOTWAWKI," he replied with a laugh. "It stands for 'The end of the world as we know it'."

Without really thinking about it, I'd ended up drinking a large glass of Prosecco so, by the time we'd finished eating, I felt relaxed enough to tell him that his favourite toy was going to be out of commission for a couple of days... and also that we were going to have to call at a chemist's [drug store] before we left town.