When Pendragon and I first arrived here in our cul-de-sac in Dingley Dell we came willing and ready to put down fresh roots,and be open and welcoming to our new neighbours. We had both had warm relationships with our previous neighbours,so felt that a ready smile and some warm conversation would be all it would take to open up the channels of friendship. Time has proved us to be completely wrong,and we were singularly unprepared for the cold winds of rejection sailing in our direction across the respective fences of the fourth and sixth toadstools. In Toadstool number four ,Gumble the gnome was leading a very solitary life.The only opportunity to have any communion at all has been on our respective doorsteps at the finish of work times, or early in the morning,by the garage wall,as we nearly collided on our way out to work .I was invariably sleepy eyed,and not really ready for complex interactions,and he was too busy strapping on his safety helmet for his two wheeled multi-geared chariot, to give forth on any substantial subject. Two minutes worth of merry quips passed between us,and off we went about our business of the day.And yet there were a few occasions when his guard slipped and tales of his past life unfolded.Sometimes quite jaw dropping details,as I put the key in the door.So what did I learn. He worked in some financial management in the city,he often went away for a few days at a time , he never stayed in one place too long,he had a daughter,and an erstwhile wife somewhere in the south of the land,he would never marry again, and he was making lots of money. Hardly anyone ever seemed to come and visit him,except his 13 year old sprite,who visited on two occasions,and appeared somewhat troubled.Constantly popping into the garden for a quick fag,and looking bored seemed to be her visible demeanour.never stayed long.He once said to me that he was concerned about her because she had been taken into short term care,and then dropped in casually that it was her mother's responsibility anyway,and he couldn't do anything to help.I never really knew whether he meant it or not. But I always thought of him in a colder light after that. Single, solitary and lonely is how he appeared,but also incapable of altering that. Pendragon once called in to borrow some tools and said the house had so little furniture in it ,that you would never have known anyone lived there at all. Gumble left three weeks ago.We would never have known if I had not bumped into him as he carried out the last of his belongings to a waiting four-wheeled chariot. Hi,he said, Well that's me .I'm off. Oh, I said, Anywhere nice. I"ve bought a house in the next hamlet,he said. I'm off there now. Then quite conspiratorially he added in a low whisper. But I"ll be back. Sometime. I don't know when. But I expect I will come back.
There were so many questions I wanted to ask as I saw him go off in his four-wheeled chariot.He was moving,he was not going to sell, he would be back. What ? Where/ When? Why ? He left in the same cloak of mystery with which he had lived next door.A solitary gnome. A lonely gnome. A quite content to be that way gnome. We have called the 4th Toadstool on the left -Lost and Lonely Cottage. It looks empty and somewhat sad. Like Gumble the Gnome.Pendragon ,who is usually a warm and empathic pixie of great intuition ,has been heard to mumble over his hot hazelnut lately, Don't waste time worrying about him ,my petal.He certainly won't be sparing any thought for us.And is he coming back to cut his grass ?
Trust Pendragon. Always the practical,always the fine finger on the pulse of a situation.
To happier times my friends and the denizens of No. 6, next time. Love and much hugging from the Rainbow Faery.