Air Vice-Marshal Denby was coming out of a meeting that had been discussing aircraft serviceability and the trials on planned maintenance versus breakdown maintenance. One of the issues had been the procurement of spare parts, formerly through the Ministry of Supply. Many of those public servants had been transferred to Air Ministry but the old problems seemed to be perpetuated. Thinking about that issue gave him an idea. It could be advantageous to put a RAF person on temporary detachment to Air Ministry for liaison purposes with the procurement team. He smiled to himself at the idea. It needed pursuing. He decided this deserved lunch at his club.
***
Back in Alnwick, the Hill family and Alice were sitting down to a steak and kidney pie, a specialty of Margaret’s that she knew was a favourite dish of her son. Not having seen their son for so long, Andy was the focus of attention. Alice didn’t mind because she could listen and learn more about this man that she was so attracted to. No doubt the attention would turn to her later in the day and she would have to be ready to answer the questions that would come her way. After lunch, Tony Hill said that he needed to see a client in Alnmouth and suggested that they all go over there together. While he saw his client the others could walk the beach and then they could all have afternoon tea together. There was general agreement to the idea. At 2.30 p.m. Tony Hill dropped his passengers off near the Alnmouth Bowls Club so that they could walk down to the beach easily. He promised to meet them back there in about thirty minutes. Margaret Hill suggested that Andy and Alice go for the walk on the beach as she wanted to do some shopping. She turned and headed back towards the main street.
The young couple looked at each other and smiled. Alice took Andy’s hand and they headed for the gap in the dunes that led to the beach. It was a sunny day but there was a cool breeze as they walked onto the beach. There were white caps on the waves and they could see the white foam of waves breaking on the rocks of Coquet Island about three miles to the south. A mix of white and grey clouds scudded across the sky and the grass on the top of the dunes bent in the breeze. Dead seaweed and small lumps of black coal marked the high tide level on the beach. They turned and walked towards the river mouth that carved its way through the sand. “It’s hard to believe that this used to be an important wheat port over a hundred years ago,” Andy remarked. “The river changed its course and cut through to separate the church from the rest of the village. It also became too shallow for the wheat ships. Still, I like it the way it is.” As they turned alongside the river and went inland, they saw a few small yachts moored in the river. Out of sight of other people on the beach, Alice snuggled more closely into Andy and looked up at him expectantly. He stopped, put his arm around her and kissed her. Alice put her arms around his neck and kissed him back. They stood still, lost in each other’s arms. It didn’t last long as there was a bark and a spaniel bounded up to them. They looked round and saw its owner coming round the bend in the riverside and drew apart. Alice bent down and rubbed the dog behind the ears, much to its pleasure.
“He’ll let you do that for the next hour, m’dear,” said the man. He wore a seaman’s jersey and trousers with the bottoms rolled up above his ankles. The faced was seamed with age but the eyes sparkled under shaggy eyebrows. His sailor’s cap sat on the back of his head in a jaunty way.
“Well, we wouldn’t want to spoil him, would we!” replied Alice as she straightened up.
“Hello, Mr McCrae,” said Andy. “Do you still go out fishing?”
The older man stopped and looked hard at Andy. “Are you young Andy Hill?” he asked. Andy smile and nodded. “Must be ten year since I saw you last,” was the reply. “You’ve certainly changed since then.”
Andy shook his hand and introduced Alice to him. “Mr McCrae taught me the finer points of sea fishing,” Andy explained. “We used to go offshore in his boat.” They turned and walked back along the beach with the older man, all the while he and Andy reminiscing and telling stories. Alice thought it wonderful to be finding out so much. As they reached the gap in the dunes, Andy looked at his watch and saw the thirty minutes was nearly up. They waved goodbye to Mr McCrae and headed back towards the bowls club, both pleased with the time alone and the encounter with the old fisherman. Not seeing his parents, Andy motioned for them to walk back to the corner with the main street. They saw his mother walking down the street towards them with a carrier bag and waited for her. Tony Hill’s Wolseley appeared from a side street and turned down toward them, stopping to pick up Margaret Hill on the way.
When the car reached them they climbed in and Margaret said, “A change of plans. We’ll go to Craster so that I can get some kippers and fresh crab for this evening’s meal. We can get afternoon tea there.”
