Drifting. That is what it is. Drifting apart, drifting away from everyone. Guinevere is sad, and discouraged and whatever she does seems to make matters worse. Yes, she can be busy with her job, and she still loves her job.
“The problem is, when I’m feeling down, even my job can be hard, and Sebastian is so critical of my job. I know he is, even though he doesn’t say it very clearly, but I can tell. Now I find myself looking around the club, looking at the people that come, and it’s really hard to totally disagree with him. I mean, it is noisy, and it is crowded, and my get up is maybe not really designed for people with all their traits. But I love it!”
Genevieve can’t remember seeing her little sister so sad! She had such a shock when they met up. Genevieve moved out when Lancelot and Guinevere and their spouses took over, and although she has seen Guinevere a bit, definitely not enough! The change is shocking though, and Guinevere is looking so sad and depressed. She is also a little bit obsessed, decides Genevieve. She has heard the whole spiel about Chris and ancestor Chris, and the line that died out, and how it will be Chris’ destiny to revive that line…very odd, and a bit out of the blue, to be honest!
Genevieve looks at her younger sister, and gives her a hug. “You poor thing, it sounds as if you and Sebastian have been too busy lately! You guys need to spend some quality time together, you know, get out for a bit!”
Guinevere rolls her eyes (When did that start?!) and laughs, but not a very amused one. “Get out? You must be joking, have you seen Sebastian’s workload? He struggles to get out briefly for the Luxury Event, and that’s it! Even then he grumbles, and he hardly ever will agree to take the Leisure one, as it takes six hours… No, I can’t imagine him going on a holiday!”
Genevieve and Guinevere actually get the whole morning together, and Guinevere blossoms during that time. Her eyes sparkle again, and she actually seems to like the granny annexe, which is now for Sebastian and her, since Christie and Joash got their moving papers. Genevieve loves the Annexe, she loves the warm colours, the fact that it’s a bit separate, and there is of course the gold bathroom…
Guinevere agrees, “Yes, I like the colours as well, we still need to change some things round, of course, and we’re almost able to buy a new plot of land. Did you realise land was that expensive here? It must be because it is so near the seaside… I wish we could get enough money together to get right down to the beach! I can’t see that happening in our generation though, maybe darling Chris will manage?”
Genevieve quickly moves the subject before Guinevere will go off on one again about the Line, and ‘injustice’ and all sorts… “Are you sure Sebastian wouldn’t even take a day off to take you and Chris somewhere nice? You both like history, what about some historical site?”
Guinevere sits up with a shock, and grabs Genevieve’s arm. “Yes, of course, oh, clever you! Yes, Sebastian has gone on about the Romans for ages! We could take a day to see a Roman site, they are always in the most incredible places, so it would be stunning at this time of year! Great, let me see…!” and Guinevere dashes off, and comes back with some leaflets.
Together the two sister look through the materials, and in the end decide that really the best place would be Chedworth Villa. The site isn’t very big, you would need to go to Cirencester if you want to see stacks of Roman stuff, but Chedworth is the actual site of a Roman Villa, with some mosaic floors still there, and work being done to restore them as well. There is bound to be things to do for kids as well, although the amazing Chris… Genevieve interrupts Guinevere’s thoughts before she goes down that track again!
That evening, when Sebastian asks how her morning with her sister Genevieve went, Guinevere explained about the interesting Roman site they talked about. Sebastian listens at that point, of course! “I wondered if we should drive out one morning, just for a day. It would be so interesting, and if we go soon, the trees will still be covered in blossom, it will be stunning!” says Guinevere, hardly daring to breath… She so badly wants this day out, they desperately need to reconnect as a family!
She needn’t have worried, for Sebastian agrees straight away! “As you got your last Trait this morning, how about we take a day off as a family, and just spend some time together?” he asks, not realising that poor Guinevere had been holding her breath all that time!
Guinevere is so relieved, and Chris is looking forward to the trip as well. He really is a lovely lad, not half as obsessed as him mum, fortunately! So preparations are made, and a date is set.
The day of their trip is gorgeous. The evening before it was tipping it down, but the morning looks all fresh and clean, full of promises and sweet smells. They set off in their car, and are soon on the Fosseway, an old Roman road, that was later used for the extensive wool industry as well. Soon the turnoff looms up, and they leave the main road to dive into this tiny lane.
“Dad? Are you sure this is actually a road?” chirps Chris from the back, looking very anxious, as he looks up and down the tiny lane, which is like a very narrow green tunnel, finished off neatly with Cows Parsley.
Sebastian laughs, his wonderful kind laugh again, and explains, “Yes, I know it’s very narrow, it’s called a single track road. You shouldn’t really drive too fast, but as you can see just there, every few yards is a passing place. It’s quite early in the morning, so I’m not actually expecting much traffic!”
Guinevere smiles. This is just so wonderful! The scenery is amazing, even better than she thought! The different shades of green, a bright yellow rapeseed field, a dark brown, rough square of newly ploughed earth…she doesn’t even know where to look fist!
“This is so very, very beautiful!” she sighs in the end. “No wonder the Roman built their houses here, it’s amazing!”
The site of Chedworth Villa itself is in a beautiful location. There isn’t very much left, and a mock Tudor house is actually built in the courtyard. Of course, when they built it, they didn’t know there was all the Roman stuff underneath! They look round the various buildings. One of the better kept ones is the public toilets! Chris is tickled that they went to the loo together, and explains that if he was a Roman he would make sure he would only go to the toilet at weird times, when nobody else went!
Chris gets to dress up, Sebastian reads all the labels on everything, Guinevere and Chris look at the artist’s pictures everywhere that explain what everything is, and what it probably looked like. Before they know it the afternoon is half gone, and it’s time to drive back. Guinevere is a bit quieter on the way home, she is drinking in all the beauty, full of wonder and gratitude and awe at the greatness of the Ultimate Artist, who makes everything unique. She is feeling so much lighter, and bouncier and ready to accept the day again! Oh, she knows nothing really has changed in the circumstances, but she feels ready to cope with them again.
At home, Sebastian and Guinevere decide that it is really much wiser to move into the Annexe, and just the one trip out together has opened so many doors again. It has revitalised their lives together, and made them realise again how special their bond is, and how precious family is. It also showed them that really in the grand scheme of things a generation is so puny! “I can’t believe that we looked at mosaics that have been there for nearly two thousand years! How incredible is that! And nobody knows what family lived there, who built the house with the fifty rooms, who they were, what they were…Incredible!”
They both enjoy sitting on the warm coloured sofa, looking at the pictures of their family day out, and they smile at each other, and it’s a smile of contentment. Never mind what tomorrow will bring, after all, Chris is just a child, and well, one day at a time just seems to work for now!