No.36 The Elusive Lamppost

The little girl had a friend who lived in a large house on the very edge of the little town. During the summer holidays from school, every day would start there, or I should say would start with the long walk up the hill from the town centre, where the little girl lived, to her friends house.

From there the two of them would spend the long summer days stomping about the country side, the woods, playing in the river, jumping from haylofts, or swinging on the rope swing in the generous garden. They very rarely played in the house.

Their favourite thing to do was to make a pack lunch, jam sandwiches usually, and head out to the woods. From her friends house it was a short walk to the woods. The jam sandwiches which be wrapped in clingfilm and swinging in a carrier bag as they made their way to the woods. They would follow the country road until it crossed with a dirt track. To the right the dirt track would wind it’s way quietly down into the valley, sheltered by trees to the main road. To the left, the dirt track went up a gentle rise and curved into the woods.

The woods were, and still are, called Lanton Woods. Named after the small village beyond them. The woods lay between the village of Lanton and the little town were the little girl lived. Of course you know the little girl well enough by now that you realise her imagination would take hold and she would invariably confuse the name “Lanton” with “lantern”. And anyone who has read “The Lion, the witch, and the wardrobe” knows about random lampposts appearing in woods. So I hope you understand why a fair bit of her summer holidays was spent looking for, and failing to find, that elusive lamppost.