Chapter 11
It took quite some time for us to get out of the karaoke bar and back to the safety of our rooms. People kept coming up to us for pictures of us with our daft little trophy which Arturo had thrust into my hands before he darted off to help the overworked staff behind the bar.
People even wanted selfies with us, and we perhaps got a small taste of life as a celebrity.
And after a while it was awful; even though everyone was cheerful and happy, the thumps of congratulations were still quite painful.
I was sure when they looked at their photos later those people would struggle to remember who we were and why they had taken the picture in the first place.
‘I didn’t expect that,’ I said as we reached the security of our room.
‘Look at the fun we have had. Life is full of surprises, or it can be,’ Anna said. She held the trophy we had just won above her head in triumph and did a little dance.
‘I’m just surprised I can still stand up,’ Harriet said, sinking down onto her bed with a heartfelt sigh.
‘Perhaps coming on this trip was a step too far. Maybe you should have come without me? I mean, at my age and everything. I didn’t mind hopping on and off trains back then when I was young and fit, but now I’m not so sure.
I think if anything I’m holding you up.’
‘Nonsense, it wouldn’t be the same without you here. Tomorrow is going to be so easy,’ I said. ‘You made all the arrangements, remember?’
Harriet groaned. ‘I’m trying. My memory is so bad these days I swear I could probably arrange a surprise birthday party for myself.
Train to Ventimiglia, change for the train to Milan, change for the train to Venice.
It sounds okay when you say it quickly. But I bet it won’t be. I’ll be honest, I’m dreading it.’
Anna put the trophy down in her open suitcase with a definite air of ownership and gave a groan of irritation.
‘Oh, come on, Harriet, buck up a bit, it will be great. You were always the first on every train back then, the one who was up for anything, chasing around in those little shorts. Downing shots, learning how to surf quicker than anyone else. You know the Italian trains run like clockwork. Then by the end of tomorrow we will be on board a lovely, luxurious boat with a free bar and you can lie back and sip cocktails all week if you want to.’
‘The only thing I want is to get this damn support bandage off my knee and go to bed,’ Harriet said, ‘and have a long lie in tomorrow morning.’
‘Hmm, well, I’m afraid you can’t do that,’ I said, looking at the Trainline app on my phone, ‘because our first train leaves Nice just before eight o’clock. So we can then get the 9.10 a.m. train from Ventimiglia to Milan.’
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, I bet Joan Collins doesn’t have to put up with this sort of thing when she comes to the south of France,’ Harriet said furiously, limping off into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her with more than a hint of a slam.
Anna and I looked at each other and she shrugged her shoulders.
‘I don’t suppose Joan Collins has ever been Interrailing either,’ Anna murmured. ‘All the same, we’ve started so we have to finish, and everything will be okay.’
‘I hope so,’ I said. I took a deep breath, knowing the time had come to say something.
‘Look, Anna, it’s all very well pretending we are fighting fit and up to the challenge when we are sitting at home thinking about it, but it’s not quite the same when we are actually doing it.
And I think Harriet is really struggling. ’
Anna looked uncomprehending. ‘Do you?’
‘I do, and it’s no good telling her to buck up because she used to be able to do things when she was eighteen. It’s making her feel worse.’
‘Oh. I don’t think I realised. I mean, I’m doing okay and I’m the same age as her.’
‘That doesn’t mean anything, Anna. She’s had a lot of health issues; personal things for which you aren’t making any sort of allowance. Arthritis for one. A knee replacement for another. She’s like most people, wanting to pretend that ageing doesn’t make any difference, but it does.’
Anna pouted. ‘Well, it’s not my fault, she should have said something.’
‘She did, Anna, but you didn’t want to listen!’ I said, exasperated. ‘Sometimes you can be very tactless. And unkind. You’re the one who had cosmetic surgery because you didn’t like something about yourself; well, no amount of surgery is going to change being sixty-four.’
I was momentarily shocked at myself. Perhaps it was the effect of the Cointreau; it always did tend to make me a bit prickly.
Anna looked down, bit her lip and sighed.
‘I just wanted everything to be like it was. Just one more time. To feel excited by life and positive and stuff. I know I’m lucky, I have Rupert and I have an easy life compared to some people, but I’m so bored, Lizzie.
Rupert never wants to do anything different.
I sometimes think he would just like to sit around doing sudoku and reading obscure books and watching re-runs of The Saint on television.
The one with Roger Moore and the cardboard scenery that shakes when people bang into it, not even the Ian Ogilvy version.
And he never seems to see me any more, not really. ’
During our school years, Anna had always been the unelected leader of our pack, the cool girl.
The beautiful one who sailed through life on a cloud of approval, the one the boys saw first, the one who always charmed her way out of trouble, the one who never got caught.
I had the feeling that it had made her rather insensitive to other people but no one had ever told her to her face.
‘He’s in his seventies, Anna. Isn’t he allowed to take things easy?’
‘Of course he is, but I’m not and I don’t want to. I don’t want to give up having fun.’
‘You don’t have to, but it can never be the same as it was when we were eighteen. We can still have a lot of fun, just a bit more carefully.’
‘Yes, I suppose you’re right,’ she said at last, and she looked a bit glum.
We sat in silence for a while and then Anna stood up, took our karaoke award out of her case and put it on Harriet’s bedside table. Then she went out of the room without a word, leaving me wondering what to do for the best.
I was glad I had said something, that I had stuck up for Harriet, but I didn’t want this holiday that we had planned and looked forward to so much to end in disappointment and failure. And listening to the other two sniping was exhausting.
At last Anna returned and a few minutes later Harriet came back out of the bathroom. It looked as though she had been crying. Then she saw the award by the side of the bed and gave a shaky laugh.
‘You daft mare,’ she said, ‘that belongs to all of us.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Anna said, ‘I want you to have it. I’ve been a cow, haven’t I?’
‘You can say that, I can’t possibly comment,’ Harriet said, wiping her eyes with a tissue, and then she laughed and we had a group hug and it seemed everything was going to be okay after all.
‘I bet Joan Collins hasn’t got one of those,’ I said, ‘and I bet she’d like one.’
‘Sorry,’ Harriet said at last. ‘Sorry for being so weedy.’
‘You’re not,’ I said. ‘I’ve been worried too about being able to cope with all this travelling. I think we are all doing very well.’
‘You’ll be glad to hear I’ve just had another of my excellent ideas,’ Anna said proudly, and Harriet and I groaned.
‘No, listen, I can see I’ve been thoughtless and I apologise, really, I do.
Rupert says I can be like a cow in a china shop sometimes when I get an idea in my head.
I’ve been thinking about making life a bit easier from now on, and I’ve just booked a car to drive us from here to Ventimiglia train station, so that avoids hauling our luggage on and off at least one train.
The train doesn’t go from there until ten past nine, so we will have a more leisurely start. ’
‘And when we get to Venice, my godmother is going to sort out our transfer to the boat,’ Harriet said, her voice still a bit shaky. ‘I’ve just had a text from her. She says it’s hardly any distance.’
Anna smiled. ‘There you are then. Everything will be fine, you’ll see. And I’m sorry.’
‘It’s okay,’ Harriet said straightening her shoulders. And the two of them had another hug which was lovely to see. My phone buzzed just as I was getting a bit teary-eyed.
Ben
Darth has got out of the box and is following me around *smiley face emoji*
Mrs Fluffy went out and caught a mouse *sad face emoji*
Buster and Buzz are asleep.
Me
Now you’re getting far too attached to them!
We won the karaoke and a trophy!!
* * *
We woke the next morning to the sound of Anna’s alarm going off at seven thirty.
I didn’t know about the other two but I felt every one of my years.
Too much brandy the previous evening hadn’t helped either.
We picked up the few things we had unpacked the previous evening and made our way downstairs.
The indefatigable Arturo was still there behind the reception desk, looking positively bright eyed. But then as we agreed later, everything about him including his liver was younger than ours and more able to cope with this sort of fast lifestyle.
The car was waiting for us outside and we piled our cases into the boot in no time, put Harriet into the front seat and then we were off.
‘This is more like it,’ I said as we watched the town we had plodded through a few days before whizzing past.
‘Much better,’ Harriet agreed.
Less than forty minutes later we were standing on the platform at Ventimiglia, admiring our next train, which was bright red, sleek and rather sexy. We boarded, stowed away our suitcases and found our seats.
There were the usual four seats around a table, plus fairly reasonable loos at the end of the compartment, and two large vending machines serving hot drinks and snacks.