All very quiet Here…..

Apologies, but I have not been able to document the thoughts and adventures of the Raven’s Chest members recently.

I hope that this hasn’t caused too many problems for you, but there just hasn’t been enough hours in the day.

Sorry.

Frog.

My trip to London – By Granger

So, if you’ve read any of my previous stories etc, you’ll know that I’m not from round these parts, having come from America.  Well, I don’t want to burst that particular tourist thing, but I’d never been to London – and yet all in the Order say it’s great.  Luckily, Frog went up to London last week with the Scouts.  We were dropped off near the Duke of Wellington’s House – called No.1 London, which surprised me as I would have thought that would have been Buckingham Palace!  Anyway, the Scouts followed a route called the Jubilee Walkway (Frog tells me it used to be called the Silver Jubilee walk way) and it took us round many of the sites of London!

Because of timings etc, I wasn’t able to get down to see the Tower of London, but I did see Tower Bridge (from the Millenium Bridge).  Again, we weren’t able to see all of Oxford Street, Regent Street, Carnarby Street (although I have a rough idea where they might be now).  From our walk I was able to see that London is a big place crammed into a small area!

This is a list of the locations that we went passed:

No.1 London

Buckingham Palace

St James’ Park

Parliament Square

Westminster Abbey

Houses of Parliament

Memorials to Emily Pankhurst, Buxton Memorial

Lambeth bridge

Lambeth palace

County Hall

London Eye

South Bank

Festival Pier

Tate Modern (went in to the main Turbine Hall then out!)

Millenium Bridge

St Pauls

Fleet Street

Chancery Lane

Royal Courts of Justice

Lincoln Inn Fields

Royal Opera House

Covent Garden

National Portrait Gallery

Trafalgar Square

Haymarket

Piccadilly Circus

Picaddilly

Hyde Park.

(we drove past Marble Arch, Oxford Street on the way home).

We used a map that Frog had obtained from Transport for London – I’d recommend this to any tourists wanting to see London by foot in a day – although in order to do what we did we didn’t really spend any time in any of the attractions.

To prove I was there, here’s a selection of pics with me in them!

The Roll call begins

“Okay” said Blurb, “we have a mission.  Who wants in?”

“What’s the mission first” replied HP

“Annual camp with the Scouts” replied Blurb.  “So far, we’ve had no intel and there’s been no detail of any secret missions on the wire.  In theory then, this is just a camp to be at – and be photographed at.”

Andy spoke. “If it’s all the same guys – I really enjoyed the cycle weekend, especially as Frog wore his Skeleton jacket – but I’d like to sit out of this one”

Mab spoke “Well, the last one was cold and wet – and it ain’t looking to good outside right now”

“Oh GOOD GRIEF” exclaimed Granger “What a bunch of softies you all are! Blurb, I know you’d love to go, but you also know that Frog is trying to pack light.  Whitby, Frog has already marked your card for the camp later on so you also get a pass.  Me, I’m itching to go.  I’ll go.  I’ll Get my bag ready.”

With that Granger walked out of the room.

“I didn’t know Granger had a bag to pack – he travelled light in Scotland?” queried Whitby.

“No” laughed Blurb “He means his body bag.  He loves travelling in it - and there are loads of anchor points to tie it to rucksacks!

 

“I hope he sends a postcard then” said Andy.

Hello, you’ve reached the Order of the Raven’s chest

There’s no-one where now to take your message -it’s just too hot and we can’t bothered to take our heads out of the fridge; please leave us a message and we’ll get back to you.

When you have finished your message you can hang up.  Take care now!!

Whitby starts his apprenticeship

Frog strolled into the Order’s Meeting.  “Friends” he started “I’d like to introduce you to a new member – Whitby.”

The order turned and slowly looked at Whitby up and down.  Blurb said that he felt a little unsure – the Order wasn’t supposed to be a big group, so what was Whitby going to bring to the table that wasn’t already present?

Granger then stepped into the room.  “I have now accompanied Whitby as part of the recent tour of Whitby, Oban, Arran and Alnwick that Frog undertook with me – and I can recount his tale”

“Oh no” said HP “that’s not the rules.  Whitby has to recount his tale – and we then decide if that makes him a worthy member of the order”.

Granger turned to Whitby.  “You have the floor” he said and smiled.  Whitby took two paces forward….

 

“Gentlemen” he said “Normally I have a friendly, happy face, but you have asked for my tale; from what Granger has told me about you all I know that you each have dark recesses that you can go to.  So allow me to tell you my tale….

My story starts many years ago, one dark, cold night.  The mists swirled round the town of Whitby like a shoal of silver fish, and the pavement could only be heard as the footsteps clicked on the cobbles.  My master had descended the last of the steps from the Abbey, slowly carefully, his polished black shoes softly brushing the stone and his walking cane clicking as it touched.  His black, leather gloved hand skimmed the hand rails – too many had slipped trying to descend the 199 steps.  He then walked towards his small shop – a thick, old building with small windows and low door.  Just as he approached the front another hooded person approached him from the left.

“Alms for the poor” said the hooded person.

“Begone with you, you’ll only spend it on beer” said my master, and he quickly entered the building and closed the door behind him.

Once inside, his eyes adapted to the dark – just enough that he could see to light the candle in the window; its faint yellow light casting shadows around the wall from the many herbs that were hanging from the old oak beams.  My master walked across to a writing table and opened the thick black book.  His gloved finger drew down the page and with a quick tap he turned and gathered the ingredients he had decided he would need.

 

Outside his shop, the beggar shuffled away from the building.  He knew that the gentleman was right, he wasn’t going to do anything but add to the few pennies that he had already gathered that day and spend them all in the local pub; whilst he knew that this wasn’t the best way of spending the money, the warmth of the inn and the laughter of drunken colleagues meant that he could forget the cold in his bones and the continuous hunger that consumed him.  It also meant that he could stop reflecting on what he had been and what he was now….

Now there’s a familiar face!” came the drunken cheer as he crept quietly into the inn.  Already many of the places by the fire were occupied – and mostly by people dressed like him.  “Shuffle up all, room for another!”  Soon he had his pewter goblet in hand, supping beer with his friends.  The outside seemed so far away now.

 

Smoke slowly curled around the roof.  My master opened the door and the trail – like a snake – left the room.  It slowly made its way down the street and under the door of the inn – the other end leaving the cauldron and wrapping itself round a small black puppet.

 

Some say what happened that night in the inn was just a myth. Others put it down to a bunch of drunk people who claimed pagan – druidic even! – roots in the town,  being forced to go undercover when the Abbey went into dissolution – the locals thinking that these characters had woven a magic spell that had doomed the church.  I know what I know and I know what I believe – one moment I was sat with my colleagues the next I am incarnet in a puppet, passed from person to person – until I was finally able to be befriended by someone who seemed to have the same inner frequency as I once saw in myself…..”

 

“So, you’re saying that you used to be a Druid, but now you’re a puppet.  Is that right?” said E.A.  “So okay, I’ll buy the story and play along – prove it!”

All the others smiled – this was always a fun game to play.

Whitby drew himself up to full height (which wasn’t much further) when Granger stepped in.  “Actually gang, I can help with that – and I think you’ll rather like it”.

 

“This is photo that Frog took when he and I walked up Dunadd Fort.  Whitby had stayed back in the car.  This used to be a fort where – it is said – Kings of Scotland would claim their place as ruler over the land and the people.  It was very high and very steep to get to the top.  When we got to the top, we found an indentation in the rock which is said to be the King’s footprint.

When we got back down, Whitby asked if we had seen the carving of the wild boar on the side of the rock.  Frog said no, he hadn’t seen it and asked if it was up there – and Whitby said it was but that it wasn’t easy to see.  Later, Frog saw a postcard which showed the carving.  It had been taken in a certain light and the carving stood out… Luckily the next day (On Beltane) we were able to return to the Fort – this time Whitby joined us.  Without having seen the photograph he pointed at the rock and said… it’s there.  We had to look really closely – but it was.”

 

 The Order all went quiet.  This was a good game.  Mab spoke.

 “I know I’m not the most important member of the order here – but I would like to welcome Whitby to the Order.  I believe that he has a lifetime of learning within him that I think we can all develop from – and I would like to be his pupil”

 They all clapped, then turned to Blurb.

 “My friends!  How can I turn down such a learned person from our Order?  I too will welcome Whitby!  But… and please understand me when I say this… I will not bestow any duties upon you until you have served your apprenticeship to the Order”.

 Whitby smiled.  “My friend Blurb – and colleagues.  I thank you for your welcome to the Order.  I would not wish to undertake a duty unless I knew I could do that duty well.  I spent many, many years learning this craft of mine, so I know who I am – and am comfortable waiting for you to know me also so I can be a full member of the Order.  Until then, I will be your Apprentice.”

Getting a bit of fresh air – E.A.

For some reason best known to himself, Frog decided to bring me out in the daylight.  Personally, I was still recovering from the Sisters of Mercy concert two nights before (it was a good concert if I’d wanted to just hear a drum machine – the vocals were non existent as was the lead guitar.  But it was a goth night out, so I guess that’s cool)

So he drags me to this lake thing - with the clouds and the drizzle I felt a bit more at home – and then I had to watch whilst loads of people ran round the lake with lime green t-shirts!  Sometimes, I think he just deliberately challenges me.  Anyway, here are a couple of pictures that he decided would be good to put on the website….

Andy’s Review of his weekend!

I was allowed to accompany Frog and several of his friends on a cycle around a place called Stratford.  Stratford, so Frog told me, was the home of a famous playwright – although with the phone and broadband connection it is little wonder that most of his work was performed in London!

 

I was fortunate that I could be carried on the bicycle in a way that allowed me to see much of the view – and the friends that had come along as well on the cycle.  The trees were starting to show signs of life and there were Daffodils everywhere.  It was nice that I could see the stunning landscapes as we crested the hills.

 

 

 

I wasn’t so keen on the bridleway track – it was very difficult not to get mud on me (but I managed it) unlike Frog, who seemed to just sink a few times.  I think he’s learning a new language as there were a few words that I just didn’t understand!

 

In the evening I was able to relax whilst Frog, Alan and Bruce (the other two leaders) talked about the cycle and planned the next day.  Luckily I was able to get a phone signal and I could speak to the RavensChest Order and tell them of the adventures that I’d had.

 

On the Sunday, we set off again for another cycle.  To me, it was more of the same, but the younger friends that Frog was with had a few problems with the hills and walked up them a lot.  We also spent a long time whilst the leaders rubbed a leaf onto one of the boys arms [It was a Dock leaf – he had fallen into Stinging Nettles. Frog].  Once back in the minibus, even though I hadn’t cycled, I quickly fell asleep as did most of the passengers in the bus.  It was a great weekend!

 

 

The Meeting

Granger and Blurb sat on the park bench, overlooking the sprawling park of Parliament Hill. They could see London in the distance, and each of the paths leading up to the bench. It was the most obvious, and safe of all locations. Around them, joggers ran past, dog walkers called after their pets and cyclists rushed through.

It was one of those cyclists hurtling past that casually tossed the mobile phone at their feet. Within seconds, it rang. Granger bent down and picked it up.

“What exactly were you hoping to prove?” the voice calmly spoke. “put this on speaker phone Granger, I want Blurb to hear as well”.

Granger pushed the buttons.  “Blurb, can you hear this” the voice calmly spoke again.

“Yes” said Blurb “but who are you – I don’t recognise your voice.”

“My name isn’t important to you, but my message is.  I know that you – and your colleagues – are the subject of attention from a couple of organisations.  We know this because we are watching over you.  We were asked by a friend of yours to ensure that no harm came to you both; for years we have maintained that.  However, we are also aware that you are now considering action against them….”

“… and how would you know that? Have you been spying on…”

“Granger!  I’ve not spoken to anyone abou this – and I’m pretty sure that you haven’t either… unless…”

“Before you get into a fight on such a lovely day, let me explain.  We know that you have thought about this action because we bugged the house.  We bugged the house because we were asked to.  By your / our friend.  In addition, we have been following you – and your colleagues to make sure that they come to no harm.  Yes, Edward did get hurt – my associate wasn’t ready and we couldn’t prevent that one from starting – but we were there to get him to you quickly.  We hope that he is feeling better.  It just shows that something is coming”

“So what now?” asked Granger.  “You know we’ve set up a meeting between the Rag Dolls and the Book Club – which is why you’re here also.  What I would like to know is what your involvement is and….” 

The line suddenly cut off with a blip.

“Mr Evermore? You called a meeting with us.  I’m surprised that ‘they’ are here also, but I’m sure you have a reason for it.  So you have called us here, so please, tell us why”.

Granger and Blurb turned from looking at the mobile phone, now lying unused on the bench, to face the four characters in front of them. Two wore the shell of Paddington Bear and two wore the shell of Winnie the Pooh – however, it was clear that they were not these characters as their movements suggested a slackness of stuffing that came from a costume being worn.  Blurb spoke

“Actually, we both called you here.  Over the last few days you have both invaded our peaceful lives and caused both us and our friends harm and distress.  We know that you are merely representatives of the organisations that you represent, and perhaps you may know the history of each of us.  We want to be left in peace, to live our lives without worrying about who is watching us, who will jump from the shadows, who will cause us problems again.

“What you may not know is that there is a third organisation and they are watching us now.  Indeed, they phoned us just before you got here and rang off when you arrived.  They told us they were watching out for us, so let’s keep this peaceful.”

One of the Paddington Bears laughed.

“Good grief Blurb, is that really the best you can do?  You were much better when you part of our organisation, we could always ensure that your threat would always be what you would do, not what someone else could.  That doesn’t disarm, that just disappoints”  With that Paddington bear reached into the case.  Granger saw the butt of a gun.

“Look, I have no idea who you actually are, but Blurb is not kidding.  Please, just take the message back….”

Paddington bear continued to draw the weapon.  Suddenly, the gun flew from his hand, and a faint “crack” was heard in the distance.  The phone by the bench rang again.  Blurb answered, nodded and switched the phone once more to speaker phone.

“To the four who are standing in front of Blurb and Granger, please listen carefully.  We have just shot the gun from your hand.  I should point out that you cannot see us as we are currently….  seven hundred and thirty six metres away from you; that’s as the crow flies of course.  As you are quite clever, please turn to your left.  We will now blink a light three times…. …. …. …. hopefully your trained eyes will have seen that.  Please nod if you did”  All six nodded.

“Good.  Before we carry on, Paddington Bear, please retrieve your gun; we don’t want these things littering the park.  It creates… problems.  Bearing in mind that we have at least one gun trained on each of you, please put it back in your bag.  Thank you. Now put the bags down on the ground.  Now Blurb and Granger have asked you to take a message back to your bosses.  Will you do that please?  Oh and please tell them that we are also watching out for them, we know what damage that they can cause to your organisations and know exactly how we can get them into and out of your data centres and headquarters without you ever knowing.  In fact, we don’t actually need them to do that – we ought to point out that because of the agencies you used to set up your data centres the data is already in our safe keeping… should you want it to stay safe.  Oh, I know what you’re now thinking – please call us ‘The Button Club’.  Finally, should you agree to these instructions, please have your bosses deliver something to the Raven’s house.  Book Club, I think a single yellow rose; Rag Dolls, four yellow Daffodills.  Just leave them on the front step.  Now go, before we do something that will just ruin your day.”

The phone went click. No-one spoke and the sounds of dog walkers, cyclists and children filled the air.  The two Paddington Bears and the two Winnie-the-Poohs walked back down the hill.  When they were at the bottom of the hill, the phone rang again.

“Granger, Blurb, you know that this isn’t over.  Whilst the Button Club is just maintaining its contract, you know that those two groups will not rest – they don’t like being made fun of.  Expect the flowers, but don’t expect the peace.”

 

———————————————————————————————————————————————————-

At the Book Club’s headquarters, a shadowy figure slammed his fist down on the table.

“NO! We do not walk away from this!  Who is ‘The Button Club’?  What makes them think that they have the power and control to run our organisation – hold us to ransom?  So they’re looking after Granger and his dumb friends – well Granger’s just bought himself  a demonstration.  What were we supposed to leave? A yellow rose? What dumb signal is that? What is the other idiot organisation supposed to bring, four daffodills?  Right – buy four Daffodills and leave them on the door.  We’re not backing down – but we’ll play along for the moment.  Now go and do that for me.”

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-

At the Rag Doll’s headquarters, a shadowy figure slammed his fist down on the table.

“NO! We do not walk away from this!  Who is ‘The Button Club’?  What makes them think that they have the power and control to run our organisation – hold us to ransom?  So they’re looking after Blurb and his dumb friends – well Blurb’s just bought himself  a demonstration.  What were we supposed to leave? Four Daffodills? What dumb signal is that? What is the other idiot organisation supposed to bring, a single yellow rose?  Right – buy a single yellow Rose and leave it on the door.  We’re not backing down – but we’ll play along for the moment.  Now go and do that for me.”

———————————————————————————————————————————

Early the next morning, a Paddington Bear approached the step and laid his offering on the step.  He looked up at the Winnie-the-Pooh holding the other flower.  Winnie-the-Pooh laid the flower down by the side.  They both stood up slowly, gently nodded, turned and both walked away. 

At the end of the street was a black car, with the rear windows blacked out.  Inside, the passenger could see the drama unfurl and quietly chuckled to himself.  He picked up his phone and pressed the buttons.  “Yes, they did as expected.  Time to lose power for a couple of minutes”.

A creative Block

I sit facing the paper and the pen lies on the table.

I sit facing the computer and the keyboard lies untouched.

I face the window and watch with  no thought, no idea.

A creative block.

 

A plan to write a story,  an idea to write a poem.

Just ideas without substance

Notes without meaning.

The creative block.

 

By H.P. in an apology.

Blurb Makes the Call

“Yes.  The RavensChest is contacting Bear Factory”…..  “Kanga and Roo” ….  “Pooh Sticks. Thank you”

“Hello? Yes, this is… okay, you know who it is – and so you’ll know why I’m calling.  We agreed that I could leave and that you would leave me and … yes, that is true, but… hand on, we promised…. YOU promised… oh, come on, that’s not… look, do we need to meet and agree this all again?  Do I need to prove what is sensible – again?  Can you really afford that right now?  Thank you.  You’ll be in touch – I thought so.”

Blurb hung up the phone quietly.  He sighed a long sigh of relief… and then there was a polite cough – which came from behind.

“So - not so much the pacifist then?” asked Granger, and he quietly closed the door behind him.  It closed with a click. “So, what do you think you ought to tell me; remember that I can tell when something isn’t quite right – as you probably already knew”

“OK, as you’ve revealed your membership to the Book Club, I ought to reveal my membership – not to the Book Club, but to the European Organisation – the Rag Dolls.  I am aware that between the two organisations they have worked quite well together, but of course, we also know that they have kept secrets from each other.  What we have now revealed to each other – our memberships of these organisations – makes us both quite powerful but it also puts the whole Ravens Chest Order in considerable peril – as Edward found out.  You managed to leave the Book Club by “disappearing” until recently – however I managed to walk away from the Rag Dolls by mutual consent.  Until now, of course”

“How did you leave?  What happened to cause them to just ‘let you go’ – or have they just made you a sleeping agent?”

“I guess I was originally in the wrong place at the wrong time.  My father – here, this is a photo of him – was close friends with Tough Ted. They both served on the merchant ships, before transferring onto other jobs.  Both showed exemplary skills and knowledge – so it wasn’t long before they were recruited by the Rag Dolls.  They had been tasked with a mission in Germany – would have been quite a major event, but I so wanted to be like my father that I tagged along.  I had been secretly reading all his training materials, practising stalking, hiding, tracking for many months and had become quite good at it.

“We had boarded the train from Munich to Bavaria – I could see my father talking to another Rag Doll agent.  They had both exchanged secret passwords and thought that the carriage was clear.  Unfortunately, the train shuddered to a stop and a small feather just floated onto my nose.  As hard as I tried I couldn’t hold back the sneeze – and suddenly it was as if something catastrophic had happened.  All the Rag Dolls suddenly started screaming ‘It’s a Trap!’ and the Rag Doll my father was talking with seized him.  He put a bag over his head and two other Rag Doll agents dragged him up the carriage and into the next one.  Meanwhile, Tough Ted had dropped to the ground, saw me and then stood up between me and the other agents and started wiping his nose.  He apologised for the sneeze – but asked if we could continue talks.  The remaining Rag Doll agents laughed – the pulled the emergency stop cord and ran to join their colleagues.  Tough Ted stood his ground.

“Once the agents had gone, Tough Ted told me I could come up.  I stood up – and Tough Ted made me promise that I would never follow my father again- and I would not try to find my father either as it would almost certainly be not to the benefit of my father.  After I made that promise, with tears in my eyes, Tough Ted then made me make the same promise – but for him as well.”

Granger stood and looked at Blurb, the tears flowing freely from his eyes.  Blurb sniffed and wiped them clear.

“Blurb, things change.  You made a promise for two people – both of which had deep meaning in your life.  But even you must realise that sometime we have to make decisions that we don’t want to in order to protect and save the new members of our family.  Whilst you have lived up to your side of the bargain – that of not trying to find your father or Tough Ted – it would seem that they have tried to contact you.

“So now, we have to make a new plan.  By the way though – how did you leave the Rag Dolls by mutual consent?”

“Ah.  They did recruit me many years later and being young and foolish I joined.  They found I was really quite quick with computers… but I also generated a lot of static.  One lightning bolt mistimed…. and I wiped their main computer.  It took them three months to recover all the data… so they let me go.”

“Hmm” said Granger “I wonder if we need to go play with some computers.  How’s your skills at Pacman?”