Up With the Larks Read Free

leaned back against him on
the sofa, trying to relax but still listening intently to any sounds
coming from the bedrooms.
    'You're just tired.' He began to massage my shoulders in the
way I loved, loosening the knots of tension.
    'Not just tired. Totally exhausted. But that's not the problem.
I'm not happy at work any more. I've been thinking loads
about it.'
    'I know you said the job's changed a lot.'
    'Enormously. You know how the company's grown from the
small cosy firm I started with to this huge multinational. I don't
speak its language any more, Ben. Don't particularly want to.'
    'Is it getting that bad?'
    'Starting to. I'm fed up with London too, with the
commuting, with everything.'
    'Tessa, we chose this way of life, remember? You loved your
job and wanted to keep it on.'
    'I know. But the heart's gone out of marketing for me. It
used to be creative and exciting. Now it's like looking in a rearview
mirror.'
    He dug his fingers deeper into my shoulders, trying to
massage me out of what he saw as a temporary mood.
    I was starting to unwind but I kept on talking. 'And the kids.
I hardly see them. They're growing so fast – I want time with
them. And with you too.'
    He stopped kneading the tight muscles in my neck and
flopped back against the cushions, closing his eyes. I could see
the tension, the tiredness, in his face too. 'Oh Ben,' I wailed.
' Is this as good as it gets? Don't you feel something is missing?
Maybe we should be doing something else, something entirely
different from this crazy life we're living.'
    'It's the life we wanted, Tessa. There are problems, I know,
but nothing's perfect.' Ben was sympathetic but firm. 'You're
just having a bad patch. It'll pass.'
    Before I could answer, we heard Amy begin to cry. Forgetting
everything else, we both ran upstairs to her.
    I brought up the possibility of change again and again, but
we never got very far. The problem was, I didn't know then
what the change should entail. Changing my job? Moving
abroad? My sister lived in France so perhaps that was a
possibility, but what would we do there?
    And then we went on holiday.
    Luckily, spring half-term was coming up and I had some
time off from work. We decided to go to Cornwall, as we had
so often in the past.
    Though we'd stayed in various parts of the county before,
we felt most at home on the South coast where we would holiday
again this time. Cornwall, like Devon, is composed of many
different landscapes, we had discovered as we went back year
after year. There's the central backbone running up the middle
with the unique and exotic landscape created by the old mining
industry: around the Eden Project it looks like the craters of
the moon; and all the way down to Cape Cornwall, amongst the
heather and the little Methodist chapels, are fantastic old mine
workings and industrial ruins.
    And then there's West Penwith, the area below St Ives and
around Lamorna, with the stone circles and wild moorland
that some people think is the real Cornwall. Not for them the
rugged North coast with its tremendous seas, surfs and trendiness;
the Cornwall 'Posh Rock' and restaurants run by Jamie
Oliver and Rick Stein cheek by jowl with caravan parks and
Newquay. It is surfy heaven and a favourite venue for hen and
stag nights.
    Our favourite place for years now has been the South coast
which is another Cornwall altogether. Here, there are gentle
beaches sloping down to a usually tranquil sea, perfect for
swimming or sailing. There are dozens of small green creeks
meandering through lovely ancient forests that stretch to the
water's edge. It's so unspoiled that you can imagine you're on
a tributary of the Amazon, especially with the fertile soil and
micro-climate that nurture the vast tree ferns and palms that
grow nowhere else in England, only in the West Country.
    Since the Bronze Age, this area has been a place of farming
and fishing, and also the perfect area for smuggling, with its
little inlets and creeks hidden by the lush