A Knock At The Door

[Janet Weston]

"Well, unfortunately the vast majority have, until quite recently, been in the habit of looking to their fathers for inspiration and guidance as to how to behave," said Janet, shrugging lightly as she sipped at her mug of tea. "And as a result the vast majority are completely hopeless, in turn."

Bertie had been a darling exception, thank heaven...as were most fellows who loved their mothers enough to truly learn from them. Janet felt instinctively she could not have married a man who was not, but she equally understood that the fear of Dreaded Spinsterhood had led many of her generation (and even more than a few of the next) to settle for less than they deserved, when it came to boyfriends and husbands.

[Lucy Parr]

"Yes." Lucy agreed, shaking her head in commiseration. "With any luck, we might get some tolerable men within the next five generations or so!" She certainly hoped so. A number of men had put her through several sets of complicated circumstances, trials and tribulations. Hopefully, future generation of women might not have to go through what she had had to go through. Eventually, everyone might let go of their outdated, misogynistic views and accept each other as being truly equal.
"Sometimes though, I feel like the only hope for the human race is to wipe them all out and start again." By nature, Lucy was a pessimist.

[Janet Weston]

Taken with a grain of salt--as Janet took most everything she heard, these days--she could only chuckle at Lucy's drastic solution. Not that there weren't days she wondered that, herself, but she'd lived long and seen enough that she felt that the goodness of humanity just about edged out its evil.

"...I take it next week's sermon will be on Noah's ark, then?" she asked, one eyebrow raised ever-so-slightly.

[Lucy Parr]

Lucy laughed heartily at Janet's small joke. Probably more than the joke deserved, but she was in a good mood today.
"I don't know about that. Probably not Adam and Eve." The fact that Eve was said to have been created for Adam had always annoyed Lucy. It was the fact on which many Christian sexists based their arguments.
"I was thinking of doing a little something about loving thy neighbour, actually. Very topical, with some of the attitudes towards all these BBC people."

[Janet Weston]

"...well even God realized Adam couldn't be left alone and needed Eve to sort him out," remarked Janet. As for the hogwash about original sin and all that...well, Adam had prompted Eve, hadn't he? Well, that was all rather heavy thinking for a weekday afternoon, even a rainy one spent in company with a vicar, and so Janet smiled and moved on.

"...oh that would be a wonderful idea!" she said. "I'm so looking forward to all of it...and not just because it'll be good for business. The idea of telly just has something fascinating about it, I find."

[Lucy Parr]

Lucy smiled and nodded. "They all need sorting out, if you ask me." she remarked drily. "But I'll leave that for another conversation." She didn't want to bore anyone- that had been one of her aims in becoming a vicar; to interest people in their religion. Even some new people, with any luck.

"I know what you mean." she agreed. "There's certainly an attraction about it. I was wondering whether they'll want to film in the church, actually. I haven't heard anything, but then, they haven't really kicked off yet, have they?" Her train of thought changed tracks at breakneck pace and she started off on another topic.
"I met a lovely young woman in the church the other day." she remarked. "She was involved with the BBC. Seemed quite jumpy about it, actually."

[Janet Weston]

"Is there space enough for them to get everything inside the church?" mused Janet. "It's a beautiful building, of course...and I'm sure if anybody could find a good angle, it's the BBC."

Janet's eyebrows lifted at the mention of a young woman. There had been several new faces in Penchurch of late, but it was impossible to tell precisely who was with the BBC and who just happened to be passing through...

Certainly some of them must be with the television programme, however. It was hardly high-tide for tourists in Penchurch in the late, dreary months of winter.

"Jumpy? Are there problems with the production, do you know?"

Janet knew she sometimes couldn't help but come across as gossipy, but her questions did truly come from a place of genuine concern for people and her village.

[Lucy Parr]

"I'm not sure. I suppose it would depend on what they needed and what they were filming." Lucy replied thoughtfully. As far as she knew, all that was really necessary was the space for a camera, a microphone and a couple of actors. But then, she knew nothing about television. "There's usually a wedding in these things somewhere, isn't there?" Perhaps the BBC people would prefer to use a specially constructed set. Still, it would be nice to see St Pirrin's on the TV.
"Well, I heard that a lot of their big important people haven't arrived yet. Directors and producers, and so on. Whether that's a problem or not, I don't know. But I certainly haven't seen any vans of stuff going crawling through the village up to the Abbey, have you?" Lucy loved gossip in the village. It made up a big part of her life these days, which was sad in a way, but far more interesting than reading the Sun to find out which celebrity had been cheating on who.

[Janet Weston]

"Oh that is true..." said Janet. "And there must be some producers or writers or something that'll drop into the pub or be passing through town...if I meet any I'll be certain to make a few suggestions."

Janet vaguely recalled hearing something once from a friend of Bertie's who had been in film or something along those lines, and how much better it was for budgets to film as much as possible in one location, or locations nearby, without too much moving about. If the beauties of Penchurch and its environs could be put to greater use and shared with the world, Janet felt that could only be a good thing.

"I expect everyone is still trickling back in after the New Year," said Janet. "No-one would have wanted to go to set anything up and get started over the holidays, so they'll likely be coming in dribs and drabs over the next few weeks, I should think."

[Lucy Parr]

Lucy smiled. "You do that." she responded. "We've got to have someone to keep these BBC people in order." And Janet was certainly well qualified to do that. Brawls in the pub were extremely rare, and that wasn't all down to the laid-back Cornish temperament. Janet managed to maintain perfect order in the Station, and indeed in the village, while still being an incredibly likable person. It could be that her qualities were needed- there seemed to be an awful lot of quite young men and women coming into the village, and she'd heard stories of what went on in London pubs.

"That's true." she agreed. Personally, she did a great deal of work of Christmas and the New Year, but she understood that most people liked to have a rest and a little relaxation over the Christmas period. Many of the villagers disappeared into their homes for days on end during the festive season.

[Janet Weston]

Janet had had the advantage over many native Pennys, in that she had traveled enough to appreciate that people were more generally alike than they were different...but then most of the problems in the world came about when people focused their attention and ire on those differences, rather than attempting to understand and accept them. These city-people and television-types were still something of a mystery, but Janet liked to hope for the best, and thought well enough of her fellow villagers (and indeed the human population as a whole) to imagine that they would all find a way to live peaceably side-by-side, and maybe even learn to like one another!

Finishing her cup of tea, Janet smiled at Lucy and gave a brief sigh.

"Well, we shall see, anyway," she said. "Now, I ought to be off and let you get on with your work," she added. "But thank you for the cup of tea--it's done me a world of good."

[Lucy Parr]

With any luck, the sudden influx of young visitors from the BBC would be handled philosophically by the villagers, who would hopefully realise that it was a temporary hardship which could result in long-term benefits. She couldn't displace a niggling little doubt, however- the Pennys, especially the village's older residents, tended to be opposed to any change on principle, simply because it was change. While the village did have a rather delightful nostalgic feel, probably because of this reluctance to accept new ideas, things such as MP3 players, TVs and, of course, the wonderfully useful mobile phones were entering into village culture, and their convenience was beyond doubt. With any luck, a little understanding of this might enter the consciences of the village's residents, and persuade them to approach the BBC invasion with an open mind.

"No problem." she responded with a bright smile that faded slightly as the prospect of all the work that she had still to do crept into her mind. "Do pop in whenever you're passing." She stood and stretched slightly, easing the pins and needles that had suddenly begun in her leg.

[Janet Weston]

Janet briskly buttoned her coat back up to her chin--or almost to her chin, given the doubled-over blue pashmina scarf she had wound around her neck, like a bird puffed up against the elements.

"I'm sure I will, dear," she said with a bright smile to the vicar as she waved a little farewell and took her leave of the cozy little house with only a little sigh of regret as the wind hit her face in a moment of blusteringly keen coldness. She really did love Penchurch in all weathers, even if it did not exactly seem to always love her back.

[Lucy Parr]

Lucy saw Janet to the door and leaned against the doorframe as she waved to the woman while she vanished down the cobbled street. When her friend had finally disappeared from view, the blonde closed the door firmly and hurried back into the warmth of her living room. Moving her chair a little closer to the fire, she leaned forward towards her desk and glanced at her 'To Do' list. Number one, write sermon. Number two, ring the Bishop. Lucy briefly considered reversing the order of these two actions, but hastily decided against it. If she allowed the Bishop to get carried away with her topic, she could quite well be there for several hours. After that, she was unlikely to feel up to writing anything at all.