THIRTEEN
TICKET TO AUSTRALIA - FOR ONE
The weeks between Thomas's announcement
that he might be posted to the flagship of the Australia Station Commodore, and
the time he actually left Florence to take up the new post flew by. To her it
seemed that almost every day she saw him in her room in Devonport brought with
it a new and exciting snippet of information and news. The news of his
appointment to the ship as Electrical Artificer Grade Four had been broken to
him during late September, together with his issue of new tropical uniform. One
Saturday in the middle of October Florence sat in her room reading a short book
on her future new home country. A knock on the front door announced his
arrival. Florence skipped happily to the front door, to find him standing there
his arms loaded with his kitbag. Florence smiled and opened the door wide for
him to enter.
'What on earth have you got there Tommy?' she
asked.
'Wait and see,' was all he would say. He
squeezed past her as she went to close the door after him and followed him into
her room. Thomas placed the heavy kitbag on her bed and turned around to take
her in his arms.
'Go on,' she said 'Tell me.' Thomas just
grinned at her and slowly removed his greatcoat, throwing it down on the bed by
the side of the lumpy kit. Without saying a word he bent to unfasten the cord
around the top of the kitbag, and took out his new tropical uniform, white and
brand new. Quickly he took off his outer clothes and replaced them with the new
kit, then stood before her to display himself in the new tropical gear, which
he anticipated he would be wearing for the forthcoming months, or years. When
eventually he had changed completely into his new 'rig' he stood in front of
her for inspection.
'Oh Tommy. You look so smart, just like an
officer,' she said, her face wreathed in smiles. Thomas grinned and adjusted
the flat cap on his head to a more regulation angle instead of the rather
jaunty one he had originally set.
'Can't be an officer love, I work for my
living,' he joked. He did look smart though, as he would be the first to
accept. All rigged out in white trousers and collarless round neck jacket, with
a white flat cap on his head, he looked the part. When she had inspected him
from top to toe her mood calmed a little.
'When are you due to go Tommy. Have they
given you a date yet?' she asked quietly. She stood before him with one hand on
her hip and the other with a finger resting on the tip of her chin. He caught
her look and gently replied
'In a couple of weeks love. The replacement
crew are leaving on the twenty fifth on the Powerful and due to dock in Freemantle
a few weeks later.' He paused and flicked at a piece of grit lodged on the lower
edge of his tunic. 'I suppose it depends which way we go as to how long it
takes. We might go via the Cape or through the Canal, in which case the time we
arrive in Australia will vary. Can't be sure 'til we know.'
'I need to get to know more about this
place you're going to don't I?' She asked, almost to herself. 'I think I'll get
myself down to the library in Plymouth after you're gone and find out more. I
don't even know where Freemantle is.' She paused then said, 'You will write to me won't you?' moving in
to run her hands up and down the smooth fabric of his jacket.
''Course I will. Count on it love,' he
replied, removing the cap from his head and placing it on the table by their
side. 'I'm only going to Australia, not the moon, and anyway, you will be
coming out to live there, won't you?' he asked. Florence nodded her head and
laid her face against the fabric of his jacket.
'I just think I'll miss you a lot Tommy'
she said quietly, 'And I don't want us to be apart for too long.'
'Don't you worry your lovely head my
flower. As soon as I think I've got my feet under the table I'll write and you
can come out. Shouldn't be more than a year before we are together again.'
Florence nodded her head silently into his chest and then pulled away and sat
down on the edge of her bed. A year was not what she had in her mind, far less.
Tommy started to take off his clothes and replace them with his ordinary
uniform. Florence's heart sank a little as the realisation of how long they
would be parted sank in.
'Tommy' she said quietly. 'You're not going
to be one of these Jacks who has a girl in every port are you?' The worry
showed in the tone of her voice and in the downcast look on her face as she
studied her hands held in her lap.
'Now listen here my lover' he replied. 'I'm
not one of these young fellers with no ties nor responsibilities. I'm married
to you, and that means a lot to me. I'm not going to be looking for some fresh
wife somewhere, ever. I loves you Flo, an awful lot, and I can't ever see
anybody else taking your place.' He smiled down at her and held out his hand. She
took it in hers and rose from the bed, folding herself once more in his arms They stood silently for a few moments until he
pulled away and said gently, 'Now I got to be getting back to the ship, else
I'll be catching it from the Bosun.' He smiled at her then kissed her once more
on the lips before pulling away and, picking up his cap from the table, placed
it squarely on his head.
At the front door, she stood and embraced
him again from the top step whilst he stood on the lower step. As they pulled
away from each other she reached up and tipped the side of his cap a little
sideways so that it sat at a jaunty very un-naval attitude on his head. Thomas
smiled and kissed her once more.
'See you in a day or so my lover,' he said.
His voice had started to affect the west country burr of a Cornishman, in
addition to picking up a few of the words and phrases of that county. He walked
down the few paces to the street, turned to wave to her and then walked smartly
away towards the dockyards.
Florence went back into her room and sat on
the bed with her back against the wall, and her legs stretched out along the
length of the bed. For an hour she sat there and thought of Tommy and herself,
their lives apart and her impending upheaval from England to Australia. Soon, the
sun started to fall down towards the western horizon, over the back of the
dockyards and the ship her Tommy was working on. The sky turned from pale blue
to deep blue, and night clouds started to form as the sun disappeared. Major
changes to all aspects of her life were about to overtake her, and she had many
things to plan before the first of those would occur.
..............................................................
On a cold day late in October in the early
hours of the working day, Florence stood on the Hoe at Plymouth wrapped in her
heaviest overcoat and her wide brimmed deep purple hat. Around her neck was
wrapped a thick woollen scarf which her mother had made, and on her hands a
pair of leather gloves her Tommy had bought for her at the onset of winter. Pushing
her fingers deep into the gloves, she hugged her arms around herself as she
stood on the path which ran along the sea front along the length of the Hoe,
and tried to stop the keen west wind from biting into her and making her feel
even colder than she was. The sun had risen a little after seven that morning,
and now in the dim light two hours later it was difficult to believe that it
had risen at all. The sky was filled from horizon to horizon with a dense layer
of grey cloud which hung there limply without any perceptible movement. Occasionally,
sharp squalls of rain blew in from the sea striking her face. Florence watched
the sea, and the place where she knew HMS Powerful would exit from the
dockyards into the Sound. Several times before this day she had stood in this
same position as Thomas, onboard his latest ship, had left shore for yet
another bout of training to bring him, finally, to the required level for the
Royal Navy and his first posting. Even now, she thought, she wouldn't get to
see very much of the ship he was now serving on.
Another blast of cold wind tried to whip
the hat from her head. Florence became aware that there were five or six other
women strung out in a silent uneven line along the path she was standing on,
obviously other Navy wives. All of them were waiting, like her, for the ship to
depart. All of them seemed to be dressed in similar clothing to her, designed
to keep out the cold and occasional rain, all standing quietly by themselves.
Except for one woman, who had two small children, a boy of about ten and a girl
who appeared to be some years younger, standing by her side. All three of them
were wrapped up well against the cold and occasional rain. She felt a wave of
sympathy for them, knowing what they were feeling and trying to guess what they
were thinking. Were they also thinking the same thoughts which went through her
mind, or had they been through this farewell several times before? She tried to
examine each of the women in turn without it becoming too obvious that she was
staring at them. They seemed to fall into two distinct age groups; young agitated
women like her, and older women with an air of acceptance and resignation on
their faces. She wanted to go to them and ask they how they felt, but knew that
any interruption in their private thoughts would not be welcomed. She stood
quietly and watched the occasional white tipped waves and the grey sea, until
finally the bow of a ship appeared, cutting slowly across the headland in front
and to the right of her.
In the dull cold morning light Florence had
difficulty in identifying much detail on the ship, as it made its way slowly
from the dockyard out into the Sound. She saw the guns pinned into the side of
the ship, looking a little like stunted arms sticking out from the side of a
small child which was trying to struggle into a coat too small for it. She
could easily make out the four funnels standing proudly from her deck, and the
cranes in front and behind the funnels. It's guns were not clearly visible, but
she could see tiny men figures scurrying around the deck. Whilst she could just
about see the men, identification of individuals was impossible, they were like
mice in a flour barrel. Though the ship was not moving very quickly, to
Florence there was too much to be taken in on the one passage past her vantage
point, and soon she realised it was disappearing from her view out towards the
open ocean.
She stood in the morning chill, a solitary
figure with her solitary companions, watching in silence until the ship
disappeared from view, taking with it their men, their loved ones, away from
England to their final destination in Australia. As the last feint blur of
smoke from the four funnels faded into the horizon the cold worked its way slowly
through her clothing and into her bones. She shivered as she stood on the Hoe
watching it, and silently wished her Tommy a safe journey until she could meet
up with him once more in that far off land.
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