Living With Fairies: The Very Important Guest

Dear Fairy Followers,
You find me in the Rosebud Room at Betty's Cottage making a quick inspection to make sure that all is spick and span and ready for a Very Important Guest or a VIG as we like to call them ( and this one is also a VIF , a Very Important Fairy.)

All kinds of fairies fly in from all over the world and rest their heads under the Rosy eiderdown , safe in the knowledge that there is always a sprig or two of Lavender to calm their nerves after a long flight and a bowl of Pansy porridge for breakfast to send them on their way in the morning.

Our last two guests had slept well and after they had signed the Visitors Book and flown off I received news that Auntie Everlasting was flying in that very same evening . Now all you Fairy Followers that have read my Betty Bib fairy books, The Fairy Year and Fairy Christmas will know that Auntie E is the oldest fairy that I know and is Very Wise Indeed.

She is however also Very Fussy and everything must be just to her liking or she gets rather crochety
and puts all the other fairies into a bit of a spin; so I put Lolly and Buncle straight to work on airing a sheet ( it was in fact a rather nice vintage lacy hanky ) it was clean but floppy so I sent them off to starch it and spray it with Lavender water.

I often have to ask Auntie about fairy history and I know that she thinks that fairy standards are slipping and that things aren't like they were when she was a girl ( which was a VERY long time ago when humans actually believed in fairies a lot more than they do now) so we always try and get things to a very high standard for her.

One thing that I know she is Most Particular about is her Lavender pillow so I sent Lolly

and Buncle off to find the plumpest and freshest Lavender bag from the linen cupboard in the hope that all would be to Auntie Everlasting's satisfaction. The bow had to be tied with equal length on both sides as it is just this kind of thing that Auntie notices and the Lavender itself had to be this season's English Lavender ( I know she approves of fresh French bread but NOT French Lavender , I think she crash-landed in a field of the stuff once and has taken against it ever since.)

We all held our breaths as Auntie arrived through the little window by the Bay tree ...she had no luggage with her so we knew it would be an overnight stay only and I think I heard very tiny sighs of relief from behind me !

She flew straight to the bedside table that she usually sleeps in - we had lined it with Rose scented paper but after some time inspecting it's dimensions she felt her old bones were too fragile to lay down in such a draughty drawer and that the scent of Roses made her sneeze so something else would have to be arranged.

I was most relieved when Lolly suggested the hatbox might be a better resting place and after much huffing and puffing and pushing and shoving it into the right place on the bed ( it couldn't be too near the door in case it creaked and it had to be at the right angle for sunrise in the morning and of course it had to face due East ) she decided it might be snug enough for a night's sleep - even with her old bones she is still very nimble and she jumped into the hatbox with a single leap.

As I brought up her cocoa I noticed she had got Lolly and Buncle to move her bed nearer to the vase of Lavender and after asking for Chamomile Tea instead of the cocoa she finally settled down under her hanky , muttering something about "a little bit too much starch for my stiff legs. " But we pretended not to hear and tiptoeing away I could hear her snoring before I reached the bottom of the stairs.

The next morning Auntie Everlasting was Up With the Lark and seemed to have a real spring in her step as she talked of old times with Ambrose the bear and she even admired the seat cover Buncle had crocheted. She declined her bowl of Pansy porridge , saying that she never eats until she has flown thirty laps round a chimney pot ...she admitted that she hadn't slept so well in a long time and thanked the fairies for making her so comfortable with a perfect pillow which was of the highest fairy order.

And so with a parting of the lace curtain we waved her goodbye and told her to come again soon .

It was only when she was high above the clouds that Lolly confessed that she had added some French Lavender flowers to her night time drink AND to her pillow which had sent her off to sleep so soundly! I decided not to tick Lolly off as modern fairies must move with the times and use their initiative and I also decided never to tell Auntie everlasting about just how close she had come to French Lavender...

And yet again my poor fairies end the story in need of a rest from all their exertions ... I think I shall let them sleep before they must strip Auntie's bed and make the room ready for the next VIG who flies in.