Extract from the Ragley School Logbook: Friday, 24 October 1980 THE PURPLE-GREY SKY began to darken and I could smell rain on the autumn wind. It had been a long drive to Hampshire. Dusk was drawing in and Beth and I were keen to arrive at her parents’ home before nightfall. We slowed as an old wooden signpost came into view. It read LITTLE CHAWTON 2. ‘We’re nearly there, Jack,’ said Beth and she leant over and squeezed my hand. Her excitement was obvious, whereas I felt a knot of apprehension in my stomach as our meet-the-family weekend drew near. It was Saturday, 25 October. We had left North Yorkshire after breakfast and gradually the miles sped by. A coffee break in South Yorkshire was followed by a relaxing lunch in a friendly roadside pub in the Midlands and afternoon tea near Oxford. Finally, as darkness began to fall, we meandered through a cluster of classic English villages bordered by water meadows and breathtaking forests.
