wine took hold.
âFuck if I know,â Sarah said. âGreat though, yeah?â
What they then talked about became a bit of a blur. Sarah talked about a church being desecrated but what Sarah was doing in a church Kate couldnât imagine. Kate blethered on about the guy with the eye dropper.
Getting home was more of a blur, although Kate remembered the two of them tumbling into a taxi together. Then she remembered the two of them staggering into Sarahâs flat.
What she didnât remember was what happened between then and the moment she woke up the next morning in bed with her friend.
SEVEN
âT hose of you who are early risers â and include me out of that category except when Iâm dragged, kicking and screaming, from my bed to do this show â may have seen a Wicker Man go up in flames on Brighton beach this morning. Love that film. The original, British classic obviously, not the mad Nicolas Cage remake.
âThatâs right. No sooner are we shot of falling fish and aggressive seagulls than weâve got a Wicker Man on our beach. And the Brighton Festival hasnât even started yet. What do you say, Kate? Oh, I forgot, Kate isnât in yet. Who knows what my producer was up to last night?
âAnyway, youâll recall from the original film of
The Wicker Man
that Christopher Lee, the Lord of Summerisle, believed that the failure of his islandâs crops could be reversed by the sacrifice of a virgin policeman in a pagan ceremony. So he lured to his island a poor virgin copper, Edward Woodward, who ended up burned alive inside a Wicker Man. Gruesome.
âIâm not sure if any crops have failed here in Brighton, though my window box is looking a bit sad. And, so far as weâre aware, unlike the film, no virgin policeman went up in flames this morning â no offence to the Brighton police but they might be hard to find in our fair city.
âBut, anyway, this morningâs burning coincided with the sunrise so it may have been part of a pagan ceremony. No one has yet come forward to claim responsibility or provide an explanation.
âIf you know anything about the Wicker Manâs construction and the reason for it please get in touch with us here at Southern Shores Radio. We await your call. And if you witnessed it going up in flames, phone in too and tell us what you saw.
âThe fire service was summoned but decided against dampening down the fire as it was on the waterâs edge and did not constitute a hazard. Having said that, we have Johnny Clarke from the councilâs seafront team on the line to warn against any copycat activity. Johnny, good morning to you.â
âMorning, Simon.â
âYouâre not expecting anyone else to plonk a Wicker Man on the beach, I assume. But, in general terms: a fire on the beach â whatâs wrong with that?â
âI know it sounds a bit odd and weâre certainly not trying to discourage people from making the most of the beach. However, a fire â especially a big one like this â even on a beach is potentially dangerous both to humans and to physical structures. It only needs a few sparks to carry on the wind and we might end up with the rest of the West Pier burning down â or some even more solid structure catching fire.â
âAnd yet the fire brigade deemed it wasnât a hazard.â
âI canât speak for them but I believe they made that decision because it was a very still morning, with only the slightest of breezes. Having said that, once the flames had damped down a bit, they killed the fire with foam and have put a cordon round the remains of the structure.â
âRight. Just hang on a minute, Johnny, my producer has finally arrived and is talking in my ear but not about why sheâs so late. As you know, when she speaks, I listen. OK, boss, will do. Johnny, weâre told the police, who have been on the scene a little while
âFuck if I know,â Sarah said. âGreat though, yeah?â
What they then talked about became a bit of a blur. Sarah talked about a church being desecrated but what Sarah was doing in a church Kate couldnât imagine. Kate blethered on about the guy with the eye dropper.
Getting home was more of a blur, although Kate remembered the two of them tumbling into a taxi together. Then she remembered the two of them staggering into Sarahâs flat.
What she didnât remember was what happened between then and the moment she woke up the next morning in bed with her friend.
SEVEN
âT hose of you who are early risers â and include me out of that category except when Iâm dragged, kicking and screaming, from my bed to do this show â may have seen a Wicker Man go up in flames on Brighton beach this morning. Love that film. The original, British classic obviously, not the mad Nicolas Cage remake.
âThatâs right. No sooner are we shot of falling fish and aggressive seagulls than weâve got a Wicker Man on our beach. And the Brighton Festival hasnât even started yet. What do you say, Kate? Oh, I forgot, Kate isnât in yet. Who knows what my producer was up to last night?
âAnyway, youâll recall from the original film of
The Wicker Man
that Christopher Lee, the Lord of Summerisle, believed that the failure of his islandâs crops could be reversed by the sacrifice of a virgin policeman in a pagan ceremony. So he lured to his island a poor virgin copper, Edward Woodward, who ended up burned alive inside a Wicker Man. Gruesome.
âIâm not sure if any crops have failed here in Brighton, though my window box is looking a bit sad. And, so far as weâre aware, unlike the film, no virgin policeman went up in flames this morning â no offence to the Brighton police but they might be hard to find in our fair city.
âBut, anyway, this morningâs burning coincided with the sunrise so it may have been part of a pagan ceremony. No one has yet come forward to claim responsibility or provide an explanation.
âIf you know anything about the Wicker Manâs construction and the reason for it please get in touch with us here at Southern Shores Radio. We await your call. And if you witnessed it going up in flames, phone in too and tell us what you saw.
âThe fire service was summoned but decided against dampening down the fire as it was on the waterâs edge and did not constitute a hazard. Having said that, we have Johnny Clarke from the councilâs seafront team on the line to warn against any copycat activity. Johnny, good morning to you.â
âMorning, Simon.â
âYouâre not expecting anyone else to plonk a Wicker Man on the beach, I assume. But, in general terms: a fire on the beach â whatâs wrong with that?â
âI know it sounds a bit odd and weâre certainly not trying to discourage people from making the most of the beach. However, a fire â especially a big one like this â even on a beach is potentially dangerous both to humans and to physical structures. It only needs a few sparks to carry on the wind and we might end up with the rest of the West Pier burning down â or some even more solid structure catching fire.â
âAnd yet the fire brigade deemed it wasnât a hazard.â
âI canât speak for them but I believe they made that decision because it was a very still morning, with only the slightest of breezes. Having said that, once the flames had damped down a bit, they killed the fire with foam and have put a cordon round the remains of the structure.â
âRight. Just hang on a minute, Johnny, my producer has finally arrived and is talking in my ear but not about why sheâs so late. As you know, when she speaks, I listen. OK, boss, will do. Johnny, weâre told the police, who have been on the scene a little while
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