Christmas Market Magic

Love it or hate it, the winter wonderland was turning out to be quite a bonding experience for Alys and her companion…

Alys tightened the belt on her red woollen coat, smoothed her glossy dark curls and checked her phone for what must have been the fiftieth time in five minutes. She’d pulled out all the stops for this particular date night and she hoped it would be worth it.

Injecting some much-needed romance into her flagging relationship in time for Christmas had become her number one priority over the last few weeks. Her other half, Darren, knew exactly how much this trip – to the first Noel For Norfolk Winter Wonderland Norwich had ever hosted – meant to her.

As well as present-buying, the pair were planning to kiss beneath the mistletoe bower, take a sleigh ride and if the queues weren’t too long (and she could talk him into it) have a festive US-style snap taken for a holiday card.

It was all Alys had been able to talk about for weeks and her excitement was reaching fever pitch. The only problem was, Darren hadn’t arrived yet.

“Two minutes,” shouted the coach driver who was responsible for getting everyone from rural Norfolk and into the city on time. “And then we’re off!”

A cheer went up from inside the coach. The other passengers were already warmly ensconced, singing along to Festive FM, but Alys hadn’t joined them.

“Why don’t you two find your seats?” the driver suggested, poking his head out of the door.

Alys hadn’t realised she wasn’t the only one waiting on the chilly pavement under the star-studded sky, and glanced up curiously from her screen to see who else looked as if they were on the verge of being stood up.

There was a guy wearing a chunky jumper, jeans and a dark jacket.

“I’m not sure I’m going to bother coming now, actually.” He shrugged.

He sounded as fed up as Alys was beginning to feel, but he didn’t notice her smile of solidarity because at that moment his phone rang and he turned away to answer it.

“And how about you?” the driver enquired of Alys.

Her toes were beginning to feel numb and although she rather liked the rosy-cheeked look, there were limits.

“All right,” she agreed, taking one last hopeful look across the car park. “But if my friend doesn’t turn up, I’ll just have to get off.”

“What, and miss out on your trip to the first Noel For Norfolk Winter Wonderland there’s ever been?”

Alys didn’t much like the thought of wasting the expensive tickets or missing out, especially as she was dying to get her fill of festive feelings and flavours. But she wasn’t much in the mood for mooching about on her own like Billy-no-mates when everyone else was most likely to going to be with family or friends, or loved-up.

Before she could reply, the guy who

Who else LOOKED as if they were ON THE VERGE of being STOOD UP?

had been waiting on the pavement with her shouted, “Hold on!”

“Changed your mind, have you?” The driver grinned, throwing a knowing look between the two apparent singletons as they hurried up the steps.

“My girlfriend is getting on at the next stop,” the guy explained, easing his way around Alys in the narrow aisle to take the empty seat behind her. “She’s been held up at work so she’s going to meet the coach in the next village.”

Alys settled herself in her seat wishing she could offer a similar explanation as to why she’d been left waiting on the coldest night of the year, but there were no new messages on her phone. Darren hadn’t responded to any of the texts she’d been bombarding him with.

She barely heard the driver going through his housekeeping notices and before she realised it, he was revving the engine.

“I need to get off!” she shouted feebly, feeling more self-conscious than ever.

Whether he genuinely hadn’t heard her or was just plain ignoring her, Alys didn’t know, but the driver put his foot down and pulled out of the car park without a word.

She slumped in her seat, trying to avoid the inquisitive glances of her nearest neighbours, and fumbled with her phone as it pinged into life. Darren had finally replied…

Was that tonight ?? Sorry, Alys, I thought it was next week and to be honest, I don’ t think it would have been my sort of thing. In fact, lots of things we’ ve done recently aren’ t my sort of thing either.

I know it’ s not the best way to do this, but I think we should call it a day. No hard feelings? I hope you enjoy your trip to Santa land.Dx

Another cheer went up as Noddy

Holder’s less than dulcet tones filled the coach and Alys did her best to blink back her tears and swallow away the lump in her throat.

She couldn’t say she was completely surprised, but his timing was terrible. Why hadn’t he said anything when they were together at the weekend? What on earth made him think that she’d be able to bear the brunt of the break-up on a night out with fifty folk all hyped up for the festive season?

“Can you wait just another minute?” she heard someone saying as she slowly came out of the trance-like shock she had fallen into, and realised the coach had already reached the next stop on the list. “Just thirty more seconds?”

“Afraid not,” said the driver, pulling the lever that closed the doors. “We’re on a tight enough schedule as it is.”

So Alys wasn’t the only one flying solo, then. The guy with the chunky

jumper wasn’t faring any better. His girlfriend must have got held up longer at work than she had expected to.

“If it’s any consolation,” she said, twisting around, “I’m on my own too.”

“No,” he said bluntly, “that’s absolutely no consolation at all.”

Look,” Alys pleaded with the driver, as everyone else eagerly hopped down the steps an hour later. “I’ve just been dumped and I’m really not in the mood to go in search of my festive spirit. I promise I won’t trash the coach. I’ll just sit and wait for you all to come back.”

“Nope. No can do,” said the driver, shaking his head for emphasis.

“I’d be up for doing that too.” Mr Grumpy spoke up from the seat behind her. “If that makes any difference.”

“I thought you’d already got off,”

Alys snapped, annoyed that he had

“I’ve had MORE FUN with you tonight than I’ve had in a LONG TIME”

overheard what she’d just said – and that he’d made her jump.

“I’m in the same boat as you,” he said glumly. “My girlfriend dumped me about twenty minutes ago. We’d only been out a couple of times. This was supposed to be our first big date.”

Alys felt a pang of sympathy, but not enough to forgive him for biting her head off earlier.

“Can’t you let us both stay put?” he begged, taking up her appeal.

“No,” said the driver, “absolutely not. It’s against company policy and more than my job’s worth.”

“We won’t tell anyone, will we, um…” “Charlie,” said the guy, when he realised Alys didn’t know his name.

“No, we won’t tell a soul.”

In spite of their best efforts, the driver booted them both off, suggesting they find a mulled wine stall and drown their sorrows together.

“This is unbelievable,” Charlie growled as they walked towards the entrance and joined the queue.

“Totally,” Alys agreed. “I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks.”

“Me too,” Charlie shot back. “I had a whole list of things I wanted to do here today. This girl I was seeing wasn’t all that keen, but I love Christmas and…”

His words tailed off and Alys could see a flush blooming on his cheeks. He was actually really rather sweet when he wasn’t being snippy, she thought.

“Same.” She nodded, saving his blushes. “I’m all for it. Nothing better than Christmas to see you through the darkest days of winter. I love the run-up as much as the day itself.”

“Yeah,” said Charlie, “me too.

Well,” he added as they passed through the ticket turnstile, “I’ll see you back on the coach, er…?”

“Alys.”

“Alys.” He smiled.

“OK.”Alys nodded. “See you later.”

Losing each other was easier said than done. It didn’t seem to matter where Alys went, Charlie was either one step in front or behind her.

“I’m not stalking you,” he said as they fell over each other yet again, having both stopped at a pastry and biscuit stall for a sugar-fuelled top-up. “Honestly.”

They both blushed when they realised they’d even picked out the same gingerbread biscuits.

“You two still together, then?” The coach driver, who also had a knack for popping up out of nowhere, it seemed, winked. “I had a feeling you might be.”

“Where did he spring from?” Charlie frowned as he watched the man’s retreating back blend into the crowds.

“No idea,” laughed Alys as she bit off the spiced head of her gingerbread man and munched, imagining it was Darren.

“Look,” said Charlie, turning his attention back to her. He had lovely blue eyes. She hadn’t noticed them before. “I know this might be a bit forward –” he swallowed – “but as we seem destined to keep bumping into each other, why don’t we stick together and make the best of it? For this evening, I mean.”

Alys wasn’t sure what to say. She hadn’t found it as excruciating as she thought she might, wandering around on her own, but it would be good to have someone else to enjoy it all with, especially someone who was quite obviously every bit as mad keen on Christmas as she was.

“I suppose we could,” she said tentatively, looking at Charlie properly again and finding she did rather like what she saw. “Yes, all right then. Why not?”

Alys found herself doing all manner of things with Charlie that Darren would have never suggested. Riding the giant Ferris wheel was terrifying, but Charlie put a protective arm around her as the wheel began to climb higher.

She thought her heart was going to beat out of her chest, but whether that was because of Charlie’s suddenly close proximity or because she was scared witless, she wasn’t sure.

“Look at the view. It’s fantastic,” Charlie said encouragingly, squeezing her a little tighter.

Alys eventually dared to open her eyes and saw the wonderland spectacularly lit up below. On the ground it had looked good, but from above it was stunning.

“Wow,” she gasped, tucking her curls behind her ears and even daring to lean a little further forward. “That’s really amazing!”

With Charlie by her side, everything became a full-on assault on the senses and it was impossible for Alys not to be swept up in all the heady sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the festive season.

They drank marshmallow-topped hot chocolate and mulled wine, ate what Alys reckoned was her body weight in star-shaped Lebkuchen, took a cosy sleigh ride wrapped together under a blanket and found presents for everyone – aside from their exes. They even found the time to slip off to buy a little something for each other.