Fairytale of London

Once upon a time, Fairy Mairy woke up after a long snooze only to find that all her friends had flown the nest. She stretched and thought I'm getting too old for this flying lark. I can hardly keep up any more. Rubbing the dew from her eyes, she spread her wings and flew off towards FOREST HILL where they were going to spend the winter months huddled together in a Fairy Ring.

Fairy Mairy flew and searched until she needed another rest so over CATFORD she took a much need Catnap by a little Ford in a flower friendly garden where the running water gently lapped her aching feet which had been stretched out pointed and taut for faster flying. She knew that felines are invariably afraid of water but the big grey tabby that was eyeing her up didn't seem scared as it crept towards her, but then, as luck would have it, it seemed to change it's mind because it turned around, legged it up the garden path and shot through the cat flap. There, Fairy Mairy could see it munching happily away on cat biscuits instead eating her.

Refreshed and relieved Fairy Mairy flew up, up and away, looking here, there and everywhere for her fairy friends...

She flew over hills and dales - well skyscrapers and terraced house rows actually - over two heaths, BLACK HEATH and HAMPSTEAD HEATH, but with no sign of heather for a sip of honey, or gorse bushes to sit in a flower cup, so where could they be?

Fairy Mairy knew HEATH ROW would be no good as there were rows of great big flying machines there, not a suitable habitat for fairy folk at all, so she gave that Heath a wide berth.

Hovering in the air like a hummingbird, she surveyed the scene over GOLDERS GREEN, PALMERS GREEN and WOOD GREEN all to no avail as no cluster of fairies to be seen anywhere there.

So on flew Fairy Mairy, WEST to MINSTER looking under all the bridges, SOUTH to WARK checking out the Cutty Sark. She stopped for a natter with the ravens in the TOWER of LONDON, where a Beefeater offered her a crumb from his burger but she fluttered her wings and declined saying "I aint no Cockney sparrer innit"

After quite a while Fairy Mairy alighted onto the LONDON EYE and while it turned a revolution she rested and surveyed the scene from all the angles, high in the sky, along the RIVER THAMES where Old Father Tyme keeps rolling along, to the EAST END, the WEST END, the NORTH CIRCULAR motorway and down south as far as the eye could see.

But all to no avail, her bunch of fairies were nowhere to be seen...

Next Fairy Mairy circled THE SHARD still searching hard, where she thought she had found them, until she realised it was her own reflections in all that glass!

CANARY WHARF was worth a look she thought, but found nothing there to attract her friends, just little square boxes with people trapped inside. An odd sight mused Fairy Mairy, isn't it usually canaries that are kept in cages.

Maybe her gang might have settled into CRYSTAL PALACE for the night, so off she flew in that direction, checking out WINDSOR CASTLE en route. Nope. No sign. Where were they?

Fairy Mairy was getting worried by now and her age-weary wings were feeling heavy so she decided to settle down for the night in the gardens of BUCKINGHAM PALACE. She was sure the Queen wouldn't mind and hoped her footman would keep the corgi's on the lead when out for their walks. She knew HM was home because her flag was flying so in the morning the lone piper would wake her up to continue searching.

The next morning Fairy Mairy decided to head for the hills to continue her search over... HAMPSTEAD Hill, HARROW Hill, HEARNE Hill, HORSENDEN Hill, LUDGATE Hill, MUSWELL Hill, ONE TREE Hill...not even up that tree...PARLIAMENT Hill, PRIMROSE Hill, SHOOTERS Hill, SYDENHAM Hill, TELEGRAPH Hill...both of those...TOWER Hill and TYBURN Hill...in alphabetical order because fairies can.

No luck though so during a rest on CLAPHAM COMMON Fairy Mairy decided her next fly-over would be the Royal Parks, all nine of them, then there were the thirteen farms. This took her all day and well into the evening, whizzing through the late-summer air.

Thank goodness the rain had held off and the breeze was light, it was a rather nice day out really. Fairy Mairy didn't mind this catch-up search at all, not with all the sights to see in the best city in the whole wide world, she thought, and smiled.

In the fairy world they don't hear sounds, they only see scenes, so although Fairy Mairy's journey would seem long and tiring to us humans, for her it was beautiful and peaceful with the sound of silence. Fairies do not have a care in the world because they live in the world of make-believe and happy ever after.

Now, I expect you are wondering if Fairy Mairy finally found her fairy friends after all her travels around LONDON? Well I can tell you. Yes she did!

But before that Fairy Mairy had settled onto a back garden blackberry bush in Bush Avenue for another siesta, when she was disturbed by something poking at her which turned out to be a finger. On the end of this finger was a little girl with blackberry lipstick. She could be heard in the house shrieking, "Look! Look! Look Mummy look, a FAIRY!"

Mummy looked and said, "Let that Butterfly be, dear and come in to wash your hands and face. It's tea-time."

If you have read this far and liked my story, perhaps you will enjoy the two books I have written, see below the poll.