From the people of Langport...
Dear Father Christmas,
We have tried to be good this year and hope you will have time to stop off and bring us a few presents on Christmas Eve.
We are quite easy to find. Just follow the railway line down from London on the way to Exeter and when you see a load of houses surrounded by boggy farmland with a church on the hill then you know you have got here.
(If you land in a place where every other house is a 'second home' and the local pub refuses to serve working-class customers...you've gone off course...that's Long Sutton...go back to the railway line and try again.)
You can probably land your sleigh on Langport's main street which is long and narrow. In fact, since our Christmas lights went up, at least 2 airliners have tried to land here too. It's quite popular. Whatever you do, don't touch down up the road at Huish near a place called Romford Meats. You might take off with less reindeer than you started with.
Here is a short list of what we'd like in our stockings this year...if that's ok.
1. A new town clock (just to keep the local blogger quiet)
2. Floodlights down Priest Lane (so the single mums can see what they're leaning against)
3. A new landlord and/or landlady at Lou Lou's.
4. Someone to rename Lou Lou's and call it The Black Swan again.
5. A checkpoint somewhere up near the Halfway House to stop too many Somerton people getting in and an electric fence just past the Drayton turning to keep the Curry lot out.
6. A new roof for the forecourt at Shires Garage
7. A tram service connecting Eli's, The Halfway House and The Kelways Inn.
9. Some totty for all of us. Fresh talent is a bit rare down here on the moors and the gene pool is getting a bit shallow.
10. and finally Santa, could you move The Grange a bit closer to Langport? We are all getting a bit fed up with the walk.
Many thanks and Merry Christmas.
From all of us.
PS - Our friends at Huish also have a Christmas list. They want to know if they can have their church hall back, if Eli's can have some new lightbulbs outside on the top room guttering, if St Mary's Church can have some new bellringers (practice night is Wednesdays at 7.30) and if the farmer and his wife at that Bed and Breakfast in Pibsbury could possibly tone down their festive lights a bit this year...after last year's complaints from several people living in Martock.
