Doldrums… Diversion… Delight… Destiny

Jake is bored. Never before has he been this bored, so bored in fact that he is sure that nobody has ever been this bored, nor anywhere close to it, in the whole history of the world, the universe, infinity and beyond.  He, and his mum and dad, have been in this BORING North Devon village, staying with a cousin of his mum’s for two days now. It feels much, much longer. It’s been raining since they arrived so he hasn’t been out with his football; cousin Julie’s only got a small telly and there’s no Sky or Netflix; he’s sick of playing games on his dad’s IPad; and there are still four more whole days before they go home.

Worried that he’s scream or break one of Julie’s precious ornaments in frustration if he doesn’t do something Jake decides to have a kick about even though the rain is still tipping down. The village park is the only area big enough to be able to play without fear of the ball going through someone’s window. The ground is sodden though and after fifteen minutes he is wet through and very muddy indeed. Feeling more sorry for himself than he can ever remember Jake starts to make his way back to Julie’s cottage. On the way he stops outside the old telephone box. He finds it hard to believe that in the olden days people actually had to stand in these in order to call their mates or their parents. He pulls the heavy door open and walks in.

Almost immediately Jake realises that he is in a wondrous place. The tediousness of the previous few days is immediately forgotten. He is on the high seas in a once sturdy ship that is being tossed and battered as if it were a boat made of paper. A huge wave tips the ship over and he is drowning, he is dead. But no, he is safe, washed up all alone on a tropical island where he survives by learning to do things he never thought he could. Convinced such an adventure cannot be topped Jake nevertheless hurries to the phone box straight after breakfast the next day. Once again it is full of strange happenings, peril and entertainment. This time he grows and he shrinks, makes friends with a white rabbit, has a cup of tea with a strange collection of folk and his life is threatened by a queen dressed all in red. The following day he is a boy wizard, who with his friends, saves the rest of human and non-human kind from dark forces attempting to take over the world. On the final day he bounds out of the box and flies through the air at the speed of light effortlessly catching the meteor before it crashes into and destroys the earth.

There is no doubt that the few days in Devon turn out to be Jake’s best holiday ever and one that will change his life for once and for all. It was the village hall committee who, to save the phone box from becoming a derelict urine sodden space, decided to turn it into a book exchange. Let’s hope that they appreciate the magic that they, despite having not one wand between them, managed to create.