New series is on, I quite like it. Skins US is laughable though, quite terrible.

I Need A Break

Emily's neck hurt from sitting awkwardly on the packed coach to London as she pushed the door to the small, cosy office open.

"Ah, Emily. It's nice to see you again." Emily smiled at the warm motherly face of the head of the agency, Delia. She sat opposite her, a broad dark wood desk between them. "So, ready for your post? I'm afraid it won't be America, though. They found someone a little closer to home in the end. And the Spanish couple decided to send their son to boarding school. But, I've found a lovely post for you in Scotland."

Emily mouth was hanging open. She'd had her heart set on leaving the country, and yeah, Scotland might be a few hundred miles away and technically another country, but it was still in Britain. There was no ocean separating her from her past, the past that she so desperately wanted to leave behind. She needed the space...

"It's a lovely place. Quite rural though, tucked away in the highlands." Delia smiled at Emily.

"Hang on... You said I'd be going somewhere. I've got my passport and everything."

"Emily, this place is perfect for you. They do have a nanny at the moment, but she's on holiday and they're expecting twins. You'll get on wonderfully with her, and their daughter is an angel. I've met the couple and their daughter many times." Delia pushed a brown folder over the polished desk. "Here. They're the perfect choice for someone just starting out and they're willing to take you on."

Emily peeled open the folder and looked down at a photograph of a model family. The father was tall and handsome, the mother was petite with waves of auburn hair about her face, and the daughter was like a little fairy child, pale and delicate with a mass of dark ringlets. John, Elizabeth and Henrietta. She picked up the photograph to look closer at the surroundings. It had been taken in the garden, she supposed, and great mountains reared against a cloudless sky in the background. She placed the photograph to one side and looked back down at the folder...

"Ah, yes, your tickets. You'll be travelling by train. Sleeper train, I'm afraid, as it's quite a journey."

"Sleeper train?" Emily was confused.

"Yes, sleeper train. You'll have your own little room for the journey. It takes a while, the train doesn't travel fast, nor does it take the most direct route. But it will give you time to think, and some quiet reflection is always good."

"Oh, great... When do I leave?" Emily was tired now, needed to lie down and clear her head.

"You should probably get going now." Delia gathered everything together, the folder in one hand and tickets in the other. "Do call me when you get there, dear. And get something to eat before you go, maybe take a few sandwiches, the food on sleepers is usually awful."

"Ok..." Emily was in a bit of a daze, it felt as though she was in some bizarre nightmare-turned-dream.

"Well, that's that then! Here you go," she handed Emily the tickets and a brown envelope. "There's some money in that envelope so you can get yourself sorted before your first pay. It'll be taken out of your pay as the agency fee is each month."

Emily left the room having stuffed the money filled envelope into her tote. She looked at the tickets. Two hours... She supposed she should get something to eat, and once she'd plodded down the stairs and out of the building, she went into the first greasy spoon cafe she found on her way to the station.

"'Ello dearie, what'll it be?" The waitress was upon her before she'd sat down properly or looked at the menu.

"Uh, a pot of tea. And uhm... A full english." she spat out the first thing that came to her head.

"Right you are, love. It'll be over in five minutes, I'll get your tea." The dumpy waitress had bustled away and was clattering behind a garishly-pink Formica counter. Emily looked down, the table was the same awful shade, the laminate chipped and worn at the edges. But it was clean. "'Ere you are." An aluminium teapot was in front of her, with a plain white mug and a small jug of milk.

"Excuse me?" Emily asked before the waitress could leave the table again. "Do you do sandwiches to go?"

"'Course we do, hun. Tell you what, I'll get some made up and you can settle them with your bill."

When Emily's meal arrived, she scoffed it down. She drank her tea and stood up, walked to the counter and waited for the waitress to reappear.

"That'll be a fiver, sweetie." The voice came from behind her. "An' here's your sarnies."

Emily paid up and left, walking quickly to the station. That had certainly been cheaper than M&S, she thought, as she pushed through the press of people and into the station, then onwards to the platform to board the train.