Beitris Law-Howe
Beitris Law-Howe is a mildly chaotic woman in her mid to late fifties who enjoys the quiet out of the way smallholding she and her niece share.
Beitris brought with her to the island a large collection of items from across the wider world (her and her brother’s early life being very much like that of Anice) these items form a sort of a roundabout library collection.
In case anyone ever feels like making pasta, she has a pasta maker, a tagine for tagine, a bamboo steam basket for dumplings etc (it’s a lot of specific items to make food with, and variously aged odd gadgets, old cameras, radios, weird tech, the sort of stuff you might pick up on your travels, you get the idea!)
With the young Anice as her charge she was an “early adopter” of technology and had a photoblog and now she has quite a following on social media where she posts photographs from the island which contribute to the tourist buzz which she totally relishes believing herself to be something of a minor celebrity!
Aleks: Bei I imagine being a very much unsquashable free spirit that part of her character being what drew Anice to stay with her the choice was between travel the world but with two people who are more interested in their work than connection but Bei is so much of a loving people magnet that she's very invested in hearing from other people.
Vig: So Bei is curious about other people...? Likes to talk to them, tell them things, or listen? Or both?
Aleks: Hmmm... both.
Vig: Just very social, then?
Aleks: Not necessarily at large scale... I think she likes to know deep things about a lot of people... She's the sort of person you'd sit next to on a train and somehow find she's extracted your life story from you.
Vig: Cool, I see. And what about the items, the collection she has? What makes her collect a thing?
Aleks: Purpose and beauty.
Vig: So it can be anything?
Aleks: I guess they all have a story... I don't think she intended to be a collector of things...
Vig: What does she do with the collection? Like... does she run a bric'a'brac shop?
Aleks: It's a sort of library of peculiar objects.... you know the sort of people who say "I have a thing for that"
Vig: Okay... how do people engage with it? She just has all this stuff, and sometimes hears of something being needed, and she offers it? I'm trying to find out how she naturally connects with people in the community
Aleks: Yes, I think she believes objects have a place in the world they should be.... like a spirit of the thing and so if something could and should be used elsewhere she sends it on it's way.... Perhaps she has a barter and trade swap shop on a few days a week?
Vig: I really like that idea - it gives her a way to chat to people. Does she do that in the Festive? Or is there an empty shop she uses? Or does she do it inside a local cafe? Or at the inn? Or in Anice's workshop?!
Aleks: I think it's in the space outside the workshop in the fair weather...
Vig: She just puts up a trestle table and spreads out some stuff?
Aleks: Yes, it's very colourful and eclectic...
Vig: Nice.
Aleks: She sort of has a sense of who might come by and what she might need to put out...
Rach: I think Willa likes to just go look at the things and hear about them.
Aleks: There's seats by the table... Bei sits alongside the front of the table... she doesn't stand behind it...
Vig: So people can sit and chat. Is there lemonade? It sounds like there might be.
Aleks: She has a big vintage dispenser. It was one of the favourite things she bought in America and packed her clothing inside it in her cases so it travelled in one piece
Vig: There we go. I knew it. So, that gives us a place of connection. And she likes to hear stories about people's lives, yes?
Aleks: Yes she loves it
Rach: I can see Sally dropping by for different ideas for walk in Wednesday.
Vig: Is there something in particular that she is looking for? Searching for?
Aleks: that's a big question
Vig: Yes. I will try to narrow it. Does she have what feels like a good support network of people in her life?
Aleks: Yes, she chose to stay on the island when she was widowed because the community rallied around them in the tragedy... she considered leaving and did go away for a while and went and travelled to the places she had promised she'd show her husband... but once she had seen them and gathered all her memories she realised that her life was where they had dreamt of building their lives...
Rach: The maybe searching for something might be a good opening for Perihelion.
Aleks: I suspect that her brother (Anice's father) think's she is bonkers to stay in one place... but Bei believes the world she needs comes to her...
you know when you are a small child everything is very intense... since she spent her earliest years travelling and absorbing the world like a sponge she enjoys the steadier pace of being rooted
Vig: Does she feel as if she has a purpose on the island?
Aleks: oh yes
Vig: Can you put it into words?
Aleks: I will have a think... whilst I empty the cardboard from my car
Vig: I am hot and heavy today. Finding it difficult to get going with anything.
Rach: I think there are lots of possibilities for interaction and connection with a lot of different kinds of characters. Curious teens might like some of her odd things. People from other places and visitors might connect with her. Britney Puffin might find baking gadgets or ideas.
Lorena: Britney Puffin loves old kitchenalia, collects it but doesn't tell anyone.
Rach: Slade is interested in travel. Erin seems to be searching. Perihelion also looks for where things belong.
Lorena: Slade gets that from Edith's side of his family :)
Vig: An object sent Dan Linnet off to the mainland on a quest. But then, he already knew the quest. The object was just the catalyst to him leaving. We don't yet really know what Erin's quest is... although Amy might. What is Britney Puffin searching for?
Amy: Amy has a good idea of what is driving Erin, but doesn't know the answer or thing she is looking to find yet. I use a UK auction site to find the things that Perihelion sells, which is a fun way to bring in new ideas, and also images so we can share things, if that's the sort of thing you'd like to do. I'm also very improv-y, so I like the like, "Hey, give me a suggestion, and I'll make something with it" play
Aleks: Beitris is also interested in photography and taking photos of the island and sharing them with the world.... she has an eye for small details
Comments