Village Activities

   A taxi pulls out, the driver, No.6, has just picked up the Rook somewhere near the hospital, and is on its way back to the Village. They were being followed by the white Queen-No.8 in another taxi. That's the one, up ahead there.......or is it? Because you might think it is No.8 in another taxi, but it is more then likely to be someone very different.

As No.6 and the Rook drive on, the other taxi is driving away from the Village, and should it keep going, it will arrive at the end of the drive leading to Portmeirion, as anyone who has been there will know. Turn left at the end of the drive and you arrive at a 'T' junction, you then turn right into Minfford. Now why should a Village taxi go that far? Well the answer is a simple one, that taxi up ahead in the picture, could have been on it's way to Minfford Railway Station, either to pick up guests to Portmeirion arriving there, or to take a guests to the Station to catch a train. Because in the Prisoner, in Portmeirion, the Village taxis were often driven by hotel staff, used to ferry guests to and from Portmeirion, and around the Village to the hotel, or to one of the many serviced rooms around the Village. That way filming of the Prisoner went uninterrupted, and the business of Portmeirion, as a hotel was not disrupted.

This is a picture from Arrival, taken on the morning of the Prisoner's arrival, there he is, at the cafe, talking to the waitress. But that chap in the dove-gray overalls.... what's he up to? Obviously he's using a hosepipe to swill down the patio to the Cafe before the morning trade starts, and in all probability he is an employee of Portmeirion, just doing the job he would do normally everyday of the week. Because that's just what a chap, in identical clothing, was doing early one morning when I was staying in the Village. Only it wasn't the Cafe, or the Salutation Restaurant then, it's the Ship Shop now, although at one time, part of the shop complex was that of Carla, a designer clothes outlet.   I'll be seeing you.