RICHARD AND MARILYN

Richard was from the future and Marilyn was from the past and yet somehow they met in the present and created a timeless place to control the conditions of their existence together as husband and wife.

An expert engineer (Richard) and professional calligraphist (Marilyn,) the Hodgkins were also Scientologists which I remember mostly because they would often give me Saint Hill calendars at Christmas, which is probably one of the more original gifts I've ever received, with glossy pics of L. Ron Hubbard sitting behind his desk in Navy uniform smiling back at me. As an atheist of Scientology, I found no allure to their belief system but did hold onto the vague hope that they might hook me up with a straightwire connection to Tom Cruise so I could pitch him some movie ideas but, alas, this appeared an impossible mission. Maybe I should have watched those conference videos they threw in my Christmas gift bundle to seal the deal.

What impressed me most about the couple was how successfully they gained autonomy over their lives by becoming energy-independent, building a water turbine next to the old stone millhouse where they lived. My father had helped Richard and others construct the turbine which became a fascination for those in the local area interested in self-sufficiency. Living in an age where there are plenty of eco-zealots who hold others to standards they themselves don't meet, they could surely have learnt a thing or two from Richard and Marilyn, the real deal when it came to showing how to harness energy without causing harm to the environment. In fact, so successful were they at creating energy that they were able to contribute their excess to the national grid and be paid for doing so.  

The old millhouse itself was like stepping into an Andrew Wyeth painting where we could have easily been in some mythic America from times past and which contrasted beautifully with the surrounding English lawns outside and fast moving river nearby, balletic water reeds bending to the steady pressure of its flow.

Perhaps because they didn't have children between them (though Richard had some from a previous marriage), I was treated with extra affection by Marilyn especially who would love to cook hamburgers for me and for other friends and neighbours close by. Afternoons running in and out of the narrow entrance of the house collecting one burger after the other slathered in homemade ketchup whilst returning back outside to eat by the river are memories that seemed like something out of 'Little House On The Prairie' to me now. There was a peacefulness to the private world they had created and you sensed it as you spent time there. I can vividly remember putting on waders for the first time, stepping into the translucent river and walking as far along as I dared, scouting for treasure while I did.

Inside the house, in the hallways and bathroom, there was a magic and mystery to the deeply organic atmosphere of the place as if the modern world had been told to wait outside. I would often find the most amazing bespoke toys and art objects on the stone shelves of the windows doused in Chiorscura light that Marilyn had collected and put about the place like a private exhibition just for me.

There was also a strong sense of industry about the millhouse as Richard would often be working on one of his mysterious projects, one of which I later learned would probably have solved the world's energy crisis ad infinitum. I'm not even sure if Marty McFly with his beloved Doc and his time machine in 'Back To The Future' could have rivaled Richard's plans for Zero-Point Energy that he was a major part of developing with his crack team of specialists. The implications of his innovations had potentially Oppenheimer levels of importance for the history of the world (but in a good way and non-destructive) though the fear of violating the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle meant that many powerful forces were forever threatening to put the dampeners on it becoming a model that could be practically applied for the good of mankind. The economic implications for what would have been essentially free energy were also massively dangerous but Richard with his Dr Spock-like calmness never seemed to be stressed about these pressures. He spoke in a quiet voice with the measured assurance of a bowls commentator. Maintaining perfect equilibrium at all times, Richard was the epitome of zen and now when I think about it, possibly the coolest man one could ever hope to meet.

Marilyn, on the other hand, was like an exuberant child, bubbling with creative ideas and seemingly having an endless fascination with all of our lives, too. She had a voice that one might recognise from some great American children's novels such as 'Huckleberry Finn', 'Tom Sawyer' or 'Anne of Green Gables' and was thoughtfully generous with bespoke gifts at birthdays and Christmas time that were always exquisitely detailed.

Between the two of them, I felt as if they were almost like some extended ancestral family from a past life (perhaps they were time-traveling thetans sent to save humanity from destruction) and their kindness toward me touched me deeply as they encouraged my love of film and even gifted me with an old 35mm projector that looked as if it might have belonged to John Ford.

I suppose the sad thing now looking back is that Richard didn't find a way of inventing his way out of death even though I wouldn't have put it past him. When two people who seem unbound by time are met by the lord of death it hits in more sober fashion than those more obviously constricted by it.

And though Marilyn followed Richard not long after he'd passed, the river by their mill keeps flowing on.