There is a strange phenomenon here in The Manor.

Last night I had a grand sleep. I have been having what may be termed as switchback nights where I have a rough nights sleep followed by a good one. Last night was a good one.

Early this morning the doorbell rang and woke me up. I lashed on my dressing gown and opened the front door, which is just beside my bedroom. I wasn’t expecting any parcels or packages but nevertheless I hurried as the postman is always in a hurry. There was no one there.

I went back to my bed as the shortcase clock chimed six. Bugger! It was too early for the post anyway. I had fallen foul of the fucking ghost again. I didn’t get much sleep after, and about an hour later the bell rang again. I ignored it this time.

I should explain that the doorbell is an old fashioned electric bell. It’s not one of those chimes that play silly songs or anything. It is loud enough to wake the dead. It’s mounted on the ceiling in the Old Manor [a couple of hundred years old] at what was the back door which is now open to the New Manor [nearly seventy years old] and is clearly audible there.

We moved back here over twenty years ago and we often hear the doorbell. If we both hear it there is someone at the front door. If only one of us hears it it’s the ghost again. We have both heard the ghost version and I have no explanation for it. It is a distinctive sound and couldn’t be confused with anything else. Naturally, Herself hadn’t heard a thing this morning.

It was strange initially living in what must be a haunted house but we are used to it now, Apart from the doorbell we sometimes hear someone moving around the Old Manor and I also get distinct smells there too. Sometimes it’s a sweet perfume-like scent and other times it’s the smell of frying rashers. I have no complaints about those scents but there’s no explanation for them.

I don’t believe in ghosts, but …