Years don't matter

It's been over 20 years since I last saw Froggie, but somehow this morning, 41 years fell away and we were back at Riddlesworth in our first term at boarding school.  In a curious twist of fate, one of HWISO's forebears used to own the house and farm (Fig, 7) - quite glad there is no "family" name tradition with regards to this one.

It was lovely to catch up with Froggie's family - a curious arrangement of steps and reals (7 in total, I think - 5 girls and 2 boys).  (Froggie's mother married the first husband of Froggie's father's second wife - that'll take time to work out!).  All the girls then went on Tudor Hall and Froggie was the youngest of them all.

We were at school together, often bedside by bedside, for some 10 years.  That kind of bond is hard to break and so it proved.  She is the proud Mum of 2 beautiful girls, a handsome son and 3 dogs and 3 (just about to be 4) horses.  She also happens to run the Pathology Department at Addenbrookes - she works hard for the money.  

We still laugh at the same things and I mean belly laugh.  I had forgotten her bright sharp with and the sparkle that lights up her eyes wickedly when she laughs.  It did me good.

Em, HWISO and I went to the pub for lunch - bit of a disaster.  The first one was closed and the second one was full but we managed to blag a table on condition that we ate our meal in under 3/4 of an hour - PAH - that is SO not a challenge for the Bevans. 

I was worrying about Em driving back to Cambridge in the torrential rain AND the dark, so she, dutiful and kind as ever, left when it was dry and light, so as not to worry me.

And then came back - petrol crisis......

LOL

My early morning blog seems to have sparked two entirely separate conversations - one about dressing up dogs and the other about gerrymandering.  Once again, thank you to Tim for the link and explanation.  He, in turn, is now going to making goulash with his brick of paprika.  All in all, a satisfactory outcome.

Now all that is left to do on my list is to find the password for the Sugar Beet for James, pay some farm bills and find someone in Southwold to write a reference for HWISO and my sister-in-law to convince Waveney District Council that they are "Of suitable character to be a tenant for a  beach hut site..".  I also have to ask the Nicest Bank Manager in the World to write a letter saying HWISO is of suitable financial standing to meet the financial obligations of the tenancy (£500 pa).  We are talking about a large wooden shed here, people.

Uhu with cushion - he's a retriever.  Pirate on look-out in case any cushion stealing goblins happen to be passing - he is "security"!