Today I finally met up with Lynne ...
And the road to that meeting was surely a long and winding one. We have a mutual friend called Christine, a much-loved mutual friend, who lives back in New Zealand and who has been telling us for years that we Must meet.
Christine was right, and I'm glad that we finally listened to her because I got to spend the loveliest few hours with a fellow wanderer, photographer & story-teller. I enjoyed every moment of it.
We had lunch at The Old Plough, in Cobham... a really lovely English pub. It was full of good people, and a family of Australians too ... also good people I hasten to add, just in case my punctuation makes you think otherwise. Everyone talks to everyone over here. I do love that. Most often, it seemed to be about the dogs they had with them although we started talking with our table-neighbours after he knocked a glass of beer over his companion. We all doubted his innocence ... 3 women, one man. He stood no show.
And I got to taste my first-ever Sticky Toffee Pudding, encouraged both by Lynne and the people at the table next to us. We sat in the window seat in the photograph above. I was so busy talking and hanging out that I didn't take a good shot and so it has been artistically tampered with.
Tonight however, I'm home alone ... coughing. I don't have the flu but I do have a cold. And mostly I've been grateful that it is just a cold. No aching, no fever, no physical devastation but this cough ... tonight ... it's challenging.
My Invercargill Grandad used to say, 'Cough it up! If it's a bone, it'll ease you.' And he'd chuckle because he found himself amusing. And mostly we did too.
In other news, I have found my red wine of choice here in Surrey. It's a Chianti called Poggiotondo, and I love it. The bad news is that I found it while it was on special and it turns out it actually costs 9 pounds in 'real life' and therefore, it's an expensive little love. I shall keep it for special occasions.
I was awake between 3 and 4am last night. Coughing. But, in good news, I did enjoy the sound of the rain on the roof. It's been a long time since I was able to hear it so easily. Apparently there's a storm called Gertrude causing all sorts of problems up north. Down here in the south, we've been luckier, with rain and blustery winds but not too much else.
In fabulous news, I'm allowed to timeshare the chocolate brown Labrador who lives on the property where I live. Roscoe is 3 and he delights me. Photographs will surely follow sooner or later. I just need to stop with the coughing and organise myself a little more.
Did you see how I snuck another mention of the coughing in? This Man Flu thing ... that's what I get. I was so surprised when men got stuck with that rap ... :-)
Enough from me. I wrote a post between this and last one but I didn't like it. Deleted it. Sorry ... I do that sometimes.
