Catching up

St Edouard

The nice thing about Christmas and the New Year has been hearing from so many people. Notes in Christmas cards, e-mails and telephone calls all make us feel a little closer to home than we sometimes feel.

On the other hand, it is sad that we seem to have lost contact with some people and, despite our contacting them, have heard little or nothing from them. There comes a time when you just have to step back and accept that maybe you were not as important to them as you thought you were.

We have just had a lovely visit from our oldest friends (in time not personal ages!). Some so many years ago that we don't like to keep count we all met up individually and ended up as couples. This coming year will see both our 34th wedding anniversaries. We've lived near each other and far away (sometimes on the other side of the world), seen other friends marriages fall by the wayside but we're all still here and had a lovely few days catching up on family news, comparing notes on granchildren and pets, sharing jokes and memories, or just sitting in a companionable silence browsing books and newspapers. A very enjoyable few days were had by all.

While they were here we went for a drive and stopped to take a photograph of our house from 'the other side' of the hill, in fact, just up the hill from Mr and Mrs Veranda's house. You can just make out our little house nestling gently in the hillside.