I hated school.
County High School Wellingborough for girls to be precise…
Dickensian, demanding of academic excellence and where the majority of the teachers were bonkers. Really, they were.
I never felt I fitted the bill, always a little out of kilter and so left as soon as I was allowed to – age 15 – to enter the real world, get a job and start living. Little did I know…
But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that, some 49 years down the line, I would still be in touch with my old school chums. Mainly due to the wonders of cyber space plus super-human effort on the part of the more persistent and communicative amongst us.
From time to time we get together – in the flesh as it were – to compare ailments and discuss medication congratulate each other on maintained beauty/youthfulness and catch up with each other’s lives.
Sometimes it’s just the annual school lunch but once in a while we get a little creative and find a more inspiring venue and this year (not for the first time) it was Southwold. We like it there and one of our member has a caravan by the harbour so that’s very convenient.
And so it was that, on July 15th, a few of us that could escape for a day or two assembled at the lovely sleepy Suffolk coastal village of Southwold – much-loved by us all.
Just a handful of us this time…
Kay, Jude (all the way from Yonkers in New York don’t you know) Jackie and Jose, with Archie bringing up the right hand side.
A nice number though not quite up to the heady heights of 1996…
…when it was 30 years since we started at that school. Next year will be 50 years since, so perhaps we should mark that milestone accordingly. Any ideas..?
Once all assembled, hugging over, chatted out and coffee’d up we set out for Walberswick. We hopped through the gap in the hedge from the caravan site and walked along the harbour, where you can check out the boats (if you’re a boatbird) and buy the best fresh fish in the world. Probably.
Over the bridge…
…with numerous photo stops.
Even one of the boats…
Just for me.
A tramp across here…
Taking in this…
And this…
Fascinated by the insect with the red spotty wings…
Anyone know what it is?
Onward through the heath…
…another photo call.
Looking good girls.
Splendid tree…
And arrival at the delightful village of Walberswick…
…where we did lunch at The Bell. And very good it was too – fish all round like you do when at the coast..
We were amused by the numbering system though…
The waiting staff actually shouted the whole number across the garden… as in “three thousand and forty one…” It made us giggle but you probably had to be there to appreciate this one.
Anyway, why not just say 41?
Then the beach, where one woman and her dog performed for us…
And boy, can Archie run…
He likes to chase the gulls – not one he’s ever going to win but very entertaining.
Archie and his human like to pose…
Just as well really when in such demand…
I’m not being camera-shy by the way, just that I’ll be in all the shots taken by the others that I haven’t yet seen. Maybe they’ll send them on..?
We head back for the long walk along the estuary and to the bridge. There’s no other way round.
Apart from the ferry…
…which seemed like a bloody good idea for those with bursting bladders or sore feet or a boatbird – always being up for a boat ride. That’s a plan then.
One lovely, very strong young lady…
…who took this on from her father, I understand, operating this service from 10 til 5 every day.
Walking ahead, Jose and Kay hadn’t heard our plans or seen us sneak off and were obviously struck by guilt…
…when they finally noticed we weren’t tagging along and stopped to see where we’d got to, no doubt wondering if we’d got lost/expired along the way.
More giggles.
Back at the caravan for tea, cake and finally fond farewells.
It was a lovely, lovely day. Good to be by the sea and great to see “my gherills” again (spoken in the style of Miss Jean Brodie).
And, as said in my school reports… must do better.
As in don’t leave it so long next time – let’s do it again soon. The more the merrier.
Boatbird
Boatbird 
Was a lot of fun, so enjoyed us all together. Quite formidable team.
I don’t want to miss out this year… X