I escaped to Southwold last week. Lucky me.
I do like it there and, true to form, it didn’t disappoint.
OK, so the weather could have been better but that wasn’t what the day was all about. No, the real reason for the trip was to catch up with some dear old friends: old school chums from the County High School Wellingborough, which we all attended some 40 odd years ago. Not that it seems so long ago…
And yet it was a lifetime.
A select few of us CHSW girlies have stayed in touch, one way or another, throughout the years. Amazing really.
We don’t all get together too often, making it a special treat when we do. A real occasion.
The last one was a real biggie…
There were only half a dozen of us this time but it isn’t eveyone that can get away midweek. Not all of us are retired yet or enjoy such flexible employment that allows us to take off willy nilly and some of us live further away these days. Terry, who sadly couldn’t make it, lives somewhere in the frozen north and Ann, also unable to be there, is about 5 hours drive away (almost in the wilds of Wales). And both have hefty work committments.
Jude (who lives in New York) was over here already so up for this mini re-union and in fact probably what inspired it in the first place.
So here we all are on the pier which, I have to say at this point, has been made no smoking. WHAT? I say to the man that popped up the minute I flipped open the Zippo. Suppose all that fresh air and surrounding sea makes it a real health/fire hazzard….. Beats me.
From left: Jose, Yours Truly, Jude, Soo, Kay and Jackie. And Archie of course, lurking in the foreground. Picture taken by an innocent bystander – came out surprisingly well considering. I was convinced he had snapped at the precise moment a passer-by passed by, obscuring at least one of us. Well done that man!
Aren’t we great?
We are all still those same girls, still looking good and still laughing, despite what life has thrown at us. And it seems we’ve all had our share of ups and downs, as revealed in the non-stop chatter as we caught up.
This is how it was when we weren’t posing for the camera….
Natter natter natter….
One has to have fish ‘n’ chips when at the seaside so we walked to the Nelson to do just that…
and they were, of course, delicious.
We walked some more (to walk them off) and, having passed several tea rooms on the way to ‘The One’, were a tad disappointed to discover they closed on Wednesdays. Hey ho.
Back to Jo’s caravan then, via the harbour, for liquid refreshment. And more chatting. Great.
I’m not sure the specialness of this occasion will come across here. It’s one of those ‘you had to be there moments’ I suspect – both last week and back in school all those years ago.
One thing’s for sure though; the next one will take some beating. It is to be held in New York in 2015, on Jude’s suggestion – the year that most of us will mark our next big, very scary birthday. And what a way to celebrate!!
Jude is going to book us all into rooms, where she may also stay, and be able to show us the Big Apple where she’s lived for years. Thanks for that Jude old buddy.
Better start saving….
Can’t wait.
Boatbird 