Ladies who lunch.

Today I caught up with my friend C who lives in Cheltenham. She came up to Birmingham on the train.
I had not seen her for a couple of years since we used to go on our annual week’s intensive French language course in Nyons, Drôme, Provence.
We went each year for 11 consecutive ones, until we decided it was becoming too expensive. I had found a French tutor here. (There was a French group in Cheltenham too which C attended)
I now share lessons ( An hour and a half of French conversation and topics of interest) with two others every fortnight.
I met her for the first time at Birmingham airport in 2007 as we were on the same flight to Lyon, where we would be picked up and whisked off by our hosts for the 2hr 30min journey South.
It was just 12 months after our son Matt died.
Our host Danielle had put me in touch with C beforehand by email so we had exchanged messages and photos.
Unknown to me she had also asked her to “look after me” given what had transpired the previous September, 2006.
As it happened there was an instant rapport between us on meeting and we became good friends having shared the week together before travelling home.
I was able to talk to her about Matt which helped enormously and she herself, had been widowed not many years before. Her husband was 58 and had succumbed to cancer.
A shared grief is comforting in so many ways. You do not feel so alone.
In the photo she is on the left and L on the right, one of the ladies with whom I share our lesson. I am in the middle!
We had a lot of catching up to do!
But it was like yesterday when I saw her at the station.
Last year she had a heart scare for which she was treated.
It is good to see her looking so well.
Lilian has known her from our tutor holding a day’s French course each year for several years now, in Cheltenham which was set up by C.
A lovely long lunch in the Mail Box. We were the first ones in the restaurant at 12.noon!
Our waiter took the photo.
A day of very heavy random showers with warm sunshine interspersed. One of umbrellas up, lightweight macs donned in a hurry, then taken off again once the blue sky reappeared.
After a couple of hours or so we made our way back to New Street Station promising not to leave it so long before the next time.
Friendship stands the test of time and distance.