Banana Cake Day

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellow,

Briar was in an all-day workshop today, unfortunately. She sent me sad messages all day. 

But on the plus side, both Fazzy and Olivia were in the office. The pair of them are so much fun. 

They were both concerned about Caro. I updated them with the current situation which is that Caro's contract runs until the end of March. She's not sure if she's going to work to that date or not. 

I suggested she "work" to that date. I.e. Hit enter on her laptop every 10 minutes but do nothing much else. She could have a nice summer. 

Caro quite liked that idea. And honestly she does seem so much happier today. 

As for me, I enjoyed hanging at work with Fazzy and Olivia. Fazzy and me went for lunch together and she told me it was "Banana Cake Day". 

This is the third anniversary of her dad's death. He loved banana cake, so on Banana Cake Day, Fazzy and family eat banana cake and think fondly about him. 

I cast my mind back. I met Fazzy about three years ago... so....

"Yes," she said. "It happened only a couple of weeks before we met."

That made me think. At the same time she was going through that I was feeling deeply homesick and lonely and wondering if leaving Scotland had been a colossal mistake.  

I'm not necessarily the most spiritual person and in fact I'm blind to most of these things. But I wonder if something put me in the path of Fazzy. Despite the fact that she's not THAT much younger than me, she calls me "Uncle". 

And I love her in a familial way too. She's like a cheeky younger sister to me. And I just adore her. 

Maybe we were supposed to meet, to help each other at that specific point in our lives. 

Fazzy feels it too, I think. She told me she was out at the weekend with some girl friends and Shahier asked her how it went. With a sigh, she told him it was okay, but these people didn't really understand her like her girl friends in South Africa did. 

"I guess you are stuck with Symon," suggested Shahier.

That made me laugh. I suggested we go for a mani-pedi together. 

"I know you'd do it too," she said with an eye roll. 

We also managed to bump into Briar - briefly freed from her workshop. She was wearing her "I am Kenough" t-shirt and Fazzy was quite taken with it. She looked at it longingly. 

"Oh. Sorry. I'm staring at your chest..." she stammered.

"Keep it PG, Fazzy," replied Briar.

Back at our desks I met a new lady called Shelly. We don't work together but she was fun and friendly. She told me how she had broken her ankle recently and had to be given two doses of ketamine while they attempted to re-set it.

"It was AMAZING," gushed Shelly. "I had the BEST time. Apparently I was laughing and playing patty-cake with the nurses while the doctor worked on my ankle."

"You're our favourite patient EVER!" said the nurses.

Sadly, it didn't work and she had to be ambulanced to a nearby hospital. "Wait... can I get a THIRD dose first?" she asked. 

I told Fazlyn I'd added Shelly to the group. She rolled her eyes at me again. She fossicked around in her bag and offered me an "anti-bullsh*t" mint. 

"AAAAAARGH, I'M LOSING MY POWERRRRRRSSSSS," I shrieked.

Despite this we rode the train home together again. We are so annoying on the train. We crack each other up and the other grumpy commuters must hate us. I told Fazzy how much I love her and Olivia. 

"I think you really affect my stress levels," I told her. 

"Oh that's great!" she replied. 

"I didn't mean that necessarily in the good way!" I countered. 

"I see that anti-bullsh*t pill has worn off now," she muttered. 

As we approached Porirua, Fazzy got up to leave, "Goodbye Uncle Symon!" she sang, hugging me.

But there was still a length of track to go and the train slowed down. 

Fazzy stood there, looking awkward. 

"Tch-ch-ch-ch, tch-ch-ch..." I said, tunelessly, pretending to look around. Fazzy looked at her shoes then the ceiling.

"Still there then," I observed. 

"Yeah. Yep," she replied.

"I mean. A person SAYS goodbye and then doesn't actually GO..." I spluttered. 

"Aaaaaaany minute nowwww...." she said. 

By now we were completely cracking each other up. 

Eventually she got off the train, still laughing. 

Happy Banana Cake Day Fazzy. I love you loads. 

S.