Wrapping up my visit

It is my last full day with Hazel today and although I am now ready to get back to John, the cats, Mum and the joy of a wet and cold Cyprus winter I am really going to miss Hazel because our friendship is irreplaceable having spanned 40-odd years.  We clicked from the very first moment I saw her, a vision in pink and purple, and we continue to do so even though we are separated by some 2,000 miles give or take.

We celebrated our final evening together this trip with a brisk walk into Yeovil Town centre and a lovely meal in Ask.  As we sat discussing our own respective bucket lists I thought we resembled younger versions of Minnie and Esther - the two heroines of my friend Stephen Haughan's books The Peshwari Nans!!!  Our lovely meal was all the better for Hazel using her birthday £20 off voucher - for which many thanks Ask and Haze.

Oh how we laugh when we get together.  Hazel is by far the most positive person I know and definitely always looks on the bright side of things even when her delinquent boys have been behaving badly and giving her grief.  It is so good to know that she will be over in the Summer and then, all things being equal, I would like to return the following January like I have done this time.  If the flight times and prices remain much the same it is a doddle and now that I know Alex and Paul live so close to the airport and I can stay there too the whole trip is made that bit easier.

I packed and repacked today.  My hold suitcase was hovering dangerously close to its 23 kilo allowance and that was full of things which I had ordered to bring back with me so the thought of trying to cope with that and my equally weighty hand-luggage and my smaller hand bag filled me with dread and drove me to make the decision to pay to go hands free and pay to have the weighty hand-luggage in the hold particularly as I was going to have to wait for my big case anyway.

It was sad saying goodbye to Hazel and Lily mid afternoon but as I had to find my way to Portishead in what turned out to be dark, dank and gloomy conditions I had wanted to leave in plenty of time.

The clipped tones of the Google Maps lady gave me pretty clear instructions until I decided to go off piste for a comfort break which obviously upset her big style and she went into a sulk and refused to speak to me.  She kept a stony silence until I was fast approaching Junction 19 which I knew I needed as my exit and then thought better of her behaviour as she suddenly barked an instruction which nearly frightened me to death.  I nearly found the right house but Alex had warned me it was going to be difficult to find so I stopped when I was on the right street and her husband Paul kindly came and rescued me - he walked around two corners - I had been oh so close!!!

After nearly 10 years it was an absolute joy to get back in touch with Alex and Paul although I am pretty sure she and I bored Paul to tears with our anecdotal recollections about our time together working at Porter Dodson Solicitors.  Although he did perk up when we reminisced about the time we went to see Van Morrison and I had made foot long pasties for our picnic supper.

We were in grave danger of chatting so much that we were going to miss our table booking at La Marina.  Paul said we weren't to worry as the service there could be a little haphazard at the best of times.  Although a little dark and foggy we walked and it was easy to see the attraction of living where they do and the restaurant was charming and the food excellent although eating quite late, consuming several large G&T's and sleeping in a mega hot bedroom meant my food sort of sat undigested for quite a while and I was somewhat relieved when it finally decided it was not going to make a reappearance particularly as my bedroom was an oasis of calm and order as is the whole of the Wheatcroft's abode.

I think Alex had the central heating set at something close to Tropical which I am just not used to - at this time of year our bedroom has been known to hover around single figures!!  I did sleep in the end - courtesy of some Nurofen taken to keep the Neuralgia at bay.