This week was a multi-stop shop of seeing different folks – including one for the very first time.
We finally (well, he did only arrive 5 weeks ago to be fair!) got to meet the newest member of the family, my great-nephew Boaz. Yes, Boaz – it’s in the Bible, apparently. And he will also be known as Bo. Very small, very sweet, very good head of head, very active set of lungs and very, very much loved by his super proud parents, my niece Abbie and her hubby Nick. A baby that was very hard to come by, so all the more special as a result. We are massively chuffed for them.
I also had Nicky & Sophie plus 3.5 year old Martha over for 2 nights, and H had Jules, doing some stuff together as a group and some stuff in gender silos! Nicky & I nipped round the Wimbledon Art Fair as she & Jules are in the market for some art to adorn the walls of their new home in Liphook. Sophie then appeared with little M and Mabel the dog, and we celebrated her first night as a ‘free’ woman, as it had been her last day in the RAF after 27 years!!
This triggers an immediate pension payment, which must be rather nice when you’re in your forties. And a gap of several months before she moves to Derby area into her new home, from where she will start a new job with an RAF Charity – and delight her parents by being back in their home town. Big changes all round..
Thursday night was another delight – supper out with the utterly lovely James Woodhead. Who is a single man – temporarily – while hubby Dominic is enjoying a massively well earned break after decades of toil in the NHS. He’s in the US visiting friends & family before heading to NZ to do likewise, and then be back for the week before Xmas. After which they will both head to Sri Lanka for a fortnight before Dominic starts work again in a new format. Really good meal, top cocktails and lovely service – a triumvirate rarity these days.
And finally to this weekend, when we have Fi & Rich staying. We recreated the James night cocktail chez Dora, which involved tequila, mezcal, ginger, agave and lemon – kind of a Penicillina – bloody delicious and possibly the new house beverage of choice! Scoffed a fine Hawksey fish pie for dinner and I’ve just dropped the three of them to the station as they are heading to watch England vs NZ at Twickers. Which made me realise I’ve never seen the haka done live – so next year that will be the match to go to (I went to Eng/Australia a couple of weeks back)..
Good job there’s a chilli ready and eating for their drunken return later! x