Catching Up

Getting this poem illustrated and framed has long been on His Lordship's 'to do' list. He wrote it after finishing his National Service with the Gordon Highlanders in Malaya during the Communist troubles in the 50s and he dedicated it to the 'affectionate' memory of his sergeant major at the time.

With the imminent departure of my friend-of-many talents and her artist partner to Ireland, it was hurriedly brought out to be illustrated by the latter before he set sail.
It now hangs on the only bit of available wall space behind The Door.

Life is full of surprises when you least expect them. Last year I caught up with someone I became friendly with when we were two new brides from the East coast thrown into deepest darkest Lanarkshire when our respective husbands worked for Rolls Royce aero division in Hamilton. We were new mothers and out of our depth in a completely different world from our home cities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
We lost touch for 40 years when we both moved on, but have since reconnected through the Internet. I am meeting her today for coffee.

After the moving on from Hamilton and other points west back to Edinburgh, I made friends here with a couple, the husband being a cardiology physician looking after my father. When they went back to Pakistan, we lost touch, but my friend phoned me out of the blue last night and we are meeting next month when they visit Britain.
Facebook has its advantages and opens doors after other avenues have been lost.There is so much news to catch up on.