My bench buddy

As teenagers, my friends and I would regularly hang out at 'The Benches', as they were fondly known. There was nothing particularly special about them, just a few random seats dotted along a path close to a school. But this was the place where memories were built, where friendships were cemented and some alcoholic beverages were sampled for the first time.

So, I was delighted to find an old bench in our garden when we moved into our new home and I had visions of a whole new bank of memories being formed around this bench. R gave it a lick of paint and it now sits proudly in the 'sunny spot' in the garden.

My very own little ray of sunshine, Sara, returned to Edinburgh today, on a short visit from Australia where she has been living for the last 8 months. She is the nicest person you could ever hope to meet and I am so lucky to have her in my life. It felt like I'd just seen her yesterday and we picked up where we left off, chattering non-stop. H and Ab came along too and we were fortunate enough to spend all afternoon/early evening in the garden as, would you believe it, the sun was out!

This is my bench and this is my buddy - and yes, that is my glass of wine too. A wonderfully happy day and a great bench memory to savour.