Solved

A week ago I had been back-Blipping some stuff from 1988-1991 which often involved my Wegefährte "life path companion" from that era, Nogbad.

Shortly after a WhatsApp photo from him appeared on my mobile showing a scene from that time. The people shown in it were very well known but I couldn't pinpoint the event or date. Nigel simply replied he had just discovered it while cleaning out the attic and it was in a Xmas card from Wienerwald but he knew no more.

I assumed he simply meant it was a photo that he had swept up and it had landed in a shoe box which also included the old Christmas cards from that time.

So I did a bit of guessing and posted it to December 1989.

Today, as I arrived back from the evening dog walk, planted in the middle of the drive, was a strange object. Angie had just emptied the postbox and opened a large A4 brown envelope with no "Sender" shown and a strange computer-generated wishy-washy type of stamp that at a casual glance didn't give a clue where it came from. There was no "Par Avion, Air Mail, Luftpost" sticker either.

She opened it and was amazed to see the contents - It was a Christmas card addressed to Nigel, his wife Liz and one-month-old daughter Jemma and signed by all the girls wishing them a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. It was even signed by his biggest fan who was not in the photo, Rudi, who despite his years was still working. And the said photo was stuck firmly in it.

Nigel, with his Adonis stature and his suave Sean Connery treatment of the girls, always made head turns when he walked into their large open plan office. He was very liked and they missed him when he left in September.

I also spotted that I had also written some beer related remark and signed it. Confirms that my memory is fading and I need to get as much of this old stuff posted in Blip before it completely fades.

The exact date of the photo is still not known, but for the sake of the record have changed my original post from 1989 to 18th December 1990when the Wienerwald Head Office held that year's office Christmas Party at 15:00. I note our boss David D had planned a Finance Meeting for 14:00 but had had the sense to cancel it.

I have told Nogbad that I will hand it over to Jemma when they are next here. It is an heirloom, as it must have been her first ever Christmas card.