POMPEY

It's years since I've been to Portchester Castle, and the skyline has certainly changed. It was lovely to spend time with Daughter #2 who lives only a mile away from there, and I'm so relieved that she's recovering well.

During the day I received some very sad news about one of my oldest friends. Through general busyness on both sides we'd slipped into annual card-giving promising to catch up soon (she had moved to Toronto when she married), but neither of us getting round to it, and I didn't even know she was ill, though her husband tells me she didn't tell most people, so the news came as a shock to many of her friends. Carpe diem.