#2 daughter and I visit J

Poor #2 daughter’s flight didn’t get in till after midnight last night then she had a taxi queue. We’d made the arrangement to see an old friend in the Lakes before daughter knew she was going to the law conference in Bucharest and we didn’t want to mess the plans as some elderly find that a challenge.

I drove the back roads over to Chesters car park on the Roman Wall, parked up and transferred to daughter’s car after pouring her a coffee. She’d been away since Wednesday and after networking, attending talks by “big wigs” from the EU court, dinners and a concert by the Budapest symphony orchestra followed by a 14 hour trip home, she was needing it. However telling me about the event kept her going and I enjoyed the company and hearing about it.

I met the friend we were visiting in Hong Kong when we taught there and she moved to Cyprus when we lived there, then she got a headship in the Lakes so we have managed to keep in contact. I used to stay with her every year for a few days for Words by the Water as we share an interest in literature and politics.The daughters have known her all their lives and we are very fond of her. She did the eulogy at #1 daughter’s funeral. She is a great talker but daughter is more than up to the challenge! She has health issues but seemed better than she was last April when we previously made the trip over.

We had lunch but were only able to stay just over 2 hours as daughter needed to get back, not having seen the husband or sons for too long.

It was a sunny hot day - daughter’s car had aircon so it was a pleasant drive. Mine has windows that open.