Our little star has gone out.

I went into Stratford today to meet an old friend and her husband for lunch. I hadn’t seen her for 42 years, but there were no awkward gaps in the conversation, and we spent a good 3 hours just laughing and remembering. We’d met on holiday with our parents when we were children, and stayed in touch throughout our teenage years although she lived in London, and we were in Stratford-on-Avon. Our parents continued to correspond and to visit one another for a long long while, until my Mum and Dad died a few years ago.

I took this photo from the tramway footbridge over the Avon when I was walking back to my car. The bridge that you can see is the Clopton Bridge, which carries traffic over the river.

A sad day for us today. Our dear old Burmese cat, Stella, didn’t come home yesterday. We knew something was wrong, as she always comes to us when we call her. Her eyes were very odd yesterday, with both pupils dilated, and one eye being very bloodshot. They also looked a very unusual shade, almost as though she was blind. I think she must have had a stroke. Anyway, no sign whatsoever of her today, after a very cold and frosty night last night. C has been out searching the wood which is next to our house, but to no avail. I’d like to find her so that we can bury her properly. She was 15 ½ years old, so a reasonable age for a cat, (our other cat died last year just short of her 18th birthday) but also it means we’ve lost a lovely old companion who shared our home for 15 years. I never managed to get a photo of her that did her justice.

RIP Stella.