Seeing old Friends

While we were driving back from Weymouth on the Friday of our stay at Moreton, I suddenly felt a stirring in the muddy waters of the back of my mind. It’s funny what lives there and can unexpectedly surface, without any conscious effort from myself.

Mike, I asked, where is that card from Monika, where did they move to? This was a change of address card I had received in February from a friend who goes back in the mists of time from when we had just moved back to Worcester after our five years in South Wales.

At that time, Mike was doing the Mid Morning Show on BBC Hereford and Worcester, which was very much a magazine type programme and we were involved with local Micro Breweries and cooking related themes. One of Mike’s regular contributors was a lady, know as Wiz, who was based at The Talbot at Knightwick and was renowned for her foraging in hedgerows and cooking what she found. This meant we were often at the Talbot, for one reason or other.

As an aside, The Talbot is mentioned in Nigel Slater’s book, as a place he worked, when young and it was where he had one of his first sexual adventures and I seem to remember the payment of a free steak was involved.  But I digress.

Back then, around 20 years ago, we met a couple at the hotel, who were friends of Wiz. Monika, a Head Teacher and her Husband John, who also worked for the BBC and was a partner in Old School Wines, based in the old Knightwick village school building.

Ten years later, Monika employed me as a Teaching Assistant, a job I loved for 6 years.

Monika and John had retired down to the South Coast and at the moment I asked Mike where it was they had moved to, we discovered we were passing the end of their road.

As soon as we arrived back at the site, I sent an e-mail, saying we were in the area and within the hour came back a reply, inviting us to Sunday lunch.

What a lunch!

Well for a start the food was fabulous, with a masterpiece main course of loin of Venison in a red wine sauce and blackberries. We sat down to lunch around 1.30 and we didn’t leave the table until after five when we adjourned to the sofas and continued conversations, that at times were hilarious and others rather deep and meaningful. It was 7.30 when we left and Mike, who isn’t always at ease in social situations, said several times on the way home, what a wonderful day it had been.

This really has been one of the perks of this tour, meeting up with people we haven’t seen for a long time, sometimes many years. We have such happy memories to take away with us.

This must have been a very full day for me, as I didn’t take a single photo!