These flowers are for my friend Clare Widlake Hanson whose birthday is today and who has been my friend for 60+ years - we clearly met in the delivery room! Actually we met when our parents, in their wisdom (and it was substantial as it enabled us to grow up multi lingual at a time when such a thing was unusual in England) sent us to school at the Lycée Français de Londres in South Kensington. I remember Clare’s home in Stafford Court, Kensington and her lovely parents, Heather and Bob, her much older brother, Brian, who seemed so sophisticated and erudite and became a famous journalist and financial television personality; and her bull terrier, Buster, that she adored but I found rather scary – for no reason other than the fact that he was so much bigger than my dachshunds probably. Over the years, our travels have taken us all over the world and Clare now lives in Diamondhead, New Orleans with her wonderful hubby, Bob, some cats and horses that she always loved and her commitment to Therapeutic Riding that she promotes and works tirelessly for and thereby changes so many young lives for the better as a result. Clare is my dearest friend who has seen me through thick and sometimes very thin, as I hope I have for her. There are, inevitably, lots of people I see and speak to more often but that doesn’t change the fact that Clare is the sister I never had and she will stay in my heart forever. Happy, Happy Birthday, dearest of friends, na ekatostisis (may you live to be a hundred – at least), and may the sun always shine for you, whatever the weather. With my fondest love. (The flowers are from all my local stalls on this, unusually, freezing grey day so I can’t send any Greek sunshine! And the school picture shows Clare, cross legged in the front row, second from the right, and me seated behind her, slightly to the left of her, fourth from the right; and our teacher, Mlle Josseron, who was simply lovely!)
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 14:10:03 +0000