Sharing on Saturday

On Friday I promised No More Talk of Weather, so I will just let the photo speak for itself.

From Joanna’s Balcony

I have a longtime friend who is finding life very difficult since her husband died. She has four children none of whom live near her. Yes, she sees them from time to time and all are in touch regularly. So we meet for lunch from time to time.

We have a lunch that we tell nobody about. I pick up KFC and we eat it in splendour at her fantastic apartment. We have done this twice and both think it a great lark.

So to yesterday. – Saturday. Queen’s Birthday weekend, and as we were both alone we decided on KFC lunch. This is always accompanied by good wine (not that purchased in the supermarket as at my place), served in crystal glasses, imported crockery, and fine silver cutlery.

But all did not go to plan. I tried to have the KFC delivered – no delivery until 5 pm. Click and collect was not available at that store so I could not pre-order it, So the cab driver took me to the store and because of the traffic had to leave me to pick it up. The deal was that I would call him when I was ready. Meantime, he had obviously picked up another passenger and there were no cabs in sight as I left the store. “Oh well. It’s not far to walk” I thought and set off.

No, it wasn’t far but before I left the store, the package fell off the end of the counter. Fortunately only the wooden cutlery pieces fell out and a kindly man came over and picked up the package, rolling the top of the bag so that I could carry it.

Then I was off. After crossing over two pedestrian crossings I was stopped by a young man. He had seen me drop my phone (lesson here make sure the purse is properly closed) and after returning it to me and checking that I was alright, he took off. Only a few minutes later I dropped the phone that I had been holding in my hand and a pleasant young woman retrieved it for me.

By this time as you can imagine, this elderly woman was totally discombobulated. I staggered on until I reached my destination. The glass of wine was well received and we sat and chatted until it was time to eat.

Lunch finished, the sun came out and it was warm enough to sit outside. And then a call from a mutual friend. He had a bottle of champagne to bring to Joanna for a recent birthday. There’s nothing better than a glass of Roederer Champagne and three long time friends to share it.

Some six hours later, I was taken home by the same taxi driver. Thank goodness I had decided to leave my car at home – I wouldn’t have been able to drive after the copious amount of wine I had consumed.

“I love everything that’s old, –
old friends, old times, old manners,
old books, old wine.“
Oliver Goldsmith

JB June 5, 2022

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