Hello!

“Time is a slippery thing: lose hold of it once, and its string might sail out of your hands forever.”

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

There’s a sentimental ditty by Neil Diamond, called ‘Hello’:

“Hello, my friend, hello
Just called to let you know
I think about you every night
And I know it’s late but I could’t wait
Hello”

It makes me a little tearful because my Dad loved Neil Diamond, and he’s gone too far away to make contact with. But also because I’m a sucker for an old ballad.

You know when you have an old friend or relative that you get on very well with, but you hardly ever see?

One day you tentatively make contact, ashamed that you’ve been such an inattentive friend. You plan to meet up. On the day you’re due to meet, you have a wardrobe crisis trying to figure out what to wear. You make a mental note of a few newsy topics to talk about so that there are no awkward silences. You arrive too early. You feel a little nervous. And when you spot each other, after an awkward wave of recognition, you stumble over your greeting, go in for a kiss on each cheek and end up in a hug. And then blurt out the first stupid cliché that comes into your head.

But after all that embarrassment nonsense is over … nothing of great consequence has really changed between you. Not really.

Time feels like it has stood still (incidentally, one of the exact such clichés I was thinking about earlier).

They look exactly the same. They have that same contagious laugh you always loved. You finish each other’s sentences. You re-tell all your stories. And all those missed months and years fade away!

At your parting, you both swear that you’ll never again let so much time pass before meeting again. And you hope.

That’s a bit how I feel now, writing this blog after so many weeks. 

“What’s new?” you ask.

Well, spring has sprung, for one. Hubby and I are back in our flat. The new paint job is fab and our new bathroom is brilliant! We have dusted off our running shoes and we are back on the road again. Business is challenging, but ticking over nicely. I’m making plans to go back to university (another story for another catch up). Hubby is getting his first COVID vaccine tomorrow. The UK is still in lockdown so no pubs or restaurants are open, no cinemas, no gyms, no shops, only groceries and pharmacies and thankfully coffee shops. 

The only exciting thing to do right now is to order a takeaway and so we had Nandos for lunch.

I do hope that you are all safe and well and championing over all your various battles.

It’s good to say “Hello” again.

SMALL PRINT: P.s. Nothing to add.