Coffee and lunch with friends

What a splendid day I had yesterday. First of all, Liz Jennings came for morning coffee. Of course she's Elizabeth Smith now, but it felt as if hardly any time had gone by since we were at school together. There wasn't enough time to do more than skim over a few of the highlights of the years since we last met at Andrea's Form I-6 reunion, when we were all approaching 30. We were so lucky to have Mrs Taylor, she was a great teacher and a wonderful lady. She'd told Lizzie that she'd do well to become a teacher, and Liz is just about to embark on the final year of a BA in Early Childhood Studies full-time at Warwick. We talked about my change of career, our families, health and illness - and then all too soon it was time for me to catch the train to Birmingham.

Lunch was at Cafe Soya of course, with Sal and Steve. A bit of gossip, catching up on who's done what to whom and how Techshare is shaping up. Carol still struggling to split her time between two full time jobs, and still no recruitment to replace me. We talked about family stuff, anticipating uni - and then the hour was up.

The question of how to occupy myself in Birmingham for an afternoon is an interesting one. The first time I came in for lunch, in July, I went off and saw The Simpsons Movie afterwards, together with rather a lot of children. That was good. The second time, in August, I thought I would check out some light fittings then go to the Birmingham Art Museum, but instead I spent a happy hour at the Blood Donor Centre. This time I considered going to the pictures again, but instead I went shopping. This evil chore was pleasantly interrupted by a very long conversation with Lola (hooray for Orange Magic Numbers), and this must have been a good omen. For the first time in about three years, I found some clothes that fitted me, and I bought the lot. I have a suit, at last!! And it's not because I've changed shape, because I tried two different suits that purported to be the same size, but they weren't at all. Lucky I found the suit that fitted first, because had I tried the other one first I'm sure I would have given up at that point.