We had a really long lie as both of us must have had a lot of sleep to catch up on. The beer / wine from the night before helped as well, I think! Kim sorted us out with cuppas and then we drove to Chris and Lyds’ (again!) where I filled up the car with the remains of the things I had left in their loft all those months ago.

Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to pop over to see Faisal and his new(ish) baby daughter. On the next visit, I promise. I dropped Sarah off for her return train with a hug and a promise that I would take her to see Whitby if she could get up here again sometime. I then headed north up as far as Tony & June’s where I unloaded the car for safety, and popped into Durham to see Fiona (a.k.a. Posh Bird).

I’d first met her in Hanoi, then caught up with her again in Brisbane and Melbourne. She turned out to be one of the few people who bothered to stay in touch (all you with business cards – no excuse!) and I hope always will. Dinner had been arranged on short notice. When I got back to Kim’s yesterday, I’d received a text message: “Hey, sorry I’ve not been in touch. I don’t have internet and I’ve been so busy. Hope I haven’t missed you and I get a chance to catch up before you leave again! I’m now living in York…” or words to that effect. Of course, yesterday we’d just been in York!

As luck would have it, though, Fiona was just outside Durham visiting friends and T&J once more agreed to give me a bed for the night so I could see her for dinner. As ever, it was a joy to spend a couple of hours with Fiona and recall how scatterbrained she is! A shame that despite 24 hour licensing, pubs still need to close at some point, and the night came to an end around 11pm.