Up fairly early, as Electra and her little pal called Bliss, ran in and began watching the Incredibles. Had something of a sore head, which I blamed on the Metaxa. Sophie said that I had drunk lots of French wine too, and yet I was blaming the Greeks. Much tidying up, where my helping involved following Sophie and Andros like a large sheep, and talking to them. Sophie putting on music, including a sorrowful epic about the Greek repatriations from Turkey in the 1920s, which made Elektra pull faces.
Also met a children's book illustrator who is a great friend of Andros who dropped by, and was interested to hear his experiences in light of the project I'm doing with Mum. He had also made a bust of Christof, which was very good. Will be strange for Chirstof to have this representation of himself as a 13 year old when he is 50.
After some time Sophie and her two bairns, plus Bliss, and I went for a walk in the park chatting. The kids went to Bliss's house and Sophie and I repaired to the cafe in the park and drank coffee and ate blueberry muffins. A cold frosty day, and it was all making me feel very Christmassy. I love Sophie. After 29 years of knowing her, she is one of those people who always makes me feel cheerful and stronger every time I see her. There was, as ever, loads to talk about and we had spent hours catching up. Then back to Bliss's house to collect Elektra.
We were invited in by Bliss's parents who were very nice. Very enjoyable too, to hear her dad bellowing BLISS! up the stairs at her. Turns out that Bliss's mother has produced lots of wonderful art, which was on the walls. Her name is Julie Major. To my eyes her work looked organic, like sea urchins, or massive representations of pollen. But she mentioned being inspired by Elizabethan clothing and the body - an unusual mix of plaster and fabric.
Then fond farewells to Sophie and Andros, and off to Strand on the Green to meet Matty and Katie who were in Annie's across from Matty's house with lots of chums steadily quaffing champagne. Then across to the Bull's head to wait for the taxi that was to take us to see the French Bloke and Max. Me a very interesting guy who was a journalist and folk musician.
Then a taxi ride from hell. The driver, barely able to speak English, got completely lost and turned a 25 minute ride into a 90 minute exploration of Surrey. It was only after I had a bit of a tetchfest after an hour of aimless driving, that he reached into the glove compartment to turn on his satnav. Ye Gods.
Then finally arrived at Chertsey meads. And we had an excellent night with Max and the French bloke, eating a damn fine chili, drinking beer and watching the logs in the fire. And having a big laugh, at some rather off colour stuff. Matty and the FB deriving an unfeasible amount of enjoyment from the name of the Liberal Democrats stand-in leader Vince Cable for example.
The weekend turning into a massive antidote to being locked away in my study all week in terms of seeing lots of affectionate friends.
Below, one of Julie Major's pieces. Visit her site.
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