Fiona
Over the years Fiona has become far more than somebody I occasionally see in Daventry. She’s woven into the story. There are places, journeys, jokes and memories that simply wouldn’t exist without her being there.
Some people arrive in your life with a great fanfare.
Others just quietly become part of it.
Fiona has somehow been part of mine for around eleven years now, through good days, ridiculous days, difficult days, long conversations, daft ideas, adventures, plans that worked and plans that probably should never have left the drawing board.
And somehow, after all that time, we’re still here.
She’s one of those people I can completely be myself around. No performance, no pretending, no need to explain every strange NIX idea that suddenly appears in my head at 10 o’clock at night. Although, to be fair, she has probably had to listen to more campervan, battery, drone and bread-maker conversations than any reasonable human being should have to endure.
Then Caroline the caravan arrived.
That somehow felt perfectly appropriate.
Suddenly Fiona had her own little travelling home, I had Vanilla, and yet another chapter started. Two vans, two completely different approaches to camping, an alarming quantity of equipment and absolutely no guarantee that any trip involving us will go exactly according to plan.
Which is probably why I enjoy it.
Over the years Fiona has become far more than somebody I occasionally see in Daventry. She’s woven into the story. There are places, journeys, jokes and memories that simply wouldn’t exist without her being there.
Friendship doesn’t always need grand declarations.
Sometimes it is simply knowing that somebody is there.
Knowing you can phone them.
Knowing they will understand what you mean even when you haven’t explained it particularly well.
Knowing that months and years can roll past and somehow the conversation just carries on.
Eleven years is a fair chunk of life.
And when I look back at mine, Fiona appears in an awful lot of the good bits.
I rather like that.
Here’s to the next adventure.
Preferably involving Vanilla, Caroline, somewhere with a decent view, a pub within walking distance and absolutely no electrical faults.
Although knowing us, at least one of those conditions is probably optimistic. 😂
❤️ Fiona.
