When bloggers meet….

Image via Wylio

…they talk…and talk…and talk…Or at least The Broad and I and our respective spouses did, when we met up at her home in Southport a week ago today. The way the talk and the tea were flowing, if DH and I hadn't had to leave for supper with family, I reckon we’d still have been talking at midnight. J

That morning, at an unusually early hour for one of our departures, DH and I had crammed the last items into the campervan and set off north in blazing sunshine. In fact we set off so early that we arrived well ahead of our appointed time and had time to say hello to the family members who were gathering at my brother-in-law’s house for the following day’s celebration of my mother-in-law’s birthday.

Ten minutes before we were due, we set off to drive the mile or so to The Broad’s house, only to find that the last little bit of the route had been pedestrianised without anyone having told our satnav. Poor Gladys got very upset at our refusal to go down the road she was indicating and went into a sulk, so that we had to force her to work out how best to circumvent the obstacle and arrive at our destination. 

The next obstacle manifested itself when we arrived in the right street, only to find that neither of us had remembered to write down the house and phone numbers so carefully provided by The Broad. Doh! Thankfully, before we left home, we had found her address on Google Street View and DH’s visual memory rose to the challenge of identifying the right house without the number.

Only ten minutes late despite everything, we finally walked up to the front door to be greeted by The Broad with a huge grin and a hug, as though we were simply seeing each other again after a gap, rather than meeting for the very first time. There were absolutely none of those awkward preliminaries, as people send out conversational feelers to start to get to know each other. Indeed, within minutes we were sitting round the kitchen table with big mugs of tea and delicious homemade blueberry muffins, nattering away nineteen to the dozen.

The Broad and her husband are so interested and interesting, so easy and amusing to talk to, that it was as though we were the oldest of friends, catching up with each other’s news and activities since we had last met. Our conversation ranged widely and randomly, like all the best meetings of friends, yet we parted knowing there were so many subjects we hadn’t even touched on, but which we could save for next time. For there will be a next time, hopefully lots of next times, as a virtual friendship is transformed by a single meeting into an actual friendship.

Before DH and I left, we all went into The Broad’s beautifully reappointed office, where our respective husbands tried their best to take some photos of two laughing women, (one of whom has a very bad habit of closing her eyes when being photographed) which weren't blurred or unrecognisable and which captured something of the spirit of our meeting. I think they succeeded.

Broad, meeting you and The Man was great and I’m so glad you suggested it. Here’s to friendship.

Why can't this woman keep her eyes open?

Now calm down and stop giggling, you two!

That's better...

Isn't friendship great?