Visitors

We were fortunate enough to have visitors from London last week - Dawn & Teresa came to stay with us for 4 days, then Cat drove them to Memphis & spent the evening with them there (I wasn't feeling up to the journey or I would have gone along).

It was marvellous to see them both again - Dawn is one of the most engaging, ebullient people I've ever met: she and Cat met while working together at Metropolis 5 or 6 years ago. She has since struck out alone as an independant consultant & contractor, doing floral design primarily for weddings and events. This must be a bit precarious at times, but she has a (well-deserved) stunning reputation, and seems to be steadily busy.

Teresa is a senior detective in the Met: she was head of the homicide squad for the west half of London when we first met her, and has moved on since then to handling the child abuse squad. She is quite hard-headed and (unsurprisingly) acute and inquisitive, but also one of the most warmhearted people I've ever met. She's also an exquisite cook and we had the fortune to have her offer (well, insist) on cooking us dinner on Thursday night, which lived up to her high standards.

We didn't really do much except go out for dinners & brunches, hang out and talk a lot, although Cat took them to look at various stores, mostly to show off the size of them I think: and we did all go to see the President Clinton Library, which was quite interesting - although I found it a bit depressing as a reminder of opportunities squandered, and the incredible damage done by the simple inability to keep his trousers zipped.

Altogether, just a wonderful time to see such dear friends, and to relax and talk heart to heart.