Friendship

We met Carole and Kevin in about 2005 when we were still in the first flush of our Italian adventure and they were running a holiday letting business.  We've always associated them with Italy and were frequent visitors to their trullo complex in Puglia and later to their townhouse in Nocera Umbra, to which they returned after it had been renovated some thirteen years after the earthquake that rendered it uninhabitable in 1997.

Now we all find ourselves back in the UK, at least temporarily, and so we went up to see them in Kevin's old home town of Newcastle.  Sue and I both feel at home with Carole and Kevin, in part perhaps because we have a shared sense of adventure and a willingness to do things rather than just dream about them.

Although we met in a new context we quickly settled down into our easy friendship, strolling around Lindisfarne and Newcastle, chatting eating and drinking.  On the Friday night we found a Malaysian restaurant in the City Centre which spurred Sue and I on to talking of our time in Borneo and on Saturday we visited Lindisfarne and ate deliciously fresh fish and chips in Seahouses.

Finally, on the Sunday we puzzled our way around the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art before saying farewell.  Looking back on our weekend I'm so glad to have friends like Carole and Kevin to share memories and experiences with without the need to explain everything.