In early December Sue got news that her friend Annisha, who was one of the feisty group of teachers she mentored in Sarawak, was coming to the UK for a holiday with her daughter and her cousin Leeza and her family. We decided to meet them all in London and to take them out for lunch as a way of repaying a tiny fraction of the hospitality Annisha gave to us during our stay in Saratok in 2011-13. We met them all at the V&A and then had the tricky task of finding somewhere to take seven people who only eat halal in Knightsbridge a few days before Christmas. As luck would have it we found a Lebanese restaurant with an enterprising Russian manager who organised a fixed price lunch for us around a big back-room table. We had a really convivial meal and Sue and Annisha's bond, was instantly renewed, as it had been when we met for that wonderful barbecue by the South China Sea in February 2018.
We had another quiet Christmas, away from the stresses of a big family affair, spent in Newark and focussing on big lunches, afternoon walks and Quality Street. Then, on 28 December we drove over to Macclesfield for a party given by our friend Patrick and his children at a local pub. It was good to catch up with him, all his children and his lovely mum Mo as well as tucking in to a serious pub buffet with enough saturated fat to sink a battleship.
Having moved to a new house we decided that we would get another dog, our first since Milly in Puglia who died in 2010. This is a big thing for us as we know that having a dog also tends to tie us more to home and means fewer, or at least shorter, travels. We first went to the RSPCA dog rescue centre on the outskirts of Nottingham in 2020 and were a bit let down to find they didn't actually have any dogs that needed re-homing. We tried again in January, expecting to find they still had none, and were surprised to find Poppy, a two-year old Pomeranian, who had been on the verge of being adopted by another lady earlier that day who found she was allergic to the dog's fur. I must say I'd been thinking more of a robust wire-haired mongrel called something like "Ralph" but I took one look at Poppy and she instantly reminded me of Milly's favourite playmate in Puglia, a delightful little dog called "Bruno". Anyway, we said we'd like to adopt her and a couple of weeks later, we picked up this small barky bundle of joy and took her home.
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