About Me

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Hi! I'm Eunice and I live in Bolton, Lancashire, with my two dogs Sophie and Sugar and an assortment of cats - well it used to be Sophie and Sugar, now it's Sophie and Poppie. I first began camping back in 1997 when my then partner took me to Anglesey for my birthday weekend. We slept in the back of the car - a hatchback - using the cushions off the settee at home as a mattress, and cooked and brewed up on a single burner camping stove. The site was good, the views were great, the weather fantastic and I was completely hooked. Following that weekend we got a two-man tent and some proper accessories and returned to Anglesey two weeks later, then over time we progressed to a three-man tent followed by an old trailer tent, then a new trailer tent, a campervan and finally a caravan. When my partner decided that the grass was greener on the other side of the street - literally - in April 2009 and I suddenly found myself alone after fifteen years, I decided there was no way I was going to give up camping and caravanning if I could cope on my own. This blog is the story of my travels, trials and tribulations since becoming a solo camper - I hope you like it

Saturday April 20th 2013 - R is for Renewing old friendships

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge.

Years ago, when my son was quite young, we would have two weeks holiday in June and a week in September in a chalet on a site just down the lane from the Norfolk camp site where I now stay; this happened every year for eleven years and over time we got to know many of the locals. When my son reached his mid teens we got to know an older couple who lived in the countryside a few miles from the chalet site and had a boat moored in a backwater of the Broads; they, like me, were great animal lovers and supporters of several animal charities and we became firm friends. Every time we holidayed there they would take us for days out on their boat and we spent many happy hours cruising the Broads and just generally messing about on the water. Eventually though, my son left his teenage years behind, my life changed when I met my partner, and through circumstances I lost touch with my friends. Then three years ago, after a chance discussion on an internet boating forum revealed that their boat had been sold on but then lost in a fire at a boatyard, I decided that on my next Norfolk camping holiday I would try to track them down.

I didn't think it would be easy as I only had the vaguest idea of how to get to their cottage and didn't even know if they would still live there after all this time, but it was worth trying. And when I did, I experienced one of the biggest coincidences of my life. I'd managed to find the right area but after fifteen years there was nothing which looked familiar; there was a man walking a dog down the lane so I decided to stop and ask him for directions and he turned out to be the very person I was looking for! So I was invited back to the cottage, which was only across the lane, and his wife was really surprised and pleased to see me; she didn't go out much after suffering a stroke a few years ago so she liked having visitors. Catching up on all the news from the last fifteen years it was as if we had never lost touch, and I could have stayed there all day. 

When it was time for me to go I made a promise to call in every time I'm down that way in the future - which so far I have done - and I left with a big hug and an old friendship well and truly renewed.

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3 comments:

  1. Deb Betz21 April 2013 at 03:29

    It is a great feeling to reconnect with old friends. Thanks for sharing your experiences!

    visiting from A~Z challenge

    http://wearinglemon.blogspot.com

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  2. Ann Hinds21 April 2013 at 17:30

    I just got a phone call before reading your post. It is a friend from high school who just happens to be in town today. I haven't seen her in 40 years. We will be meeting this afternoon and I am delighted. While we have emailed occasionally for the last year, this is a treat to be savored, just as your was.

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  3. Tigermouse22 April 2013 at 10:05

    I hope you enjoyed meeting up with your old school friend Ann, it's nice to catch up with people after a long time.

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