Friends

Bloody hell, what would we do without our friends? (By “we”, of course I mean the people on their own, with no parents, no partner, no children and a family far, far away in England.)

First there was Jean, who when I rang to say I had to take Stella to the vet for what I feared was the last time, told me she’d be straight over, before I could say I couldn’t face stressing her by putting her in her cage.

I was supposed to be going for a walk with Joe and Georgie on Friday. I sent him a text late morning to say I was going to have to cancel because Stella really wasn’t well and I had to try to get her to the vet. He texted back to say he was sorry to hear it and hoped she would be okay.

When I got back from the vet’s, after I’d been to the nursery to find a rose bush, I sent him a text to say that, sadly, no she was not okay and that I was about to head down to the garden to bury her. I didn’t see his reply, that he and Georgie were heading over. By the time they got here I was just about finished. He suggested a short walk. I pointed out that there wasn’t much daylight left, but it would be nice if he came in for a cup of tea. Georgie’s never been allowed in the house before, because, you know, Stella. But Stella was no longer in the house, never would be again. While Joe and I were having our tea and talking, Georgie jumped up on the couch, laid down and put her head on my lap. It felt as if she knew how much I needed to tickle an animal behind the ears. Maybe she did.

Before he left, Joe suggested going for a walk yesterday, which we did. Although it was a nice day, the trail was, in places, quite mucky from all the recent rain. 

There’s a particular rock on this particular trail that she likes to jump up on to have a bit of a rest from ball chasing.

As we were walking towards her I noticed that someone had, for some inexplicable reason, left a triangle dangling from a tree branch. Arty shot!

A while back, when UK friends started raving about the return of David Tennant to Doctor Who, I did some checking to see where the shows could be streamed here. Disney+ definitely had them in the US, but it wasn’t clear this was true in Canada and you cannot check what’s available here without taking a subscription. I asked Joe, who does have Disney+, if he could check for me, which he did. The answer was yes.

While we were out walking yesterday he invited me to come over to his place last night for dinner and Doctor Who. I told him I would love to do that. And I was deeply touched.

Got home from the walk to find a bouquet of flowers and a card leaning against the door. Another friend, Donna. Again, I was deeply touched. When I rang to thank her, she told me about the inner struggle she’d had about leaving the flowers by the door. What if a deer got up on the deck and ate them before I got home? A definite concern here, but happily the deer stayed away.

Off to Joe’s for dinner, armed with a bottle of our favourite red wine and some of my chocolate truffles. 

And, yes, it was bloody marvellous to have Tennant back. And Donna. 

“You are a good friend,” I told Joe before I left. “Thank you.” He gave me a hug and said he hadn’t wanted me to be sitting at home alone, grieving. 

As I’ve already said, bloody hell, what would we do without our friends?