Yesterday Sylv and I met for lunch. We went for tapas at the Mediterranean restaurant in Bishops Waltham only to find it mysteriously closed. We walked round the corner to The Barleycorn where we had a good lunch.
I'd just taken a small camera in my handbag not really thinking to take any photos.
Partway through lunch, I tentatively suggested to Sylv that she might be in my new series of portraits and was a bit surprised when she readily agreed as she has always said she's not keen on having her photo taken.
She thought of swapping places with me which was a good idea as she was originally sitting with her back to all the paraphernalia of a busy pub. I took 5 shots and liked this one the best.
Ray and I originally knew Sylv and her husband, Bob, through a health club at Marwell Hotel, a small pool but a nice activity first thing in the morning. Fourteen years ago I had one of my bipolar hospitalized stays, being discharged after 4 months. It's always hard and slow for me to re-adjust to 'normal' life and I remember we went to a social evening at the club.
Sylv had kept in touch with Ray, always asking how I was getting on, and came over to welcome us to join their table. It may not sound too much but it was a touching experience for me in the circumstances. (I haven't been back on the psychiatric ward since and sincerely hope that meds plus my own self-management plan mean that I am never there again.)
After that we all became friends and shared afternoon teas in and lunches out.
It's now almost six years since Bob died and, talking to me today, Sylv expressed what a shock it had been but then said she fell to thinking that she still had her life and she determined to make the best of it. She added that, being an only child and having no siblings, she would not have coped without all her friends.
She is often away visiting them in various parts of the UK and undertakes long solo drives such as to Cornwall and back. Three years ago she went on her first cruise - to the Norwegian fjords - and has just come back from the Caribbean. In between, she went to the Baltic, as far as St Petersburg. She has just booked to return to the Norwegian fjords as she didn't see too much on the first visit because the weather was bad and the ship unable to dock.
We share an interest in photography. After Bob died, Sylv took over his dslr but found it too everything and bought herself a camera in the Panasonic Lumix series.
Having been away for a fortnight, Sylv has been catching up on my posts on 365 which she follows quite closely. I sometimes have the feeling that she remembers more about what I post than I do myself..............
She went on a photographic excursion whilst on the cruise and sent me a ref to Ronnie the instructor's website. See his b&w collection **
Since Sylv has been home she has had a walkabout in the medieval market town where she lives and has sent Ronnie b&w photos of 'her world' by email - a nice twist in the tale I think.
**
http://www.ronniecarrington.com/stock_images.cfm?ID=23§ion_=Black%20&%20White%20Series
Sam, thank you kindly!
An interesting story too of how friendships are made. Slyv seems a lovely positive person to have in your life.