No One Is Alone

My parents went away for a week to sunny Spain, coming back this Thursday. During that time, I had the house to myself, which is always a bittersweet affair: on the plus side, I can eat what I want when I want and hang around in my pyjamas all day; on the down side, there can be days at a time where I don't talk to anyone and I often get nothing done (when my parents are here, I still don't accomplish anything, but this is different from doing something.)

However, I wasn't alone the entire time, as I have friends who will travel vast differences and brave the indignity of travelling with Arriva just to come and salve my aching breast.
First up was Jari, who arrived early on Friday and departed late on Saturday. As ever with Jari, he was completely taken aback by the verdancy of the surroundings, even though he lives in Edinburgh, where there is a lot of greenery to be found, if one knows where to look. He arrived with a smile, a giggle and, that most precious of commodities, gossip from my extended friendship circle. We went to get lunch at a posh cafe, a treat from me as he's put me up so often in his flat, and then for walk. Jari's always had a thing for the cooling towers of the power station, so we walked up to the base and gazed to the alpine peak, and I remembered one of my trademark Barely Interesting Factoids: the cooling towers are orange because when they were erected they were painted to camouflage

Like in this picture, where you somehow magically can't see them.

and the landscape was scarred and barren due to all the industrial work; however, in these lush, modern times when most of the valley is forest, they stick out like a carotenaeic thumb.
After this, we returned to my house and spent some time dilly-dallying in the woods (foolishness can happen in the woods) and then cooked dinner and watched Paddington, which Jari enjoyed almost as much as my mother, who I think would actually go to live with the little bear if he Purple Rose of Cairo'd her.
The next day, we went for an even longer walk, taking in a lot of the valley, including the bit that's slowly sinking into the river, and then had cream tea in the village. After this, we went to watch some of the boat race that was happening on the river and returned to my house for an early dinner. Eventually, Jari had to leave and I was on my lonely ownio once more.

But then, two days later, Patrick, Ella and Husnain arrived en masse, despite assurances that they'd be staggered. It was fine though as, after some misorientation hijinks involving frantic phone calls and a good deal of hill-walking, we were all united and so decided to get our drink on, except Husnain, of course. Patrick and Ella had bought some lovely Champagne from Shrewsbury and we drank this in the wood, while I lit a fire using the dried grass that I'd cut from the garden the week before; we sat in the sunshine and ate Ferrero Rocher and posh crisps and joked and chatted and it felt beautifully estival. After this, I still had the Champagne that I was given as a leaving present in France, and we drank it in the front garden, feeling blissfully hedonistic and not a little Gatsbyesque. We sat on the grass and drank and afterwards, we left the champagne bottle sitting in the middle of the lawn to remind ourselves of our glorious excess.
Patrick and Ella had promised to cook and as they made a bolognaise the kitchen was filled with music and laughter and dancing and photographs and supping, just as kitchens always should be.

Some of the aforementioned photographs. All credit (including the one of the valley above) to Ella Ruth Cowperthwaite.

Once we were done with dinner, we started playing Cranium, which always involves a lot of animation on the part of the players and is best played fairly drunk and not really paying attention to the rules. We rocked it, is what I'm saying. Halfway through, the men felt restless, so we decided to go for a walk while Ella stayed in and lounged on the sofa. We walked in the dark, discussing, bizarrely, the sociopolitical implications of name orthography as we crashed through the crepuscular overgrowth. We then returned and played long hours of charades before finally retiring to bed, with Patrick insisting on taking my sister's old high bed before becoming that kid at the sleepover who's never spent a night away from home and has to stay in someone else's room.
The next morning, we went out for breakfast and then down to a little secluded beach on the river severn, where we threw stones in the water, with Patrick scoring many skims when no one else was looking. Ella gave me a henna tattoo and we baked in the heat. Finally, they all had to depart and I was left alone once more.

However, my parents returned on Thursday, and the next day I went to see Mel in Wales, for some conversation and light Godfathering. This time, Travis was in school, so I actually got to talk to Mel and catch-up on what had been happening. Then, we went to pick the munchkin up, and the school fair was on, so we watched as he jumped on a bouncy castle and then clamboured into a Police van (Mel and I both silently prayed that this would be the only time he'd be in a Police vehicle). In the van, they were kind enough to let Travis ink his thumb and then press it onto some paper- what Travis called his 'PingerFrint'- and then put in on a keychain for him, so he now carries his identity on his schoolbag.
I must now confess a small bit of sadness: when I tried to say goodbye to Travis, knowing I might not see him for a long time (possibly five years!), he wouldn't even look at me and kept brushing off my attempts to hug him. I know he doesn't understand and doesn't intend to be cruel, but it still hurt- I wanted a moment with him before I left and the most I got out of him was 'bye!'- less valedictory and more frustrated- but when I asked him where he thought I was going, he answered 'Australia' (quite smugly, I might add), so I guess he occasionally pays attention to what I'm saying. 

And finally, last night I saw Daniel for the first time since Christmas and met his girlfriend for the first time ever. Daniel is as Daniel ever will be- nerdy, intelligent, just this side of being a mad scientist (he certainly has the hair); seeing him is always slightly like stepping back in time, we talk about people I haven't thought of in years and laugh about things that happened eons ago. I imagine the next time I see him, it will be exactly the same, as will every time after that. And I'm very glad about that.

All in all, it was a lovely week and even though I was actually alone for a lot of it, I haven't felt so flushed with friends for a long time. It was really nice to be able to host some of my closest buddies in my house and feel beloved, if not especially by Travis; may that champagne bottle rest there eternally.