Sleeping Next Door to Alice

A couple of weeks ago, the infamous Al and I, for seperate reasons, had a particularly trying Saturday morning. While I was crying down the phone to another friend, the beeps came through...answering that call, I heard Alice crying on the phone....I say goodbye to the first caller and go back to Al. After we both managed to stop blubbering, we laughed at each other, making fun of the irony of us both sobbing at the same time...it's never happened before....it's either one or the other, you know, and never the Twain shall meet....until that morning.

Eventually our conversation moved to safer ground.

Alice: "We need to get hammered."
Me: "Nah we don't, we need to do something Thelma and Louise-ish. Oh, I know! Let's bugger off up the coast for the night and stay at the orchard."
Alice: "That sounds cool...but without the gun..."
Me: "Or the driving off the cliff bit..."
Alice: "I'll bring the scarves."
Me: "I'll see what I can do about getting hold of Brad Pitt."

So, after organising offspring and packing an overnight bag, she picked me up later that afternoon.

The scarves were a no-show...but then so was Brad Pitt. We took Barnaby instead, besides we knew he wasn't going to have sex with either of us, let alone steal any money. There was no money to steal from me, but that went way over my head at the time.

We stopped on our way up the coast to have dinner at a restaurant that looked out over the sea, it was beautifully relaxing and just what we needed. We enjoyed our time there so much, we didn't get up to my sister's until sometime around 9pm.

The fact that I couldn't really see where we were going in the dark didn't help. I had Alice driving up and down the road looking for a sign that wasn't even there because we'd not gone down the lane far enough. She eventually retorted..."Bloody hell, I'll be blogging about THIS tomorrow! *snort*" In reality she doesn't have a blog, but I guess she's heard me say that so often she felt the need to repeat it at the time. She loves me really, just sometimes I can make it difficult for her lol.

Alice has never met my older sister before. We walked in to find my sister, half tipsy, (another) glass of wine in her hand, her step-daughter straightening her hair, eyes streaming and constantly blowing her nose. Hayfever must be a bitch when you're living on an orchard.

My sister has no 'natural' children of her own. She has three adult step-children, one of which has produced two gorgeous grandchildren. The bonus of the evening was that all were present. I don't often refer to them as her step-children...as far as I'm concerned they're her children just as much as her husband's...they've been a big part of her life for over 17 years now. It is obvious the mutual love and respect they share is deep, and I was proud to introduce them all to one of my closest friends.

It was a warm fuzzy evening with a lot of laughs and couldn't have been a better tonic. God, how I love that my sister and her husband have such a haven for me to run to at times. If truth be told, it wouldn't matter a jot if they had such an oasis or not....being able to spend time with them has always made me feel calm and refreshed afterwards. It's like they balance my soul.

We went for a walk through the orchard the next day....the apples were ready for picking....we picked some ourselves to bring home. I was admonished once again for leaving Barnaby back at the house....Alice seems to have taken on the role of his advocate...she refers to Jo as "Barnaby's Mum" lol.

We slept in the shipping containers I've shown photos of on here before...well set up, bathroom facilities included (still no hot water as yet). That night it was a little chilly, and we'd gone to bed pretty well covered up. Body heat being the wondrous thing it is....I woke up the following morning and spied Al's pjs on the floor.

Me: "Please don't tell me you're naked in bed beside me"
Alice: *rolling over sleepily* "What time do they bring in breakfast?"
Me: "Here we are, two newly single women....Is this what it's come to?" *sigh*

Ah well, what's life if you can't get that comfortable and intimate with your breast friend?

(Barnaby and Alice's "Lambie")

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