Hello again Jamie and Garden Party!

The Anderson clan all gathered two by two in High Wycombe. Davie and Chanel arrived on Saturday and in the evening the four of us went to meet Jamie and Kerry at Heathrow Airport. I was so over-excited and tense that I almost felt ill. It is more than two years since I have seen Jamie, in fact two years and four months, since Monday 9th March 2020, and it has broken my heart. Chanel and I held up the wee banner that I had ordered: “Welcome Jamie and Kerry” and soon they arrived. I was so emotional for the first few minutes but then Jamie was so unchanged and his usual happy self, that I completely relaxed. It is so absolutely great to see him again, and lovely to meet Kerry. So now we were six and we went out for drinks in High Wycombe, which was quite lively on a hot summer’s Saturday night!

And on Sunday morning six became eight when Ally and Cat arrived and we all had breakfast together before driving twenty minutes to Jenn and Russ in Princes Risborough.

Jenn and Russ have always known how to throw a great party, and they surpassed themselves on Sunday. It was another very hot day but they put up parasols around the table in their huge and gorgeous garden and we sat outside all afternoon chatting and laughing. Both Josh and Ben had come home for the party so all five cousins on the Russell side of the family, who are all of my Mum and Dad’s grandchildren, were together for the first time since before Covid. It was great that all three of my sons’ beautiful girlfriends were there and Allan and Jean Smith joined us for lunch; it was a very happy family party. Jennifer had made lots of delicious food and Russell cooked away cheerfully at the barbecue, which must have been unfeasibly hot for him but he didn’t complain! Jenn and Russ had put up their table tennis table in the garden as well as croquet hoops, and the young folk all joined in the games enthusiastically; it was as if the cousins had never been apart. 

It’s difficult to describe the afternoon adequately; it was sunny, relaxing, happy, and it passed all too quickly in a haze of heat and contentment. I don’t think that any of us wanted to leave when it was time to head into London, or back to Manchester in Davie and Chanel’s case, but eventually we said our goodbyes and headed for the train station. More heatwave awaited us!