Kismet

They cancelled the surgery, but not before I had packed my little suitcase with "just in case" overnight clothes and been deposited in the centre of the sprawl that is Papworth Hospital. The shock! One minute you're about to dice with death or worse - and believe me, there is much, much worse than death - and the next you're set free, suddenly stranded and aimless. Everybody reeled in stunned disbelief, but then we gathered ourselves and got on with it. I feel so at home in this Cambridge house where I am welcomed and to which I returned to lick my wounds. The good news was that Ian could now accompany Olivia to the launch of her new novel at a London party, and I insisted that they both went. They set off looking like the glamorous members of the literati that they are. Later I luxuriated in their gossip about the evening, the buzz of excitement and pleasure they brought home with them. In the meantime I hungrily demolished - split what? - a huge quantity of beef, pickled walnut and prune stew that Ian had thoughtfully made the day before for all of us coming and going at odd times. I've been with lots of married or coupled friends over the years, and experienced this twice myself, but I have never before known two people who are so perfectly matched, who discovered each other through what could only be described as the hand of Fate. They might think that they are happy together, but they aren't half as happy as I am.

In other news I am now comfortably ensconced in Gerrards Cross not 200 yards from where I lived with my husband and children all those years ago. This shift was part of Plan A which perforce became Plan B. Hugo loves our hostess but is slightly wary every time I get up to leave a room. When Olivia and I took a few hours out to visit John Lewis yesterday while Ian was teaching, Hugo might have lain on the hall rug awaiting our return because when we opened the front door he threw himself joyously on us both, body wagging furiously around our knees, tail going bonkers. He must have been anxious, but bore it bravely. He's determined it won't be repeated, and stays close now. All my peeps, Kitty and Olivia, John and Ian, Tricia and Hugo, so dearly loved and treasured. At times like these you don't half reckon their value.