Me & Elsie

One of my students came to see me today. He did his internship in England this summer and he loved it. He said "I really miss England and I think about it every day". I do too, so I thought I'd do a posting about all the stuff I miss but soon realised it would end up like War & Peace because there's SO MUCH. Family, friends, food, lifestyle, sports, music and just on and on.

So I'm going to do a posting about just one of the things I miss and that's my best friend Sue, aka Elsie Piddy.

We met in 1990 through our AWFUL boyfriends at the time (shudder). We hit it off immediately and still have a relationship where if we don't talk for a month we just pick right up where we left off. We have done so much together but here's a small list of my favourites:

* We worked for her family "pricking out" bedding plants on a Saturday. We took the money we earned and went out Saturday night - sometimes to The Old Hill Inn in Yorkshire where we'd watch the band, down a few pints of bitter then sleep in the car. It was so cold one night our jeans froze.

* We once went to a party after night-clubbing in Southport and let's just say we were a little tipsy. She knocked all the plants off the entry table and I came out from the bathroom with my skirt tucked into my knickers (underwear). We were classy chicks in those days.

* We made a crop circle together

* My students in England were big fans of her band "Pig Town Fling". She's unbelievably talented in both singing and playing guitar. My favourite song she sings A Cappella is "Waltzing Matilda"

Can't believe she talked me into this ride. We screamed bloody murder through the whole thing and used some rather choice words. Look at those Aaron cardies! Arghh

Riding the roller coaster at Blackpool fair with our friends, Wayne & Lauren

1995 - Waiting to do our parachute jump at Cark. Lots more on Cark for a later blog. Yes, they're superimposed. I believe this was a birthday card she sent me once.

We did it - Yea! We went on to do more jumps and even aerobatic flying (how brave we were).

My favourite parachuting story is this: It was a little windy when we jumped and we were on "rounds" which can't be steered like square parachutes and the landing is rather unceremonious - you sort of pull your knees up, cover your head and hope for the best. Sue always dreaded the landing so I landed, gathered up my chute and tried to get close to where she landed. As she landed a big gust of wind re-inflated her chute and she got dragged horizontally about 50 yards across the field, over cow pats and bumps. She was cursing and screaming but I was laughing so hard I couldn't help her.

August 1996 - She was the witness at my wedding and she drove us to the airport in her small, filthy car, full of sweet wrappers and all sorts of unidentifiable stuff. I can't say too much because I'm a car pig too. She kept hold of my wedding certificate for safe keeping and still has it today.

New York 2003. Her second visit to the USA to see me. OHHH, I miss her.

By the way - "Naked Cowboy" might look sexy but he's hairless & covered in lard - eww

Lake District, UK, July 2005 - the last time we saw each other, not counting web cams. I'm going to see her this year and I can't wait.

You can see what she's been up to on her blog FredSueandMe. Big news too - her & lovely Lee are getting married September 2008!

One last thing. I am not saying I don't love America because I do. I just miss England sometimes.