An antique today: my childhood friend Amanda (left) sent me this 1976 photograph of us in her parents’ kitchen. Neither of us has any idea where the cats came from; they weren’t Amanda’s.
An additional point of interest – apparently the framed picture on the wall behind us is Amanda’s own portrayal of Satan burning in the fires of Hell. At least, that’s what she tells me.
We both remember with confidence that my nylon skinny-rib jumper was acid-yellow.
Amanda was of my best friends at school and we spent a lot of teenage growing-up time together. We sang duets in school concerts, cooked meals and had masses of sleepovers. Her older brother taught me to love Elvis Costello (My Aim Is True-era), her mum always made me welcome and her dad was the coolest one I knew; he rode a motorbike.
At 16, our paths diverged and eventually we lost touch. Twenty years on, we found each other again through Facebook. Amanda lives in London now, her two children are a similar age to mine and she makes a living using her wonderful gift for music, particularly her voice. We haven’t seen each other for a while, but it doesn’t matter; the link has been remade and it makes me very happy.
Today’s guest cat is Amanda’s. He was just a baby at the time of this photograph and rejoices in the brilliant name of Mr Weasley. I just love it!
Thanks Amanda and let’s remember to get together again before too long x
Sent from my iPad
One of my great pleasures this year was to have a house-guest for the first time since we moved in in 2001. I guess it’s a combination of mostly having friends who live nearby and not having had any space before. However, in September, Amanda Salt came over from Northern Ireland for a languages event in my area and she stayed with us for one night. We loved it !
Amanda shared today’s cat with us – his name is Oscar and he is a rescue cat. He seems very fond of this minature Christmas village (can you see the unexpected characters living there?).
A Cat A Day 