Sometimes in life, you make a really good decision.  Taking up kickboxing was one of my best decisions,  because it brought me 25 years of friendship with Clare. Many times over those years, we would reminisce and laugh about the pretty weird people that we met in the early 2000s while on holiday in Southern Ireland & later, whilst walking the Great Glen Way, both with our friend Gillian.

We visited the Irish village where the  old John Wayne movie, The Quiet Man, was filmed & we even stayed in The Quiet Man Hostel. They showed it in their cinema room every night. Clare & Gillian had never seen the movie,  so we duly went one Sunday evening, only to discover a queue of people waiting outside, unable to get in, because a religious group, who were also staying there, was holding its service. The owner of the hostel (who'd decided to call me Jacqui, because he thought I looked like the female cop from Taggart) arrived & when he saw the queue, said 'oh no, no, no!' He charged into the room, interrupted the singing & announced 'The Quiet Man stops for two things - Christmas Day, and the World Cup. You are neither, so you'll have to leave!' The group promptly left & the film began. We have never forgotten that film! 

On the Great Glen Way, we ended one of our walking days, having drinks & nibbles on a barge, converted into a pub. The owner turned out to be anti-American & would run to the top of his barge to give the American fighter jets, training in the skies above us, the double handed V-sign every time one whizzed by. My request for a Southern Comfort & lemonade was refused with choice language and I was swiftly advised to try another drink! 

When I think of Clare, it will be of the two of us laughing at the absurdities of life, with the gratitude of having shared many happy times with her along the way.