I’m going away with a friend for the weekend (she told me). I’ll need a lift up to Otley Chevin Country Hotel & Spa (she asked.). Imagine this cold weather, and I’ll be sitting in an outdoor hot-tub, drinking champagne and eating off the 6 course taster menu.. That’s nice dear (I answered, through gritted teeth).

When we got there though, she handed me a box. In that box were my slippers. First reaction was that she’d accidentally packed them. Thoughts of crawling through rush hour to collect the kids from school were in the forefront of my mind. She just stood there grinning at me. It took me a good 20 seconds to get it. It then took me another 2 minutes for Eirene to calmly answer a series of logistics questions to do with the kids I’d fired at her. All was well, it’s all taken care of (she told me). It took me another 20 minutes to get over the shock and relax into a wonderful weekend.

We’d brought the dog as well. Otley Chevin boasts one of the nicest views around – it’s called Surprise View. (The bit that surprises me about it is how you can see the airport runway as well as all of Otley and a good part of Wharefedale. It’s a lovely spot (I’ve blogged about it before). A lovely weekend of utter peace and quiet. It takes a while to get used to not having the kids around when you’re normally blessed with 4 of them like we are.

This trip marked the (near) 20 years since we first met and what a nice way to mark it. I think she’s a keeper.