Tears Before Bedtime

 

I’m relaxing at home with a cup of tea with Sheffield all done and dusted.

The drive home clocked up just under two hours, and that was from Dronfield ( where I’d had coffee and cake with friend Kathryn ) over the Derbyshire Moors and down Snake Pass…..a glorious drive.

The one thing that can be said for a divorce is that it’s made me a better driver. 

I really enjoyed the drive, much nicer than the train.

I arrived in Sheffield just before four and met my friend John for a late lunch at Browns at St Paul’s Chambers at five. I haven’t seen him for the best part of a year,  

Now John, on his best form can be described as a performer par excellence. Arch, camp, funny, waspish……think Tallulah Bankhead crossed with Bette Davis sprinkled with a bit of Sondheim and you will get the gist. 

Over the last few years John has been dealing with cancer. He’s upfront and open about it and indeed has faced his condition with all of the fortitude of Carlotta Campion out of Follies , but even though I am up to date about how things are, his recent weight loss caught me a little by surprise.

We talked about it, but then, as always, we laughed and gossiped and laughed over a leisurely dinner where 2 hours flew by like swallows in a blue sky.

I had planned to meet two other friends in All Bar One and was delighted when John joined us. He is at his best when playing to an audience. And we all had a riotous time, like the silly, boozy ones we had when we first met way back in the 90s..

John was the first to go, and there was much swishing and “ darlings” bandied about as we hugged our goodbyes. I watched John walk off for the tram to Hillsborough his figure very slight, almost frail but his wave jaunty and pure Showgirl and  I promptly burst into tears

My friend Mike, a burly, very straight Yorkshireman understood, as did Jane and both of them each held my hand until I sniffed a few times and felt better through the tears.