Today is Stense's and my fifteenth anniversary.
I know friends don't usually have anniversaries, but Stense and I do.
Today marks fifteen years to the day since I received a post card that Stense had sent me from Nepal. Yes, that Nepal.
Stense had just quit her job as a barmaid in the pub I happened to frequent at the time. OK, let's be honest, I frequented it primarily because Stense was working there. Total babe, basically. As you can imagine, I had been devastated to hear that she was leaving, so I'd asked her to keep in touch.
And keep in touch we certainly have. Get this: I know this is really anorakish, but I've just checked, and I have sent Stense 417 decent-sized letters and emails over the last 15 years. On average, that's one every 13 days.
That's an awful lot of bullshit under the bridge.
Sorry for that, Stense. Happy anniversary! That'll teach you to go sending post cards to strange men you meet in pubs.
Do you have a picure of Stense you can show us where she isn't snorting cocaine?
I have plenty of very nice pictures of Stense, but I can't show you most of them for legal reasons.
But there's a rather fetching one here.