We met her and her husband when Daddypapersurfer was working for the county Youth Service and Sue was the co-ordinator for all the Youth Clubs in the county. The four of us hit it off straight away, they had a daughter the same age as Penfold and Tiggz and we spent quite a lot of time with them.
Tony and Daddy Papersurfer shared an interest in sailing, Sue and I shared an interest in watching them fall in, and later on, when we swopped a house for a much larger boat and decided to sail away for a year and a day or two, they helped us pick the boat up from the yard and sail her up the English channel for the first time. The weather was foul (we spent two hours with the engine going full speed in order to stay in the same position off Brighton) and Sue, always a poor ‘bad weather sailor’, gamely took her turn on watch, made tea and heated soup in the heaving galley.
Throughout the years we knew her, she was a loving mother to her two stepchildren, who visited often, and always good humoured, enthusiastic and kind and generous to her friends.
A few years ago they moved quite a distance away. We visited them a couple of times and then ‘stuff’ happened; our mothers were ill, we were ill, we moved (several times), etc. etc. We kept in touch by phone and email, always promising to visit each other in a little while and always meaning it. Then Sue became ill and it was never the right time to visit; the treatment was so demanding. Now we can never visit her again.
Aren’t we stupid.
Lo,TG Ed
[I leave the very serious stuff to the TG – DP Ed]
