Two Bridges Hotel up on Dartmoor perhaps the perfect setting to meet up with an old acquaintance. Not old as in old...you know what I mean. Someone I had met via an online reading list many years ago, and though we had met in person a few times, it was a part of a larger group and we had never really had the opportunity to sit down and talk together properly, or perhaps cross that bridge from acquaintance to friendship. A shared love of books make that inevitable really don't they.
Anyway, B was down here on holiday from her home in Bronte-land, and I arrived a bit early and nabbed the fireside chair that didn't have the cat in it..
And in fact we were too hot and moved across to the sofas in the bay window, where our cream tea (minus the cream) but with scones the size of cushions was mixed with a couple of hours of wonderful and fairly intensive bookish chat, and we had an audience.
The hotel assured us they weren't being fattened up for the Christmas menu. Chance would be a fine thing, these geese were very assertive. That one at the front tapped on the window when he saw our scones.
And we talked blogs too because B has just started writing about all her travels to literary places, which I am very pleased about because it saves me the trouble of going. I had discovered Milady's Boudoir, who knows how, but knew there were treats in store when I read B's account of a visit to the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston. My interest was piqued because I have the delightful little Pushkin Press volume of Henry James's letter to Isabella by the bed and often dip into them, but had no idea about the museum. I left a comment and so our acquaintance was re-kindled.
By her own admission B is enjoying keeping a record of her travels and observations for herself and that was the purpose of her blog (Milady's Boudoir now signposted in Visiting, over here>>>>) but I have to say I am enjoying them very much too, and it has created a welcome opportunity for us to get in touch and hopefully keep in touch again.
Thank you to B for a really lovely afternoon. Clever interwebs.
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