78. Farewell To Mrs Higginsson

22nd March 2014, Beard To Tail, Shoreditch, London

With Mr Higginsson having abandoned us for the land down under already, I am taking advantage of all the time I can get with his better half before she is off as well at the end of March.

There's a lot of 'lasts' coming our way at the moment. And yesterday was the last girlie dinner with the original Swafia ladies and it was about as sad as I had envisaged. Which is why I had to have not one, but two little jugs of Bloody Marvellous to cope. And that was before the wine.

This lucky girl got 45 minutes of Mrs Higginsson one on one quality time before dinner which only made me realise even more that, oh my, will I miss her! No more Sunday lunch catch up sessions, hardcore list making, and the world's best pep talks will now have to be scheduled via Skype to fit in with the time difference! I won't get into how stupid Oz is again, but please note that it is very very stupid.

The other girls shortly showed up at Beard To Tail for this meal to mark the end of an era and although I love them all dearly, the gang won't be the same without Mrs Higginsson.

However, after this leaving dinner I have a bone to pick with all girls but the Floridian who stayed strong and stuck with the agreed strategy. This bone is for abandoning our agreed tactic and being all supportive of this move! It is not a good thing that's about to happen here folks - stop getting behind the madness! And, you know, be selfish like normal people.

Being very sentimental and up and down memory lane following this dinner I can at least appreciate how lucky I am to have had all this time with what has become one of my dearest friends over the last five years. And although she gets all adorably blushing and modest when anyone states the obvious, she is also without a doubt the kindest person I have and will most likely ever meet.

Also whilst being sentimental, here are my top 5 Mrs Higginson moments:

• Having had the greatest honour of being a bride's maid at her gorgeous wedding in and getting to be a part of the run up to her big day.
• Being seen to by nurse Amanda following a nasty accident a few years back where she was my private cook, Fanta deliverer, legal advisor and voice of reason for months and months to come.
• Almost eating ourselves to death Sweden and Australia style at the two day Orphan Christmas bonanza of 2011 - also known as the Red Angry Bird's birthday.
• Lugging live crayfish across in an IKEA bag across East London only to almost chicken out when the time came to cook them.
• Debating the rains being or not being on several Midsummer's Days in London parks. It can be debated if you want summer weather badly enough.

Mrs Higginsson will be missed more than I can even attempt to express in writing and although I still think Oz is a bit stupid, I know she will absolutely rock it down there.

And rest assure, I will come visit. Alert the town elders.

The guest of honour

Drowning my sorrows

 

Ladies of the Swafia