Sunday 3 November 2013

Storytelling Sunday 3 ~ Sketches

Here we are again, on the first Sunday of the month. Which means it must be time to join Sian From High in the Sky with a little something we treasure.

 

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I pulled out this pencil sketch a couple of months ago, to show my daughter, who was drawing portraits for her Art homework. I was reminded of it again when I stayed with my best friend from Uni last weekend. We drank red wine and reminisced and the years just melted away. Friends like that are the most precious kind.

The paper is wrinkled and a little discoloured now, but the lines remain strong. It was drawn around this time of year, when we had not long moved into a house together, along with three other girls. We had all lived in halls prior to that and it was fun settling into our first proper house and making it home.

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Five was the perfect number and we each took a week night to cook for everyone. Three of us were vegetarians and The Cranks Recipe Book became my new best friend. I learnt a lot about cooking on a budget in those first months and it was lovely to sit together around the table, after a day of lectures, sharing a meal.

On Saturdays, when it was my turn, I would cycle down Withycombe Village Road and come back with a basket full of paper wrapped chips. There’d be thick slices of white bread, generously buttered and plenty of tomato ketchup, waiting to be made into big fat chip butties. Happy days.

Three of us are still in touch, twenty five years after we first met and I couldn’t have wished for better friends to share those first years away from home.

20 comments:

Sian said...

Friends like that are such a gift! when Abi writes about her new student house, it takes me right back to my own and the girls I shared with. we are still in touch too - and have moved on to the next generation, with our children now at university! We went to each others weddings and we are just waiting for the next generation of weddings to come round too..

Definitely precious!

Melissa said...

What a great sketch & the memories that go along with that time!

debs14 said...

Great memories - certainly a very precious sketch.

Jo said...

That is a great sketch and lovely memories, I want a chip buttie now though! :)m x

Missus Wookie said...

How lovely that you still have the sketch and the friendships. Friendships that go back so long are definitely precious.

Jane said...

I could just eat a chip buttie now!!

scrappyjacky said...

How lovely that those friendships have lasted.

Becky said...

It is wonderful for friendships to last like that. I recently met up with two friends I met 36 years ago and we are still great friends.

Alison said...

How wonderful that you all got on so well in a shared house! Most of the people I've shared a house with over the years, I never wanted to see again, after they failed to clean it or up after themselves .... sounds idyllic Fi! x

Amy said...

At the time it is so easy to not appreciate, fully, how precious those days are ....

jeanie g said...

You learned some special lessons outside of Uni which prepared you for adult life! I love the fact that the portrait brought back such special memories and you still have your friends.

Sheena said...

What a wonderful story beautifully told x
I'm still in touch with the 2 girls I lived with when I moved out of halls :)

Cheri said...

totally cute sketch and fun memories! What is a "chip buttie"?

Lisa-Jane said...

I'm envious of your memories because I did my degree at the OU so no student housing for me. Its one of those things that I really feel that I missed out on because the camaraderie of being together and battling finances and lectures etc together is something very precious indeed. But now I need a chip buttie.... darn you! ;-)

Anonymous said...

What a fabulous sketch and lovely story and it has left me craving a chip butty but mine would have to have meyo rather than tomato sauce.

Sandra said...

Friends like that are precious indeed

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Such a great sketch, Fiona! I loved reading your story and I paused when I read "chip buttie." Having been to England this year I THOUGHT I knew what it meant so I Googled it and I was right - a French fry sandwich! Haha - I have never seen one of those here, but the photos I saw via Google look fantastic!

Alison said...

I still count my school friends as one of my greatest blessings!...lovely 'precious' this month
Alison xx

Lou said...

such a lovey story...it's good to have such lovely friends x

Beverly said...

Very nice sketch! I love the story (found out what a "chip buttie" is from Deb's comment and passing on that) and that some of those friendships have been forever ones. I have dinner once a month with childhood friends and it is so nice.