The Full Essex

I was down (or up, never sure which) in Southend again this bank holiday, visiting Lucy.

This time it was an altogether more planed affair than last time, without the need for any emergency blood transfusions (though i did draw blood in one overenthusiastic plucking session !).

The main reason for coming.. no the second main reason was that it was the weekend of the Southend on Sea Air Show, the first obviously was to see Luce again. Lucy looked so much better than last I was with her, which I accept is not difficult as she was lying in a hospital bed at the time. Since then, she was discharged and has had some tests the results of which are that her acute anaemia may be caused by…well that's up to Lucy to tell you . Anyway Lucy is really positive, not just because she is feeling a whole lot better, but at least now something is being done to fix her. Whatever fight she has coming I know she will face it with the same courage that has been writ throughout her life.

The excitement for the weekend didn't end with the air show, because on the Saturday night Lucy's sister was coming down to see her. Not a big deal in the scheme of things, 2 sisters going out for the night, but Lucy had not seen Jeanette for over 3 years. Its seems like my life is becoming an extended episode of the little missed show, Surprise Surprise. Now I’m no Cilla, although I can belt out a mean, but frankly disturbing rendition of “What’s its all about Malfoy”. Here I am with another reunion hot on the heels of the last one. What’s next week? I meet the midwife who delivered me !    

But back to the point. I can’t really know why Lucy and Jeanette have kept apart do long. What I do know that they had a tough upbringing, and that unresolved slights in the past can become so magnified and distorted through the lens of time that they become unrecognisable from that they once  were. I’m not saying this is exactly case for them, all I know is that the older I get the more important family are to me, I guess you start to realise that someday there will be no tomorrow to get back in touch.

That Saturday night after hugs and wine we set off for a night out on the town. This was going to be an authentic Essex gal night out, so I had to go for my sexiest and most unbearable heels. I will try not going to make any disparaging or snooty comments about Essex, after all I like in Stoke, The Basildon of the North!! In 3 trips down I have developed a fondness for Southend on Sea. If America and Britain are 2 nations divided by a common language, the Essex and Staffs are 2 counties united in their lack of pretension. It was a fun night and worth the agony of heel induced lameness. All said, it was heart warming to be just a small part of L&Gs reconciliation, and I feel I’ve made a good new friend in Jeanette.

So on to Sunday and the Southend Air show. A brisk (plodding) walk down to the seafront then a rugby scrum along the promenade to find a good spot for Plane Spotting.

“Choose Life, Choose Essex, Choose sisters for ever, , Choose Saaffend,  Choose squeezing through the crowd to find a tiny rocky spot to sit on,  Choose waddling home with a very sore bum.

The show was utterly brilliant. I’ve seen air displays before, mainly at a Grand Prix race at Silverstone or Brands, but they had nothing on this. The hot hot early summer weather, a huge joyful throng, the shimmering sea and a stunning display of flying bravura, combined to make this a day of days.

We had 2 Apache helicopters facing off against each other, wing walkers defying gravity and common sense, The Red Arrows synchronised swooping, The RedBull Air Race chaps touching wingtips and the majestic Battle of Britain Memorial Flight

“Never… in the field of human sunbathing… have so many gawped so much…. at so few”

We rounded the day off by buying a bags load of pseudo perfume from a lorry trailer market trader. Apparently I had bought £300 of scent for 20 quid. I’m sure its quality stuff that I can at least use on Gammo’s litter tray. What with the heels and deals, I was really getting the total Essex experience.

It was sad to see Jeanette have to return to her big smoke, but that sadness was dwarfed by the joy of their renewed sisterhood. My mind turned to my bond with my brother, stronger than ever despite that most of the time he is in some far flung spot or near flung pub.

2 weeks, 2 reunions and maybe 1 lesson: Always keep talking. However long has passed 22 years, 3 years or a few days ?  Its never to late or too soon. Just keep talking

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