Derry Detour

Friday I very spontaneously split town and headed over the Glenshane Pass to Derry, site of my misspent youth. Over the coming week, I’ll be slogging away on my quarterly writing assignment, and on Thursday I’ll be in London for interviews. So this Friday through today was all about indulging in social time with people I love.

I started with Mary Richmond, who was our housekeeper in Derry. She lost her husband and her sister three years ago, she had no children, and she is one of the sweetest people you could hope to meet. So we had tea and cake and I showed her photos from my nephew’s wedding and we talked about her health issues and just had a lovely visit. Then I headed to Julie’s, one of my high school buddies, and we went to a brutal yoga class. The teacher repeatedly “readjusted” me to get me into proper position, eliciting a lot of whimpers from me. She finally said “runner’s legs” and gave up.

Speaking of which, I went to Derry’s Parkrun Saturday morning. Here’s a photo from the Derry Parkrun Facebook page.

The gentleman to my left has run in 77 Parkruns on 18 courses--there are 23 in Northern Ireland. It was a great run, really friendly people, beautiful course, followed by tea, biscuits and a decorated cake in honour of a runner who has done 100 Parkruns. I came 19 in a field of 70, 3rd among 32 women, and first in my age group (did I say I was going to desist from reporting on my progress?). And I was 2 minutes faster than my first Park run. Probably not fair to compare different courses, but I was chuffed. Tea after the race:

I spent the afternoon first with Mr. Bigger and his sons, twins who were in my year at school, then with Cathy Arthur, another fellow student, then I ended up going out to dinner with Julie, her husband and son, her sister and her sister’s daughter, and Julie’s 86-year-old mother.

I am slowly building a network of friends in Belfast but nothing to compete with going home, at least my home from age 12 to 18, and being welcomed into the bosom of my surrogate family. The fret and worry of finding a job, fixing up a house, and supporting David through stressful times at work melt away when I’m back on my home turf. Derry people are incredibly friendly and I revel in the humour and kindness of people here.
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