FRIENDS OUT OF THE PAST

Years ago, there was a list serve for fans of a popular mystery writer that many of us referred to as the Cornwell list. There was probably 50 plus active members and an unknown number of lurkers. The list was abruptly terminated and shut down when the web master took a job for the famous author. Thankfully, some of us on the list had exchanged personal email addressess.

I remember being quite seriously ill once and two of the list members shipping me a get well basket. Those two same list members traveled to England to meet with yet another list member. And, a Russian list member sent me a lovely enamel Russian pendant that I still have.

Diane, Claudia and I have kept in touch over the years. We have a common shared value of loving animals and send pictures of our beloved animals back and forth. I lost contact with our friend Cathy in England some years ago. Diane was kind enough to relay a message to Cathy that I was asking after her. Cathy wrote me a long chatty email. It was so incredibly wonderful to hear from her!

When I first met Cathy, she was still living in Hong Kong. She had been born there, but was unsure about remaining there when England turned Hong Kong over to the Chinese. She had been a witness to the incredible violence of "T" square. So, she left Hong Kong and established a life in England. She's been there 7 1/2 years now and appears to have made a good life for herself.

Cathy is in investment banking of which I have absolutely no knowledge. I know she puts in dreadfully long hours and did so when she was living in Hong Kong. In a few weeks she's headed for India. I don't think there is any holiday in this trip. She loves holidays and I remember her heading off to Istanbul some years ago to pick up some rugs for her flat shortly after she moved to England. I think this trip to India is totally business. I know she's moving some work from Bangalore to Mumbai. She went to Bangalore in 2004 to put some functions offshore there. I think Mumbai may be in Africa and I have no idea where Bangalore is. Possibly, they are on different coasts of India. I'll have to look those places up and find out where they are. I know she's faced with moving a system that has been running smoothly for four years across an entire continent and retraining 100% of the staff to do critical highly important investment banking business. She's going to have to merge it into another world and completely change the structure of it. Sounds daunting to me!

She said she hadn't been on holiday since 2001 and she really hopes to take about a month for holiday once she finishes the India trip. She wants to explore the United Kingdom and she'd love to visit Russia visiting all the Baltic capital ports on the way.

I wish her the very best and hope she gets that holiday. She deserves it!!!! And, I am grateful that she wrote. Her note took me back to wonderful times in my own history.

I'm still sorry the list serve was terminated so suddenly. I met wonderful people and made wonderful friends on it. Without the list serv, I rarely read Cornwell anymore. In the days of the list serv, we all bought every new book and read it cover to cover the first day it was available in the stores. I bought Cornwell's newest book (Book of the Dead) about six or eight weeks ago and have yet to crack the cover.