One of the things I’ve been looking forward to most about coming back to Britain has been catching up with people I haven’t seen for years.

And this particular reunion was rather special.

Roger and Corinne live in Florida, and I hadn’t seen them since 2004.

Twenty-two years!

That’s a ridiculous amount of time.

I’ve known Roger since he was a teenager, back in the days when we were members of Romsey Sub Aqua Club.

That’s going back a bit!

Over the years, Roger and Corinne have remained firmly on my list of very special friends. The sort of people who stay part of your life regardless of how many miles separate you.

And when they heard I was coming over from New Zealand, they arranged to be in Britain at the same time.

They actually made it happen!

All the way from Florida.

I was so excited.

After all these years of keeping in touch from opposite sides of the world, we were finally going to be in the same place at the same time.

Twenty-Two Years Disappeared

I drove out to Romsey to meet Roger and Corinne, along with their daughter Sheridan and granddaughter Ailita.

And there they were.

In front of me.

Actual people!

Not photographs, messages or faces on a screen.

It felt rather surreal.

But the strangest thing was how quickly those 22 years disappeared.

Within minutes, we were chatting away as though we’d only seen each other the previous week.

There was so much to catch up on.

Twenty-two years of life, family, changes, adventures and everything else that happens when people are busy getting on with their lives.

We talked for ages.

And there was something else I particularly wanted to do.

I wanted to thank Corinne.

Over the years, she’s been there for me through some of my lowest moments.

When things have been particularly difficult, she’s been one of those people who has kept me going.

Sometimes it’s difficult to explain just how much somebody’s friendship and support have meant, especially when they’ve been thousands of miles away.

And although I’ve thanked her before, I wanted to do it properly.

Face to face.

That mattered to me.

A Little Wander Around Romsey

After plenty of catching up, we headed out for a wander around Romsey.

With little Ailita along, a visit to the park was naturally on the agenda.

There were ducks to investigate and all the important things that make a trip to the park worthwhile when you’re little.

It was lovely just wandering around together.

Romsey is another of those Hampshire towns that holds a lot of memories for me.

And, of course, there’s the magnificent Romsey Abbey.

What a beautiful building.

It’s also where Roger and Corinne got married, so it was particularly lovely to visit it with them.

We had a look around and admired the Abbey before going to investigate something else.

The new statue of Queen Elizabeth II.

Now, this was interesting.

The statue contains all sorts of little details representing people, animals and things that were important to the late Queen.

Corgis.

Horses.

Prince Philip.

The Commonwealth.

Even Paddington Bear.

All very lovely.

And then I spotted something.

Pineapples.

Pineapples?

Hang on a minute.

There appeared to be rather a lot of them.

Now, I may be completely wrong here, but isn’t an upside-down pineapple supposed to be a symbol associated with swingers?

And suddenly my mind went somewhere it really shouldn’t have.

Because there I was, standing in front of a perfectly respectable statue of our late Queen, imagining Her Majesty and Prince Philip turning up at a swingers’ convention in a Land Rover.

Philip casually dropping the keys into a bowl.

The Queen surveying the room.

“One does hope there’s a decent buffet.”

Oh God.

Once that image was in my head, there was no getting rid of it.

I have absolutely no idea whether they were pineapples, or what they were meant to represent.

And I am quite certain the sculptor had something considerably more dignified in mind.

But really.

Pineapples?

Of all the things to put on a royal statue!

I shall never look at one quite the same way again.

Good Food and Even Better Company

After our wander around Romsey, we enjoyed a lovely vegan Chinese meal together.

And what a treat that was.

Good food, plenty of conversation and the pleasure of simply being in each other’s company again.

Nothing particularly complicated.

Just sitting around a table with people who have been part of my life for decades.

I’ve been noticing something throughout this trip.

There are friendships where time seems to matter very little.

You can go years without seeing somebody.

In this case, more than two decades.

You can live on opposite sides of the world, have completely different lives and miss enormous chunks of each other’s day-to-day experiences.

But when you finally get together again, none of that seems to matter.

You just pick up where you left off.

And that’s exactly how it felt with Roger and Corinne.

I’m so grateful that they made the effort to arrange their trip so we could meet.

It meant more than I can really put into words.

And I’m particularly glad I had the chance to thank Corinne in person for being such a wonderful friend.

Twenty-two years is a long time.

But apparently not long enough to make any difference to a friendship like this one.

Although I do wonder whether it will be another 22 years before I can look at a pineapple without thinking about the Royal Family.