The first time: December 1992, The Acorn Pub, Bicester, she sat in a high-winged chair, radiant, lovely, pretending to read a book, waiting for me, my date - lucky me! The penultimate time: Portsmouth, Thursday 15 July - she waited for me in Mozzarella joes, a cafe/restaurant on the seafront. A downpour of monsoon proportions caught me out and I arrived soaked to the skin. She was instantly engaging and effervescent. We shared a round of garlic bread. I soon forgot my sodden state. A year ago, we went cycling. This time, the weather was persistently foul. I cannot help but think what if the weather had been fine, and we had cycled, would that sudden sunny Saturday not then have enticed her, apparently on impulse, to get a quick cycle ride in, just before driving back to Brackley? The last time, Friday 16th July, the day before... No.6 Cinema - we watched a French film, by consensus, a disappointment, a 4 out of 10. Then back to her housesit for a meal of corn-on-the-cob, followed by pasta and a salad. But where was the hummus (an important ingredient)? We searched high and low in that capacious kitchen, even interrogated 'Tilley', the hound-dog, trying to doze in the corner. Finally, of course, the hummus was still in the fridge! We laughed, and Jude's big laugh swallowed the world. -Roger