No more posting until the end of this week.

When I was about nine years old, I discovered the fun of having penpals around the world. My very first penpal was in England, closely followed by a couple in other states of Australia. Over the years letters came and went from all over the world, friendships have survived from one letter then nothing, to hundreds of letters and lifelong friendships. I have been lucky enough to meet quite a few of them in person.


I've had both male and female penpals, and one of the males is English. We 'met' through an Elvis fan club I think - when we were in our teens, more than forty years ago. We've been corresponding ever since, although in recent years, the letters have dwindled to one or two a year, plus a Christmas card. Paul loves travelling, and has been to Australia a couple of times previously, but never stayed long enough in Melbourne for us to meet, although we have spoken on the phone before. So when he wrote last year to tell me he was coming here again, I wrote back immediately and threatened to follow him all over the country unless he made an effort to meet up this time! He wrote back to say he would love to catch up, and would be in Melbourne for three days - inbetween Tasmania and Queensland.

Tomorrow is our big day. I will meet Paul at the airport and bring him home to stay with us until Thursday. We talked for an hour on the phone last week, and as I haven't had a photo of him since he was about 24, I asked how will I recognise him? Six foot tall with dark hair going grey at the sides, he said. How will he know me? 5'2" with a blonde ponytail and wearing an Elvis teeshirt! Come back on Friday for the whole story!!