For

a dear friend who died yesterday, in Kent, surrounded by her family. Memories crowd in: lavish and fragrant  use of olive oil and garlic in a spacious kitchen; eating by candlelight during the Four Day Week, and also by choice, in Suffolk. She encouraged me with laughter and also by paying for the film stock for a precocious project when I was an uncertain undergraduate. I'm so glad I saw her a couple of months ago -  but we did not have time to share the stories again. 

Last night on the phone with her almost-daughter we agreed that my mum will be putting on the kettle to make L. a cup of verbena tea, with added weeds -  but organic, ready for an eternity of chat.