"Hove actually" is one of life's whimseys. Someone asked if they live in Brighton will often respond with: "No, I live in Hove, actually" expressing a desire to distance him/herself from the more raffish end of our city - Brighton & Hove. For the record I live in Brighton... unlike our great friends John and Françoise who we see all too infrequently, mainly because they reside for nine months of the year in Cromwell, New Zealand and spend just three months in their beautiful apartment in Hove (actually).
Ros and I enjoyed an entertaining Saturday evening with them. Françoise is French and a cordon bleu chef so we are always assured of a fabulous meal when we get together and this occasion was no exception. John spent the early part of his life in the Intelligence Corps achieving the rank of major and spending much of the Cold War years in Germany. This was followed by postings to Hong Kong and British Honduras (now Belize). He speaks fluent Russian and French (as one would expect) and spent the rest of his career in human resources. He and Françoise run language courses in New Zealand alongside translating various documents for government agencies.
I have known John for 42 years and always look forward to spending an evening in his company. In all these years he has seldom repeated the same anecdote and those about his work in intelligence are often highly amusing. A great character with a very chequered life.
We finished the evening in classic style, doing justice to a bottle of Bowmore single malt sat on the apartment balcony and sharing many memories.
Happy days....
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