We met in the private dining room of a 5 star hilltop hotel with fantastic views west over the bridges and river mouth. Yet I still couldn’t resist spoiling the happy atmosphere of the gathering by sneaking out to photograph the sunset. Granted the reds and pinks were phenomenal, but shouldn’t I be paying more attention to my friends, especially Andrew, newly widowed after the sad death of ED?

There wasn’t a suitable vantage point to photograph the sunset from the hotel car park so I wandered down the hill into the village. Here I encountered the same problem. I had put my friendships at risk for nothing.

When I resumed my seat at the dining table, my school friend KF pointed her camera straight at me. It was as if she wanted to capture a portrait to depict my disloyalty to the group.