I met my best friend on a cooking forum several years ago. She lived in Plymouth and I live in Las Vegas, but we found we had so very much in common aside from cooking, especially reading and an enormous interest in John of Gaunt. We began emailing daily and spoke on the phone as often as we could. We even read each other's favoite books. I read Wheel of Fortune by Susan Howatch, her favorite, and she read The Stand by Stephen King, my favorite. She was supposed to come to Las Vegas to meet me in person, but she fell ill. Oral cancer. After her bout with chemo and radiation therapy she was in remission and my husband decided that I should go to England and meet her.
So I few into Gatwick and she picked me up and we spent 16 wonderful days together, mostly in Plymouth and a couple of days in London. Unfortunately, shortly after I returned home, her tumor returned and she didn't survive. She died in November of 2012. Since then, I have become reclusive and lost interest in things I used to care about like cooking and writing.
I found this forum on a whim. Maybe it was just time for me to rejoin the living, so to speak. I googled cooking forums and found this one. I'm thrilled to find so many members residing in the UK. It makes me feel closer to my friend somehow.