Third Time Lucky

This was the third time my brother had tried to visit, each time thwarted by new Covid regulations. So a week before his flight, like Harry Potter in the under stairs cupboard, he went into self-imposed isolation. To many he is a Senior Adult Psychotherapist specialising in Mentalisation Based Therapy (MBT) at the Bethlem Royal Hospital, to me Simon is my twin brother who I have argued, fought, but mainly laughed with for the last 55 years. So it was wonderful to see him in person instead of cutting out, Norman Collier style, on the family zoom. Everything was set for a fantastic weekend: the sun was going to shine, the Deux-S è vres countryside was at its finest, the fridge stocked and it was our birthday on the Sunday. Simon is a bit of an amateur wine aficionado, so we thought Chinon would tick all the boxes: ch â teau, cobbled lanes and old-man river (the Vienne) rollin' along... all surrounded by vineyards. A packed itinerary had been formulated for the day but we had...