Ours was a very long friendship, begun in 1974 when I moved to Muswell Hill where Christine and her family lived.  Our relationship was not professional, just a lovely domestic setting for lives shared.
 
Christine was a fun-loving person who really delighted in parties and shared family occasions.  There was a joy in dressing up and raising a glass. Yet she was a firm Socialist and a Labour supporter all her life.  These principles mattered deeply to her, and we talked politics over lunch, over dinner, on our walks….   
 
When our children were left home we shared a fuller social life and a bit of travel.  There was a wonderful trip to Prague many years ago and of course Italy was a central passion for Christine.  I was happy to be able to join her and Maura there one summer. It helped that my own family background is Italian and so Christine and I made each other suppers with our favourite dishes on offer. We were in each other’s kitchens a lot!  Her lovely garden included an apple tree and more than once I got a pie out of it.   In later years the library and newsagents were her local hang-outs; she could indulge her love of reading novels, and of course the Guardian newspaper (with crossword puzzle).   She remained alert and well-informed about the world to the end.
 
Now I have to say a reluctant final good-bye to Christine.  There were some hard times when we supported each other through grief and loss but what I remember most is Christine’s wonderful laugh-- the many shared pleasures in our lives-- and I will miss her very much.