Fiona

 Fiona has been my friend since we moved to Ballarat. She was a mature mum in her mid forties who had two girls and my husband met her first at St Peter's playgroup while I was working for Mars.

She used to arrive late to playgroup with her eldest, Emma, with unbrushed hair, and baby Phoebe who was born a fortnight later than my daughter.

We got along really well. Fiona was very vivacious, loved a chat, would chat with anyone. She used to be an Art curator and had an Art History degree so we had a common study connecting us. Her husband Robert was a Russian teacher at Melbourne Uni but he also wanted to study again and move into the IT field so he was picking my brain about how I ended up working in IT after doing an Arts degree.

We had some lovely moments having picnics together in Ballarat Botanic gardens, playdates at the amazing citadel of a timber playground by the lake.

Lovely cups of tea in Fiona's sunny, north facing kitchen in Webster St.

Bags of hand me down clothes shared.

Chats about the environment and living greener.