Mrs and I have been best friends for decades. We grew up in the same small town in Aotearoa/New Zealand, were kind of aware of each other at school but didn’t start dating until I was 16, she was 15. Married 4 years later, still married now. So this will be a bit rose tinted, I guess.

Mrs knows stuff. I don't really know where she gets it all from. Maybe we all get the same information and she just remembers it. But she'll know the Latin name for some plant we come across, and she'll know who the current minister for some obscure government department is. If you are picking teams for a pub quiz make sure you get her on your team.

No, she doesn't know everything. Sport questions usually stump her. But that's about it.

And she's kind. She does the right thing even when it costs her. Even so she finds mixing with people a challenge. She enjoys it like she enjoys a long hike, and she's weary afterwards. But when she's with people she's making an effort, and not showing that effort is kindness too.

Somehow the knowing stuff and the kindness shine through. So often, I mean absurdly often, people stop her and ask the way. She looks like someone who will be helpful and who will actually know. And she does. She's pretty too, which must help.

The best one ever: we were driving somewhere in rural France and came to a country town, no more than a handful of streets. We had just driven into it for the first time and parked near a café. As we got out of our car another car pulled up and a lady called out a question in French. Mrs replied in kind, pointing along the road. She speaks enough French to get by, it gets better the longer we spend there. I don't.

"Merci"

The French lady drove off.

How could you give directions here? We don't know the place at all.

It turned out the French lady wanted directions to the Hotel de Ville, kind of the town hall, and we had driven past it. I hadn’t noticed but Mrs had.

So she gave the French lady directions, in French, to a place in a town she had spent less than five minutes in.

I can't keep up.

The picture shows Sarlat, which is a much bigger French town but I took it around that time

And if you want to know more about Mrs she does have a web site and she writes amazing books (historical fiction set in Aotearoa/New Zealand and, of course, meticulously researched).

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