It started last Monday, with a trip to the Bell folk club at Adderbury. I still think Jules was telling woppers when he said it was only 15 minutes from his place (else I don't want to know what speed he drives at when he's alone in the car!), but this community of singers has made us both very welcome over the past 6 months - and Ants too , when he's been able to make it. We all sang up a storm tonight - and Sheena and Dave and various other regulars looked genuinely dismayed when I said I couldn't make next fortnight - or the next dozen or more after that. I went home feeling warm and buzzy. England has given me an enormous gift, an open door to the folky world - I've played at a festival, made recordings, sung in countless pubs with countless musicians, many of them far more experienced than I. This generosity, and talent, is what I will miss most when I go.
Wednesday saw Jules and I tee up one last time, back where it all began, at Open Mike night in Grandpont. I still remember the first time Jules came in to the Marlborough arms pub. He played 'The Dance' and I was spellbound. It was like meeting an old friend for the very first time, words and music both new and yet achingly familiar. Guy recorded us and, when he handed the master over on Sunday, wasn't kidding when he said he thought it might be our best yet. We've promised to stay in touch and send each other songs to learn, so don't think you've heard the last of 'Wytham wood' just yet!
Friday was our 'official' leaving drinks. I tried to break with tradition and escape the dreaded Red Lion in Eynsham, but the bloody Queen's Head was closed 'til 5.30 (and the Star just ain't the same since Ollie left), so there we were.
Bolted out of there by 6 to get buses into town in time for Happy Hour (half price cocktails) at the Duke of Cambridge on Little Clarendon St. I have the lovely Helen to thank for this place - they do an amazing concoction of cherry liquer and chocolate and cream and it's like drinking a black forest cake. Lush.
Super cool surprise! Mandy Connell arrived from Newcastle (in fairness, she was on her way to stratford anyway). She'd texted a week before to say 'I'm here for 5 months, we're all gonna have the best-est summer!' and we had to explain that our summer was gonna take place a little further south. But so, so amazing that she made it for this! Typical Aussie style, she turned up with backpack, guitar case and a mandolin. Never bring what you can't carry. Brenda, Nicola, Malcolm, Tess and Zoe rounded out our merry band, but when the cheap drinks ended, it was time for stage 3 of our progress and we hopped a bus back to Witney.
The New Inn was jumpin' by the time we arrived - the Company of Chivalry had migrated in force from Bristol and it was Friday, so a lot of the regulars were in their usual places. I hugged Ants and told him how amazed and thrilled I was that the Company'd come all this way just for us. He reminded me that he'll be here for another 4 weeks and will see them lots. They weren't here for him, he said. I nearly cried. I might've actually. I was a bit soused.
We sang, we ate fried stuff, we talked, we drank - o how we drank! - and Martin finally booted us all out well after closing. We slept 10 people in our 2 bedroom cottage that night - 2 on the floor in our room, two in the spare bed, Kate the Witch alone in the loungeroom (how'd she do that - it's the biggest room in the house?), 3 in the loft, and us.
I cooked brekkie all round the next morning, Ants took Mandy to the station (the bus waited for her - they don't DO that in England!), the company left, and I burst into tears at the thought of all those dishes, and the prospect of moving with a hangover.
Somehow, we got it all done. Furniture to Zoe's, a truckload to storage in Bristol, racing the clock to arrive in time so we'd be allowed to unload. Thankyou Si and Badge who put their own hangovers aside to give us a hand!
Endless cleaning Sunday. We were late to our 'next' farewell: dinner at the Kaz Bar and one last session at the Half Moon. That crazy but brilliant Heather Payton came all the way from London to say g'bye, Folly Bridgers and Half mooners were there in force. The Kaz Bar didn't disappoint - it never has! Then it was over the road for singing and one last Aspalls, before switching to softies for the drive home. Singing 'it's hard to be leaving old England' had a poignancy all of its own that night...
Last but not least - Advice Liners past and present, and friends, as my last Monday rolled around. Where else - it had to be the Fleece in Witney. I've not had a better meal any where else in England, and at no meal at the Fleece have I had company quite this good. Hannah Savory was a special guest - complete with card wishing me 'in boca al lupo' - 'good luck, although more literally something about entering the mouth of a wolf, which is perhaps more accurately how I feel! 
At Eliza’s insistence, we finished up on church green with a bottle of champers and a stack of glasses. 
Oh! And check out my groovy leaving present from the A-team - a blend of 'roman' and 'leader' apparently. I love it and wish I could pack it and take it with me.
Actually, there's a lot I want to pack into my suitcases tonight - or maybe I just want the new job to be based here. I learned when I left Melbourne that it's people you miss most when you go somewhere new. There are plenty of folk I still miss from Melbourne, who won't really be any closer, and a lot of people who I haven't met yet in Rome and that will be fun, but right now, I'm carried on this wave of love and respect, good wishes and a touch of admiration from some, that makes me feel very, very special here in England. Y'all better come and visit!
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