223. We happy few, we band of brothers

For just over eleven years now, they had been walking on a Friday. Through fine weather, through inclement they met at a prearranged railway station, taking it in turns to design and lead a three hour walk to a watering hole of note, there to quench both hunger and thirst.

They had known each other since their early teaching days, part of the great baby boom in the department that would come to an end in the next few years. But for this happy band, the parting of the ways had already occurred when they each opted for early retirement.

So here they were, being led by Michael, along Bourke’s Canal at Bexley, across the golf course and a few more winding back alleys to the local RSL and its renowned ‘Friday Fisherman’s Basket’. By the time they arrived, the ills of the world had been all put to right.