I think I usually get on pretty well with Esther but we often tease each other and on this occasion it went too far. I said something that was too strong, she kicked me and then she was told off. Her family and mine were spending a weekend together and were on a country walk in the Thames Valley a few miles outside Oxford. Esther, feeling that she had been unfairly blamed, stormed off and started walking back across the fields to the village where we had parked the cars. After a while I ran after her, catching up with her on the far side of the field. I tried hard to apologize and persuade her to drop it and come back, she nearly did I think, but then she changed her mind and continued towards the cars. Disappointed, I turned back to rejoin the others who had paused by the riverbank to see what the outcome would be