next door neighbours

My mother, Betty, trained as a nurse during World War 2 in Berkshire. One of her fellow students was always called 'Sally' by her friends. After their training Betty and 'Sally' went their separate ways. 'Sally' married a doctor at the hospital and Betty went to various other nursing jobs before ending up back in South Wales, where she had been brought up, and where she met and married my father, a teacher. The 2 nursing friends completely lost touch with each other. After their marriage my parents moved to Surrey and later to Northamptonshire. In 1971 they moved to Bedfordshire, where my father was appointed Headteacher of a village school and where they lived in an old School House. The village post office was next door and sometime after they moved in it changed hands. My mother went to a jumble sale in the school hall one evening and saw a face across the room that looked familiar. "Sally!" she exclaimed. "Betty !" replied her old friend "What are you doing here?" "I'm the Headmaster's wife" my mother answered - "What about you?" "I'm the new Postmaster's wife" replied 'Sally' (for whom this was a second marriage). After 30 odd years Betty and Sally had travelled round the country and ended up living next door to each other without either one of them knowing about it!