It’s nearly four years since Laura passed and recently I’ve dipped a toe into dating again. I am having a lot of fun. And Laura seems to be having a lot of fun too. She made a rather loud and unexpected appearance in the middle of a recent dinner at ABCV – Jean Georges Vongerichten’s new restaurant in the Flatiron District.

My date and I were happily chattering away when there was an enormous crash beside the table. Everyone around us looked up to see what had happened. I looked around too, but I couldn’t see anything. So we went back to eating and chatting. Then a few minutes later my companion noticed a dish was missing from our table. Neither of us had knocked it, or seen it drop. Instead it it felt as if the plate jumped noisly off the table of its own accord.

‘Do you think that was Laura?’ my friend asked, aware that Laura is still a lively presence in my life.

‘Maybe,’ I said, puzzled as to why she would throw dishes. Although not long after she died she made objects jump in my apartment. And we had just been talking about her.

So that night I asked Laura if she was the culprit.

‘Yes,’ she said

‘Why?’

‘Because the conversation was boring,’ she replied. (As I write this the lights just flashed), I asked ‘Why?’ again. and she said because it was about her and about the past.  What’s interesting is Laura doesn’t comment on who I am dating, just on my dating skills. That’s my girl – giving me a poke in the ribs to shape up, be more fun and adventurous.