With Paul around, I'd experiment in the kitchen

Fate brought neighbours Kathleen Campbell and Paul Jones together, and home-cooked meals bonded them for life

- PUNTEHA VAN TERHEYDEN

It was a quick snap of a special moment in time captured on camera, but this final photo of Kathleen Campbell and her neighbour Paul Jones (left) represented more than a decade of life-changing friendship. In the caption, Kathleen, 66, typed: 'I cooked a really nice dinner (below) and he's not here to share it. It's a huge hole in my heart.'

Months after that photograph was taken, Paul passed away from terminal cancer.

Kathleen and Paul had bonded when he'd welcomed her to the Victoria housing development with coffee and helped her move in. She says, "We were two single oldies. I was divorced and he was Jack the lad and we'd been thrown together. Being a Glasgow fella, Paul was very friendly and our friendship grew quickly into a platonic love."

Kathleen began cooking for Paul, who was a trucker. "I always cooked from scratch, and whenever he worked late, I cooked dinner for him. Even though I've struggled with eating over the years, I'm a bit of a feeder and Paul loved that." Kathleen cooked Sunday roasts, lasagnes, lemon chicken with fried rice, spaghetti bolognese, curries and Paul's favourite, ham broth with steamed cabbage and crusty bread.

"Sometimes, I threw together a Mediterranean salad to remind him of the years he'd spent living in Spain. We'd enjoy it with a glass of wine together. I'd pop down with extra food in the evenings or make wraps for his lunch. He'd tell me how he loved the bones off me' and that always made me laugh. 'I wish I'd met you years ago,' he'd say, and I'd tell him, 'Yeah, so I could feed you!""

It was a running joke between the pair, but their friendship was cemented in their sharing of meals.

"With Paul around, I'd experiment a bit in the kitchen. It kept my confidence up to cook things that were a bit different."