GETTING in touch with long-lost friends can be hard at the best of times –but what if all your pals think you're dead?
That was the surprising predicament facing Christine Greenslade, 66, when she decided to visit her west Cornwall birthplace for the first time in decades.
A morbid mix-up in The Cornishman 25 years ago saw her name printed in the death announcements column – instead of her mother's.
"My friends had mourned me, which is really sad," said Ms Greenslade, who has seen the funny side.
"I only found out last year and I was gobsmacked, but I've seen the humour in it and had a bit of a laugh."
The mistake happened when Ms Greenslade, who was born in Penzance and grew up in the area, phoned The Cornishman to place a death announcement for her mother Pamela.
Both were living in Ipswich at the time, so after booking the advertisement Ms Greenslade thought nothing more of it.
After seeing her interior design business go under thanks to the last recession, she upped sticks and moved to France. Without cash or a job she managed to swap a large Chinese rug for a burger van and travelled down to Spain, where she made enough money to buy a bar.
After selling the business she moved back to France where she retired, and now indulges her love of art.
Deciding on a trip back to Penzance, where she attended St Gertrude's Convent, Ms Greenslade began to get in touch with old friends – but the painter quickly realised something wasn't quite right.
"I got in touch with one schoolfriend and she sounded very odd on the phone," she said. "I couldn't understand it and wondered what I'd done wrong, but in the end I found out that her mother had read the notice 25 years ago that I'd died. I think people in Cornwall believe I'm dead."
When the mix-up was uncovered Ms Greenslade tracked down other friends to deliver the news that she wasn't dead but was in fact alive and kicking and living abroad.
"It's so bizarre," she said.
She is now looking forward to visiting her childhood home at the end of the month, and says she isn't worried that her sudden appearance 25 years after her supposed death will cause shock on the streets of Penzance.
"I've changed a lot since then; people won't recognise me," she said.
