Thinking & Feeling

“The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.” Horace Walpole

Friday 28 July 2006

On finding old friends in strange places.

In standard 4 & 5 (grade 6 & 7). My best friend was a girl called Lindy.

We met when she moved up to Johannesburg, from Cape Town, when her father was transfered. I befriended her and we got along really well. She often spoke of her Cape Town friend Claire, who had been her best friend in Cape Town.

As luck would have it Claire's family also moved to Johannesburg shortly thereafter and she ended up in the same school. So the 3 of us were friends. I don't recall that there was any jealousy between us regarding old friend vs. new friend or anything silly like that, we just all got along and had fun.

After standard 5 ended I was shipped off to an all girls' school (because that was where my sister had chosen to go) while Lindy, Claire and about 98% of the class of +-100 went to the same senior school. Although we had wanted to keep in touch I think I wrote to Lindy a handful of times and only saw her once or twice after that. Our lives simply diverged. Not long after that my parents were divorced and I moved away to Pretoria, and lost contact with almost all my Johannesburg friends altogether.

I think I have changed a fair amount since I was in school, and as a result have a whole new group of friends and acquaintences, and don't really have any life-long friends. In fact the friends I have now are proably the closest friends I have, and I have shared the most with them.... but I digress.
The point was I have not kept in contact with any of my old primary school friends, until I found Claire teaching at the nursery school Griffin now goes to when the boys started there 18 months ago. I am ashamed to say that although I have chatted a fair amount to her, when I have bumped into her at the school and at various school functions, we have yet to actually get together properly without disctractions, and really CATCH UP. She did tell me that she was still friends with and in contact with Lindy, but having just started at Canonical I wasn't really in a position to make a bunch of new social commitments, and I kind of forgot about it.

Until last week Friday when I was looking up the results of the race I ran in Tokai recently... low and behold who was listed as finishing 2 places behind me? None other than Lindy!
I couldn't ignore that, so I looked her up and saw that she is a very active runner. Anyway I mailed her and we have been e-mailing back and forth all week.

She is going to be at the race I am doing this week-end too. So I will get to see her properly and talk to her. I am also going to suggest that her, Claire and I get together for that drink and chat really soon.


Serendipity is nice.
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2 comments:

  1. Spiffing doll! Here in London I have run into Dawie (rememebr him from fencing?) and two of the restaurant in CT's customers at Piccadilly!

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  2. yes, 20 blinking years later!!! here we are....!!!! And still not had that drink!! lol.It must be arranged. And not at Panarottis!!!

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