Tuesday 31 July 2007

"Your friends are God's apology for your relations."

I have just read this. Friendship is on my mind a lot at the moment. In moving away from la grand smoke, I am moving away from almost all of my friends, and while I am sure that in choosing to move right next to the very big and blue and lovely sea, not to mention a writhing mass of groovy Bohemians, I will be inundated with weekendular visits to the point that hub and I will be exhausted and twicthing with fear every time the phone rings, I am also beginning to look the possibility of a friendless future in the face.

It makes me feel a bit wibbly.

It is not as if I see my friends every day, or even every week. But the knowing they are there, that is a Big Good. Being able to just meet up for a drink, or have a cup and tea and some cake, just off the cuff and by the seat of your pants and other metaphors.

Now I am going to have to be all planny.

The fact of my theatrically-generated poverty does not help either.

I am not someone who has one of those circles of friends, the ones who do everything together, who go on holiday together and take photos of each other and put them on the wall and point at them when having barbecues with each other. I know lots of individuals who I have discovered like a clever explorer along the way, some of whom also happen to be connected with each other. Friends seem to either stick or fade, and I can never tell which it will be. But once they have stuck, I love them dearly. And buy them gifts. (This is not a bribe to get more friends. That would be utterly transparent. Offering gifts for friendship? Pah! Never. Ever. Not even once. Nope.) It is good to be cautious though; I have, as I'm sure have most people, those worth their salt anyway, been badly burned once or twice (or actually maybe three times. Not that I'm counting. Or bitter. Or anything.)

I am going to have to make new friends. This is a bit scary. How does one go about it? Join a book club? Linger in supermarket queues? Get drunk and accost people?

I just do not know.

(I was going to do a little homage to one of my friends. I don't know how now it comes to it. I don't know what I'd do without him though. He is one of the best people I have ever met. A pain in the bum and totally wonderful. I will miss him a lot: less of an homage and more of a sort of sideways glance through squinty eyes at something vaguely complimentary. Sorry.)

Gosh. New beginnings. Gosh.

2 comments:

Angela-la-la said...

I have no doubt whatsoever that you will make oodles of new friends (because you're such a lovely, bubbly, open lady)and that your old friends will visit often so that they can brag they spent the weekend with the ticklish bohemians by the Brighton briny.

Of course if that fails, there's always email.

Miss Tickle said...

The thought had occured to me, and what with my new macbook (hoorah!) I shall be in a state of almost constant interweb attachment. Joy.