Old friends

Met MGF A&S for lunch today. We agreed to meet at S.O.S. aka Smith of Smithfield - a NY style place at the London equivalent of the meat-packing-district. It is where I go when I want to pretend I am cool [I would have said "pretend I am still cool" but, as you know, I never was]. It has diner-style food but with loud music and drinks; especially the renowned S.O.S. Bloody Mary. At night it's a bar. More importantly, it is next door to Fabric. For those of you not cool enough to know [and I am one of 'you'] it's "one of London's premier clubs". MGF S, who is so cool he's book, brought it to my attention [if you don't know what 'book' is - I didn't - it is the default predictive-text word for cool].

Anyway, it's been a while since we met A&S. Bumped into them on the street on the way to S.O.S. actually. I was in a good mood (unusual) and genuinely happy to see them (naturally). So, as one would, I went over to greet MGF A with a kiss & a hug and, foolish a man as I am, expected the same. But no. It was like hugging an iceberg. Just ask the Titanic what that feels like.

It's funny sometimes with old friends. You don't always know what to expect when you meet up. On the one hand, the fact that you are still in touch after so many years, and we are talking about more than 25 years here, is guarantee that you at least like each other. On the other, especially if you haven't seen each other for a while, so much has happened since you've last met that a dissonance between reality and expectations is almost guaranteed.

Meeting old friends every so often is a bit of a lottery then. You are likely to lose but, luckily, the odds of winning are better. For me, as unlikely as it is that my old friends will want to carry that title much longer, I will do my best to stick with them, despite the risk of disappointment. If only because I am so bad (with a capital so) at making new ones :-)

PS 520km down. 480km to go.