Waxing sentimental - and why not!?

Facebook did that thing this morning where it reminds you that today is a friend’s birthday and invites you to help the friend celebrate it. Unfortunately the friend concerned is almost four years gone. Somehow deleting a dead friend’s contact makes it even more final. All the pictures and memories are still there.

Eighteen years ago, on Millennium Eve, he was hitting fifty and decided to celebrate it by inviting a bunch of friends to his house to eat and drink and make merry. Our daughter, then nineteen but the mother of a toddler (yes, the same daughter who is now a responsible and dedicated primary school teacher!) was desperate to go out and celebrate New Year’s Eve with friends. However, her usual babysitters - Phil and me - were going out to help a friend celebrate being fifty. In the end we took the toddler with us. Bright as a button and chatty, she charmed everyone. One of the guests thought she was our own daughter, not our granddaughter. Those were the days!

Midnight came! 2001 arrived in a burst of fireworks all over the town! Our friend’s house is situated in one of the high spots and so we had a splendid view. It’s funny how ubiquitous fireworks have become since then. Previously you could really only buy them in the run up to bonfire night and often shops would run out of supplies. You had to get your order in to the shop in plenty of time. Now you see them all year round. When they do the mini music festival at the cricket club up the road in August, they end with a firework display. When they switch on the Christmas lights in the village, right at the start of December, there is a firework display - just in case the fairy lights are not sufficient. And then there are the individual events: births, marriages, birthdays, significant wedding anniversaries - you name it, you can celebrate it by burning a whole lot of cash!

Anyway, after Millennium Eve we made it a tradition to celebrate our friend’s birthday and see in the New Year at his house. And then, four years ago he was too ill to host it. A couple of months later he was gone. Others have also disappeared. But since then we still trek up there and share a meal with his widow and raise a glass to absent friends. Tonight we’ll do it again and enjoy the memories. 

Happy 2018!