So this week I've decided to be a good boy and here are some pictures which illustrate friendship (Tara's theme this week) to me.
These first two are of my friend Graeme...he has a fabulous place in Herefordshire and many a happy time has been spent there during warm summers and cold New Years. he came to the Foo Fighters with us...and admitted at the end he only knew one of their songs....many people would have given their right arm for his ticket! He's been a great support and calming influence when life has been topsy turvey...and that's just what friends are for.
This is The Boy and his friend The Cat. They have a very special friendship...and fight and squabble like brother and sister. It is just fantastic to see...I think they will continue to be the very best of friends for ever. Their friendship has had an enormous impact on my life over the last year.
In the middle is someone I met through blogging. She's the sweetest, funniest person in the world...you should read her blog. She has only two faults. Her obsession with David Tenant and her undying loyalty to Scotland. Auntie Gwen has bravely accompanied me to numerous gigs...even some rubbish ones - Echo and the Bunnymen being the most memorable. I didn't take her to see Kings of Leon last year, and I'm not sure she'll ever forgive me.
And here are some friends from school...we've all trodden slightly different paths. One sells medical equipment and is married to our old physics master's daughter, one sells garage doors and stood on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, and one used to be known as Ali at school...but is now Pawan in deference to him....I used to help him stretch the material for his turban after it had been washed. We meet up a couple of times a year...and I'm sure they'd be there for me if my life depended on it.
And finally the friends I recently travelled to Russia with. One person I was at school with (but we can't remember each other), the rest are relatively new friends...all have made me welcome in their long-established groups. And one of them is very special to me indeed.