I don't know if everybody else experiences the same problem - but for me, everyone (myself included) is born between September and the beginning of October. It is just insane. In the past two days, 6 of my friends have had birthday's, I don't know where to go or who to see and it's driving me mad!
It got me to thinking about 'friends' and how the way I treat my friends has changed a lot since my move, since my relationship, and I'm not sure if it's a good or a bad thing. When I moved to London, I didn't know *anyone*. If there was a big problem, I had my grandfather's brothers and sisters who I could stay with, but they're hardly the sort of people I wanted to be with while I discovered London.
Let me start by saying it was no party at the beginning. The first week after my arrival in London was insane, desolate, bleak, loneliness (and I'm an independent person - I am sure that if you relied on your friends and family more than I do the pain would be unbearable). To feel wanted or even acknowledged, I did some things I regret, monstrously (I'm still not really keen on talking about that - maybe I will in a post later). Anyway, by pure luck I met a man, Jose. Jose is a wonderful Spaniard who took me under his wing and treated me as his little, Australian sister. Through him I made a modest, but lovely friend base and things have slowly progressed since then. Jose is back in Spain now, I miss him constantly, but it further illustrates the point I am about to make.
As much as I love each and every one of my friends here, and feel true affinities with some, I don't think we all consider each other 'constant friends' (if such a phrase exists). As an example, it was a friends' birthday on Thursday. She went to Brick Lane, happened to meet a few friends there, they had a lovely dinner, went home. I am a bit sad about this because, I would count her as my best friend, and I live 10 minutes walk from Brick Lane, but I never got a call. (In all honesty I'm not disappointed or jealous as I could be because I was talking to my boyfriend instead, which has become an almost daily necessity). I don't think it's because she dislikes me, my reasoning, however bitter-sweet, is simply thus;
London, like any city (but probably to a more extreme degree), is more or less, a nation of nomads. None of my friends are here to start a full life. They are here to study, to make money, to experience life for a while, but it will not become a permanent home for many at all. We have our families, friends, lovers (in some cases) in other parts of the world, and sooner or later, our time will run out and we will venture on (or back) to pastures new (or old). So, as much as we may grow to love our new-found friends, there is always the reminder in the back of your head saying 'yes, befriend them, but after 18 months you may never see them again.' It's a very sad truth. Perhaps if I had first befriended a born and bred Londoner things would be different.
The ultimate moral is, I can't recommend coming to London to make friends. By luck, or chance, or pure physics, you will find people to socialise with. But they may not compare to the ones you left back home. While I am going to miss the people I have met here immensely, I too, would probably not have called all my friends if I had met one or two of them in Brick Lane, it's simply not a big deal, you'll see them when you see them.
Anyway, I'm not going to dwell on the subject anymore, we are all going out tonight which I am sure will more than make up for it. In other news, le copain is in London next week, it's incredibly exciting. I have a lot more to say about him, but this post is long enough. Soon, I shall enlighten you!
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