How do you keep friends through your whole life?

If you read this blog regularly you will know that my wife Mandy is a remarkable woman. She certainly knows how to look after me, with all my foibles. One thing I have always been impressed by is that she has stayed close to nine friends from school. At least once a year they go away together on a girls’ weekend and still get on after fifty years.

For the past few years one friend has been missing from the events. Mel and Iain went to live in Australia, which is a long way to come for a weekend. But this week they were visiting the UK, so all the girls and their partners caught up.

I can be a bit antisocial at parties, preferring to hide in a corner, or find an excuse for not coming, but it was genuinely lovely to get back together, The last time “us men” were together must have been over twenty years ago, when most of us had young children and we all went off to centerparcs.

How do the friends stay so close after all this time? I am terrible at staying in touch. There were several of my friends at our Ruby Wedding celebration that I had not seen or spoken to for many many years. I expect the answer is making the effort. Mandy says it is not hard to send a note on a birthday, or pick up the phone. I’d love to make a commitment to change and do better, but realistically I probably won’t.

So I will just admire Mandy and her friends instead. Remarkable.