Friends reunited .....

It seems like a bit of a week for meeting up with old friends out of the blue, which is absolutely wonderful.

On the left you see the lovely Saskia, who I've known since about 1999.  It's complicated.  We were colleagues and I was her manager on a new project within an organisation working to help women either kick-start their careers or set up businesses using micro-credit.  Then I l left, to help start up a new organisation.  A few years later we appointed Saskia as Development Manager.  She became my manager.  We worked brilliantly together in both these incarnations.

Then she left, as she was head-hunted by a national organisation.  She hated it and when her contract ended she decided to do an MA in Development Studies.  We kept in touch, and then in the dying days of the organisation where she had been my manager she was an absolute rock.  Helped me and the other remaining colleague to shift the piles and piles of crap  resources that had accumulated and give to good homes.  Between us we kitted out a new project for migrants that she had set up with chairs, desks and computers.  I didn't give a flying f****  about trying to sell the stuff and the board of the dying organisation just wanted the office cleared by 24 December 2009.  I felt like Mother Christmas.

The project lasted a couple of years and then closed due to lack of funding.  Saskia moved away but we kind of kept in touch.  She was active in Occupy London.  She spent time in Hong Kong.  Her daughter graduated.  She fell in love and had her heart broken.

And then, out of the blue came the message: 'I am in Norwich.  For a week and I want to see my girls'.  'Her girls' being me and another friend, Deb, who was also a former colleague.

We had a lovely evening.  Laughing, crying, arguing, feeling that strong bond of friendship.  Toward the end of the evening we moved from the wine bar to what used to be her local when she lived in Norwich.  This is a photo of her and the landlord.  It was like she'd never been away.

She's at a bit of a crossroads at the moment, not quite sure what to do next.  But whatever she chooses she knows that she has many, many friends that she can call on.