Waiting On A Friend

Who didn’t turn up, despite saying the date was okay for him. Still, getting seven of us in the same place at the same time was a bit of an achievement in itself.
When we all worked for Barclays, we would go out every Friday, usually for many pints and several hours. But passing years and changes of career meant that these weekly sessions gradually dwindled away to monthly, and then even less often. In an effort to reverse this trend a WhatsApp group was set up to try and organise more regular get togethers. Unfortunately, trying to get half a dozen people to agree on even one date was an arduous task. Which is why our last meet up was almost eighteen months ago.
It was consequently quite a shock when a night out in December was suggested a month ago, and even more of a shock when it looked like 13th December would suit everyone! All things considered, not bad for just one no show tonight, and that was offset by a couple of people not in the original discussion who were invited along as extras.
A pleasant evening - I allowed myself a rare pint of beer - and good to catch up with what everyone had been doing since we last met. Though it is perhaps indicative of our advancing years that we were heading home by 11pm. Back in the day, leaving the pub as dawn was breaking the following day was not that unusual!
We have decided we’re going to try and get together every three months going forward, with 28th March pencilled in as the first one for 2025. Everyone said that date was free at the moment, but whether that will still be true nearer the time, remains to be seen…