The Old School Reunion

44 years on

For a split second, I was thrown straight back to my first day at secondary school. I was a new boy again. The group introduction had been made, now what to do? Nothing, seemed to make the most sense. See what everyone else has got to say. Gauge the sentiment before you dive in and make a fool of yourself.

I was on a new social media group with half a dozen 60 year old men who’d been in my class 44 years ago. I hadn’t spoken to them since.

When I first saw the email, I assumed it was someone I’d played golf with. I hadn’t seen them for nearly 20 years and wondered what had suddenly prompted the note? But it wasn’t. This went way further back. I hadn’t seen my golfer’s namesake since we’d finished our O’Levels when I was 16 (15 even, a late birthday and June finish in 1977).

An invitation

I hope you are happy and healthy. I have set up a group for people from our year at school and it would be great if you could join us. If you would like too, please contact me

Wow. That’s an invitation you might want to take a moment to think about. By my age, aren’t you supposed to be long past caring about new friends? In the UK people are likely to have 2–3 good friends and 6–10 acquaintances. One in seven (14%) of us don’t have a best friend. Given that I’ve…