Then one day in a sweaty Mexican restaurant-cum-nightclub

Last Wednesday I caught up with a wonderful friend who sadly I had lost touch with over the years.

Katherine and I first met when I moved to London in 2004. She was going on a month or so leave from her job, and her company hired me as a marketing contractor to manage her workload in her absence. In that month, I worked on some awesome projects ranging from the London segment of the 2004 Olympic Torch Run to the Asian London festival. It’s strange managing someone’s workload while they’re away: you hear and see their name a lot, you sit in their chair, you see the quality of their work and you get to know all their colleagues while they themselves pretty much remain a stranger.

But a stranger she did not remain for long. When she returned, I stayed on as a contractor (thanks to another colleague’s considerable ‘stress leave’) and our friendship grew. In 2005, we went on a trip to Blackpool and the Yorkshire Dales with a couple of other friends and we had numerous nights out in London. It was fun. That pure hedonistic fun which my early days in London regularly dished up.

But like so many people do at some stage, Katherine was tiring of London (she had lived there most of her life) and decided to head to Devon to live and work an idyllic life. Sadly, we then managed to lose touch. There was email and Facebook of course, but the connection sadly faded.

Then one day in a sweaty Mexican restaurant-cum-nightclub in north London, we bumped into each other again. I wish I could say it was happy ever after but sadly not. We were back in each other’s orbits but it wasn’t the same as the early days. 

Last week, Katherine visited Sydney. Seeing her was like stepping back in time. It was one of those nights where you reminisce and remember things you haven’t thought about in years and laugh and laugh and laugh. But the best bit was that we connected on a current level as well. Our views were aligned, our outlook on life overlapped and we covered off the big things: marriage, kids and wine.

When we said goodbye in the early hours of Thurs morning, I found myself farewelling a dear friend and wondering why on earth I let such an amazing friendship fade?

Both pics taken at Gowings, Sydney. A great restaurant 

with a slightly odd approach to serviettes.