Guardianwork

Sunday 20th January 2008

Yesterday, we went to visit a friend of mine from university (The first time around), Garrett, his wife Lindsey and their daughter. The more observant will have noticed that I forgot to send Garrett a birthday card last year.

Garrett and I met for the first time at Bath University. I pitched up, with my Mum and Dad in tow on my first day. We all faffed around for a while, before my parents and entourage left me on my own, for the first time.

It was very daunting.

Stuck in a breeze block room, that was so small, it was a lucky thing that I didn't have a cat that liked to be swung.

Bambi-like, I timidly ventured out into the corridor. The first place I headed to was the communal toilets.

As you do.

Garrett was in the toilets/washroom, shaving. This area was shared between 26 student flats. You can imagine the state that this area found itself in after a few weeks. So Garrett was the first person I met in my new adult life.

Garrett; "Alright? My name is Garrett." (Extending his hand)

Me: "Yes I'm ok, my name is Ian." (Shaking Garrett's hand, yes I am a proper adult now.)

Garrett: "Do you want a beer?"

Me: "Well ok then."

It was a bit more convoluted than that, but essentially Garrett and I were destined to be friends for a long time; that was 17 years ago.

Garrett is the type of friend that I was quite happy to take home to my parents' house. The first time he went to the shop in the Forest of Dean, he brought flowers for my Mum. It was the first time in my life that I had seen this politeness, especially from a student.

Ever since then Garrett has played an incredibly important part in my life. He is the reason I am with Nicky today. Most people at Bath University actually managed to graduate, sadly I did not quite manage to. I left mid way through everyone's third year. As a consequence, I moved back home to Gloucester and I used to meet up with my graduated friends in London (That's where they all were) on the weekends.

One weekend, I was staying at Garrett's flat in Clapham, and we went to the Wessex Rooms night club. This is where I met Nicky. We have been together ever since.

So thank you Garrett, you have been one of the most important people in my life.

Erm...sorry I forgot your birthday card.

The fabulous thing about Garrett and Lindsey is that we haven't seen them for 2 and a half years, and yet when we walked in their house, it was as if we had seen them only this morning. The rugby was on the telly, and we all just sat down and didn't really say anything. We didn't need to. It was a kind of home from home. A friend of theirs came in to watch the rugby, called Damien. I introduced myself, having never seen this bloke in my life before, and he said:


"Oh hello Ian, I met you in Bath, you used to drive a white Astra."

That was seventeen years ago!!!

What a memory.

We had a great evening of general reminiscing and merriment. It is odd to think how grown up we all are. Garrett and Lindsey, Mum and Dad? Dad and Mum, see above. They make bloody good parents.

We learnt last night that Lindsey's Mum has been married three times. Guess what? All three men that she has been married to are called Peter. All three of them! How brilliant is that? I can kind of see how it might happen once.

But, for this to happen twice? Fantastic.

When I was at university (the first time) people used to call me Bob. This is because I bore a vague resemblance to Bob Mortimer. However, Garrett always called me E, and I always called Garrett G. Looking back now, it seems that Garrett always knew that Bob was an alter ego, not the real me. He also must have realised that we would still be in contact long after the madness of student life.

We woke up this morning and descended the stairs. It took a while to work out how to unlock the child gate thing, but it was all good. Once we had had coffee, and generally played with makka paka (a small teddy bear), and Florence the floppy bunny, we went upstairs to do our ablutions.

Now last night I did the usual thing, sitting up with G, talking about how I never finish things, drinking beer, and then going to bed without cleaning my teeth (Incidentally, if you want to sleep in the best duvet in the world, have a word with G and L).

When I went into the bathroom, my toothbrush was on the side of the sink.

What?

I went into Nicky, who was in the bedroom:

Me: Did you use my toothbrush last night?

Nicky: No Why?

Me: Well it is on the side of the sink.

It turns out that Lindsey uses the identical toothbrush to me. Now this may not seem too weird to people, but it was the same make, she had chosen the same colour band to put around it (blue), and had bought a special whitening head, as I had done.

I need to crack on...

Joslin Rowe, a recruitment company geared specifically for women. I guessed that form the pink. Having sat in a lecture with Prof Jane Lewis, I wondered what she might have to say about gender specific roles in the employment market.

Harrison Pursey, an agency for pit-bull terriers.

Philharmonia Orchestra wanted a Donor Development Manager and a Friends Manager.

Board Works needed a Senior Editor in Humanities and English, and Spanish and French, Maths and Science Editorial Assistants. APD 12th October 2007.

TNS hundreds of vacancies, see above.

Eclipse, property specialists! Hang on... Agency.

Chartered institute of Library and Information Professionals or Cilip. Come on, we have all heard of these people. Charity.

Handle: recruitment consultants.

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