I’ve arranged to catch up with my old school friend for a drink tonight, which I’m sure will be strange. I have been thinking of her during the last week, and realised that I had forgotten how close we once were - or rather, how much she used to confide in me. I can remember, if I think back on it, many intimate details of her life. During one early part of high school we used to write each other letters at night for each other to read the next day, and spent hours on the phone after school (much to my mother’s dismay - “But you’ve just spent all day talking to each other! What can you possibly have to say?” I have no idea.)
I feel a fondness towards these memories of her, rather than the more recent ones of conversations about her endless stream of boyfriends and the many men who adored her; she basked in her self adoration - “that bloke was totally checking me out, did you see him?” - and I found it intensely annoying. I don’t know how much our lives will have in common now, if anything at all, but it may be a pleasant trip through school memories.
I ripped open an unexpected package from Molly yesterday, and out fell a thick red patterned cloak , with a hood. I immediately put it on with great cries of delight, despite the warm weather, and happily strolled around in it all night, swooshing the fabric. It is a most delightful thing, and seeing the relatively simple design I immediately want to make myself more cloaks in several colours and fabrics. Although I suppose they are only really appropriate for the cooler months - even if one had a cloak in a light fabric, it doesn’t seem practical to add enother layer of clothing during summer, no matter how pretty.
5 Comments
3 November, 2006 at 11:22 am
I would be very pleased if cloaks came back in fashion - they’re have a romantic, Wuthering Heights-esque appeal.
3 November, 2006 at 11:10 pm
I’ll bet you look totally romantic and glam in your cloak!
Frankly I don’t know how women got anything done dragging around in corsets and 30lb dresses and another 10lbs of hair and hat. Even ‘at home’ garments were voluminous and cumbersome. (Says the chick in a sweatshirt and pj pants.) ~LA
4 November, 2006 at 3:08 am
I hope your meeting with your old school friend went well. When I changed school at 15, I made a friend and we’d talk all day at school then talk all night on the phone (and pass cartoons and letters to each other in class). Amazingly, we’ve stayed in touch all these years and I would still consider her to be my best friend. When I met up with her in UK in July/August she was *exactly the same* as she always was. I was so happy we were able to pick up where we left off. I have had other school friends I’ve met up with after many years and it’s been a disaster!
4 November, 2006 at 10:40 pm
Your cloak sounds lovely — I wonder if I could pull one off?
Anyway, hope you have a nice time with your OSF. I have one of those that I think about sometimes, with nostalgia, and wonder if I should look up. But at heart I think I miss who we were. And since I’m not the same as I was, I’m sure she isn’t, either, and I’m afraid it will be uncomfortable and a bit sad. Besides, at heart I think I am simply too lazy and antisocial to make the effort. Sad, isn’t it?
Anyway, eager to hear about how it goes…
7 November, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Madame B - oh, me too. Perhaps after the shops have finished with their 80s obsession, we can have a bit of a Victoriana revival.
LA - while I love the romanticism of a cloak, gee its awkward to wear. I’m very grateful modern life and the fact that I can go out in public wearing shorts and a t-shirt.
Helen - I think it must be a rare friendship that enables you to pick up where you left off. I remember meeting up with an old school friend some years ago, and them saying how wonderful it was that we could pick up where we left off, and I was quite horrified because I’d been sitting there thinking how strange it was that I took no pleasure in her company any more!
Telfair - I’m not sure if I pull a cloak off. I guess I’ll wait until I get an opportunity to wear it in public and see how many strange looks I get! I too am often too antisocial to make the effort to “catch up” with people - especially as I know it can often be an awkward situation.
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