A Good Catch Up

~ beetleypete

I had an unexpected phone call from one of my oldest friends today. Someone I have known for almost 58 years, since we started senior school on the same day, in 1963.

Since moving to Norfolk, I haven’t seen him, and we have only spoken a few times. So a very long chat of three hours or more was needed for a good catch up.

Much of the conversation was about our teenage years in South London. The people we knew, the places we frequented, and the pubs we used to drink in. Family members on each sde that we were familiar with, a few notorious characters we used to come into contact with. Many are long since dead of course, and others have moved away and dropped off of our radar.

Family chat featured too. Who is doing what, who is living where, and memories of those family members now departed. He keeps himself busy with an exercise regime. Running around the quiet lanes in the East Sussex hamlet where he lives, or cycling long distances around the South Downs. He didn’t want to get a dog, as he was reluctant to be upset when it died. He has a long history or riding horses, and being involved with Racing Stables, so that is still part of his life too.

He was interested in what I fill my time with, and surprised that I spend so much time every day blogging. He remarked on that. “You do it every day then?” No fan of social media, he doesn’t have any accounts on those platforms, and their undue influence on modern life makes him angry. But he got back to blogging, something he has little knowledge of. “What do you write about every day then?”

I told him the gist of the blog. Ollie, dog-walking, fictional stories and serials, and occasional serious pieces about things on my mind. It felt strange to explain it like this, and it made me think about the fact that so many people have never even read a blog, let alone written one.

We live in our blogging community, where this activity seems not only desirable, but completly normal. We know that there are tens of millions of bloggers all around the world, churning out stuff on a daily or weekly basis. I realised after chatting to my friend today that the blogging world is a complete mystery to equally as many people. I had forgotten that, after eight years of blogging almost every single day.

Lesson learned.

But that didn’t stop me emailing him links to some of my fiction stories. 🙂

75 thoughts on “A Good Catch Up”

  2. Its always good to chat …I am not surprised about blogging though as I only started blogging when we moved here and didn’t realise what a great community there was but many people I know don’t know much about blogging 🙂 x

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I had two friends who had blogs from the early days of ‘Google Blogger’. I knew about blogging, but had no idea how huge it was, or that people could find true friends in a worldwide community.
      Along the way, I easliy forgot how so many people have no idea what a blogger even does. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete. x

      Like

      Reply

  6. I can still relate to this, Pete, as I only started blogging four years ago. Prior to that I didn’t know what blogging was. A number of the people I blogged with early on have disappeared now and left WP, their blogs become idle space in WP Land. My BIL advised me to start a blog because I wanted to share my poetry and other writing thoughts. He helped me set up Robbie’s Inspiration. I am grateful to him because I really enjoy blogging.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. Pete, I love it when old friends call and it’s as though I talked to them yesterday, it’s so relaxed and normal. I, like many others, don’t know anyone who blogs. It had me thinking how I got started back in 2012.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. You know it’s a real friend when you speak as if it was yesterday, that’s very true, dear Cindy.
      I started blogging at the suggestion of a friend, and he eventually followed by creating his own photography blog. I’m so glad he suggested it at the time. 🙂
      By the way, I just left a link to one of your books and my review of it.

      Friday Review Share


      Best wishes, Pete. x

      Like

      Reply

        1. I don’t know what that is, Arlene. Hang on, I will look it up.
          No, I am not on anything like that. My friend called my land line from his land line, so it didn’t cost me anything . It would have cost him something to make that call though.
          Best wishes, Pete.

          Like

          Reply

  10. We can become very insular in our own activities, especially now, when our movements outside the home are so restricted. I have recently caught up with an old friend from senior school; he didn’t join until near the end of our time there, but I always felt comfortable in his company, so it was good to be able to compare notes, and Facebook is very useful for regular contact which doesn’t need to swallow up too much time in a day. We also live some distance apart, so a face-to-face meeting is very unlikely in the near future. Cheers, Jon.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. Thanks for this Pete. I too am still in touch with two wonderful friends I met on the first day of secondary school in 1968. Over the years we had lost touch – life got in the way! But then in my local health centre I bumped into one of them and was absolutely amazed because I had thought she had moved out of the area. We started to meet up and wondered about our mutual friend but didn’t know how to find her. I then bumped into her in our local town and unlike on other occasions when we had vowed to keep in touch, this time I made certain I connected the three of us and we now meet up regularly (of course Covid has put an end to face to face meetings!). When we meet we make a day of it, reminiscing, laughing, putting the world to rights etc. Conversation just flows and is effortless. We call our meetings “our mutual therapy sessions”. Laughter can truly be the best medicine. True friendship also means no matter how long it has been you can just pick up where you left off, as if the intervening years hadn’t happened.

    Best wishes
    Angie

    Like

    Reply

  12. Wow! 58 years is a long time. No wonder it took three hours. My husband is averse to reading anything, let alone a blog. But with me sharing links with family and office, at least they are coming across blogging and liking it too! 😁

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. The best visits are the unexpected ones with those of an old friend. I saw a statistic recently that said 40% of those surveyed have never visited a blog before.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  15. How true; it is good for us to be reminded that life goes happily on without blogging and most people have no clue what on earth we are talking about. The telephone is still an excellent way of communicating with real people. That is a wonder your old friend managed to track you down. I have one very good friend I have always kept up with from junior school. It’s good to have someone to share those memories with. But blogging is great when you are in a pandemic and on your own.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  16. You make a good point, I don’t personally know anyone who blogs? I have a distant friend who blogs occasionally. I suppose people think I’m strange? Surrounded by a blogging community here on WP I feel normal. Glad you had a chance to catch up with an old friend. I’m thankful to have found this community, C

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  18. haha, I’ve been blogging for 8 1/2 years and only 2 days ago, my better-half looked over my shoulder and asked, “What’s that?” I said it was sort of ‘behind the scenes’ of my blog. Not knowing what I meant, I continued, ‘where I make posts, answer comments, set the settings, etc.’
    You’re right, Pete, many have no idea what it is we do every day!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  20. Great you and your friend had a good catch up. Two friends, who have known for years I blog, have recently started reading my posts. Neither has ever read any blogs before. I’m not sure what they thought they were!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  22. So good to know what old friends are up to. Over the past couple of years I’ve wanted to contact old school friends. I’ve looked on all the usual social media sources but cannot seem to find them, just don’t know how to go about it now, just hope they are all OK

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  27. (1) Only three hours? That “catch up” doesn’t cut the mustard.
    (2) Many of your friends have dropped off of your radar? You’re gonna need a better radar!
    (3) Bad citation: “I told him the gist of the blog. Ollie, dog-walking, fictional stories and serials, and reports of phone conversations I’ve had with old buddies of mine.”
    (4) I know a guy that runs around the quiet lanes of the bowling alley. But he claims he’s not exactly having a ball.
    (5) Bad citation: “The drunkards we knew, the seedy areas we frequented, the shady pubs we used to drink in, the paddy wagons that hauled us away after a back alley brawl.”

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  28. I don’t know a single person who blogs, apart from everyone on here 😊 Phil’s modelling community is on Faceache and the kids do Instagram. Nice for you to reminisce with your pal, he probably thinks you’re bonkers. 🤣🤣

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

Leave a reply to Mbili Freedom Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.