This is part of a new series of blogs entitled Words for Friends, in which I will try to acknowledge some people in my life for whom words of thanks are not nearly enough.
These living epitaphs to my true and lovely friends are published in a random order as fancy takes me.
#8 Sharon
I have known Sharon since 1991, but she has only known me for the last eight years!
I met her via a TV screen and an old VHS video player while I lived in a loch-side cottage on the wild, west coast of Scotland.
Life really was wild and devoid of modern culture in Knapdale, Mid Argyll, without TV reception and the nearest cinema some 45 miles away.
So to stay in touch with the late 20th century, my partner and I would rely on monthly trips to Glasgow – some 102 miles away – to buy a clutch of videos of which ever movies took our fancy.
One such video was called Clockwise a hilarious 1985 British comedy starring John Cleese and co-starring a then unknown actress.
Sharon turned my head. She was funny, beautiful, slightly quirky and most of all reminded me of my first teenage girlfriend!
So it came as a surprise when some 17 years later I stumbled across her on Facebook and realised that we had mutual friends – largely due to my time at drama college in the late 1970s.
A friendship grew slowly via social media, emails and telephone chats and blossomed with our shared experiences, values and a constant battle against injustice and abuse. We also share very similar humour and a mutual disdain for bullies and deceit.
I now consider Sharon a close personal friend and someone whom I trust implicitly.
Thank you for returning that friendship.
No Time to Think 