Wednesday 16 February 2011

Togetherness - apart

It's Week 46 of Tara's Gallery, and this week's theme is 'Togetherness'...

Life can be a bit shit sometimes - yes, even here, in expat heaven. Luckily, for me at least, there are compensations, like the wonderful birthday lunch that a friend hosted for me in her home yesterday where I was totally bowled over by the warmth and generosity I felt from people who in real terms I've known for only a relatively short time. It seems to me that one of the benefits of growing older is that we all become better at making worthwhile friendships. I'm not sure why that is; perhaps we take less notice of the book cover and more notice of what lies inside. Or maybe we waste less time judging and more time just enjoying each other's company.

Well, whatever it is, I have to say that it certainly makes turning thirty-fourteen a whole lot easier. Thankyou, ladies. You brighten my life.

As did a visit by my sister this weekend just passed. Growing up we had a love/hate relationship. It wasn't until I left home that we became real friends rather than simply blood relations, and now she's my best friend, the one to whom I can tell all, and the one with whom I can spend five minutes on a skype call cracking up at our attempts to mimic those cctv camera shots of a bobsleigh team going round a corner at high speed. (Well, sis was doing the hard work actually, in her husband's bright red ski-helmet with her face pressed right up close to the webcam. Lord, the things you can find funny at the end of a long day...).

Anyway, I'm not going to show you that shot, but one of the pair of us looking glamourous in the snow (ha!) as we stood in front of the massed tanks, planes, and guns of the Red Army Museum here in Moscow on Sunday. Yep, we really know how to show our visitors a good time...















10 comments:

  1. We show our visitors all the military hardware of the former communist regime too. I actually find it quite fascinating, all the abandoned tunnels & military vehicles abandoned on hillsides , in the mtns etc!
    re: friendships, I also think ( & have read as mch in bks) that ex-pat friendships, 3rd culture kid ones etc are often deeper, quicker at forming & long lasting. Also everyone is in the same boat & knows what it is like to be the newbie so are very welcoming & helpful too. 1 of the pluses of ex pat life!

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  2. Happy belated birthday. It's true, as we get older we look less at the package and more at the contents and yes, we do less judging. We grow milder with age, because we are more comfortable with ourselves and accept other people easier. Those are the nice aspects of aging.

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  3. Thirty fourteen....love it...makes my age (thirty twelve and three quarters) so much more bearable...

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  4. Happy Birthday!! Ooh - I will be thirty-fourteen soon (April) - brilliant. Although I do tell the boys I am going to be 22...again. xxx

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  5. Belated Happy 30-14th Potty. I love that. I'm going to have to think of something very creative for my birthday this summer. Argh!

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  6. happy birthday. I think friends mean more and more the older you get. Lucky you for having such good ones

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  7. Paradise, it IS fascinating - though something tells me you'll get by without it when you head back to the UK?

    Thanks Nora! (Like the photo, by the way).

    M, thirty-twelve works much better than thirty-fourteen!

    Nicola, we should celebrate some time with a drink (I'm visiting London in March - fancy meeting up again?)

    EPM, surely it can't be more than 39? Surely?

    HOM, lucky me, indeed!

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  8. Couldnt you persuade Footballers knees to take up the keyboard again while she was visiting????

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  9. Wow, that's a lot of snow!

    I think expat relationships can be quite intense for a variety of reasons. Enjoy it while you are there!

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  10. I'm going to have to try that bobsled thing.

    Love the image of people as books. Yes, we're at an age (ok, I'm a couple of years older, but I can still say 'we're at an age') where we want more than the blurb on the back. And we have less to prove, as Nora says.

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