Old friends

"So how was your evening?" asks the black taxi driver, once I've told him where I want to go. His accent is immediately recognisable. He's Chinese.

"I just had supper with an old school friend who I hadn't seen for more than 25 years!" I reply.

"Amazing," says the cabbie, "did you just meet him again in the street?"

"It was through facebook actually! I suddenly got a friend invite from this guy who I used to be friends with when I was 11 years old :-). I wouldn't have recognised him if I'd just seen him in the street."

Seeing him smiling at me the mirror, I realise that this is quite an unusual situation.

"You're Chinese aren't you?" I ask, changing the subject.

"Yes, why?"

"I don't think I've ever had a Chinese black taxi driver before. And I take a lot of taxis!"

"There are a few of us around :-)."

"So are you from Hong Kong?"

"Yes, originally," he replies, "but I live over here now. Of course, I've still got family back in Hong Kong."

We chat briefly about London and Hong Kong but soon, perhaps because we're getting on quite well, he asks me another question.

"So are you married?"

"No, but I've got a boyfriend :-)," I answer casually, "and actually, he's Asian!"

He seems slightly surprised and excited by my answer, and soon we're chatting about gay life in London.

"Do you ever go out?" he asks, rather cryptically.

"You mean to gay venues? Yes sometimes! We went to Heaven last year :-). But we don't need to go cruising, so when we go out we don't usually feel the need to go to gay places!"

"Actually, my brother is gay," he says finally, explaining his interest. "He asks me what the gay places are like over here."

"Well I think that London is quite a good place to be gay :-)."

"So why didn't you take your boyfriend to meet you old friend tonight?"

"Well, after 25 years I wasn't sure whether we'd still get on with each other!"

"And did you?"

"Yes, mostly, although we don't have very much in common any more. And he smokes :-(. I hardly know anyone who still smokes these days. But it was interesting that he thought I hadn't changed much. I'm not sure whether after 25 years that's a good thing or not, I mean, I'd like to think that experience has made me a better person than I was when I was 11! Anyway, has anything like that ever happened to you, meeting up with a very long lost friend?"

"Not yet," replies the cabbie, "but maybe it will. I joined facebook recently!"

We continue chatting casually for the rest of the journey, but soon we're back at my house and I'm paying the fare.

Later it occurs to me that suddenly meeting up with old friends like this won't happen to the generation of my nephew and niece, because as long as facebook is around, they'll all be permanently connected with their school friends. My nephew already has over 700 facebook friends and he's still at school!

Perhaps it'll be better like that, because if your old friends are always available online, one won't suddenly feel the need to meet up with any of them again. In my case, although it was absolutely fascinating, it was also slightly difficult because we'd grown apart a lot.

Do any other readers have any similar experiences, meeting up with old friends after 25+ years?