Something in life that I’m, perhaps, guilty of is not spending enough time cultivating my friendships.
Sometimes I lose touch with people or just don’t keep up with them regularly.
Social media and sites like Facebook, especially, have really helped us all to keep abreast of what’s happening in our friends’ worlds, even though we don’t see them.
Of course, it doesn’t replace having a chat on the phone or getting together but it most certainly helps us to be aware of major events in our friends’ lives.
Whether it was due to the realisation that life was too short when wee re hit were hit by a pandemic, or whether it was just having more time on our hands, the appearance of Covid certainly brought Zooming with friends – as well as work colleagues – into our lives in a big way.
Reminiscing with old friends a real treat
I started Zooming with my old flat mates from my university years and it was most definitely, for me, the best thing that came from lockdown.
There is something very special about friends who have known you forever. They know the real you, flaws and all, and often we can just pick up where we left off, and all the years apart are irrelevant.
This weekend, four of my best friends in the world came to stay. We all lived together in various flats and halls of residence as students and, although we have seen each other individually, it’s the first time we have all been together for about 30 years.
Oh, my goodness, I can’t remember the last time I laughed till I cried.
Reminiscing about various things we did over the years was so funny.
Studying for music degrees and specialising in opera was hard work, and we had to be very disciplined, but we also had so much fun.
I went straight from Methlick to live in Glasgow with these girls, so that was a huge culture shock and we all really grew up and experienced life together.
Of course, when we planned to get together and stay at my house for a few days, we had no idea it would be in the middle of a heatwave.
Suddenly our get-together seemed like a tropical holiday, which was just perfect.
We opened all the doors and windows, ate every meal outside, stayed out of the sun and under the trees.
My friend down the road was going on holiday and said we could use her pool so, at 7pm when we needed to cool off, we all headed there.
I love these girls and had almost forgotten just how much.
We all felt the same and I’m so grateful that we all had this time to reconnect.
We are hoping to make it a yearly occurrence but, hopefully, it won’t be 40 degrees next year.
Wildfires are no hype
We were so lucky not to have to go anywhere in that weather. I have no idea how people who had to go to work coped.
It really was unbelievable; we were actually having wildfires in our country.
People said there was too much hype about the fact the temperatures were going to reach 40 degrees, but the very real pictures of spontaneous combustion at the sides of roads and houses on fire was not hype.
My friend has a house in Norfolk and she sent me pictures of fire engines and multiple houses on fire in her village.
The news showed footage of houses on fire in London but there were many other areas in England where fires were breaking out due to the heat.
Of course, the Scottish temperature record was broken as well but, as far as I know, you escaped those terrifying wildfires.
If the temperatures in our country are going to continue to increase, I think we will all be moving north of the border.
Proud moment for father of athletics champion
My friend, Catriona, is still staying with us, and Gordon and her are obsessed with the world championship athletics which are taking place in Oregon.
What a wonderfully moving moment when the athletics commentator, Geoff Wightman, announced, “That’s my son and I coach him, and he’s the world champion.”
His son, Jake, had just become the first Brit to be crowned 1500m world champion since Steve Cram in 1983.
Jake Wightman was born in Nottingham but brought up in Scotland, so it means that he is going to be representing Scotland in the Commonwealth Games beginning next week.
Let’s hope the weather in Birmingham cools down a bit before then.
Have a good week everyone,
Yvie x
Yvie Burnett: heatwave brings barbecues, festivals and sleepless nights
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