Blast

Another Blast from the Past.,  I know, I know I seem to live in the past slightly too much these days.....

I had sent an e-mail to an old friend after having had a Christmas Card returned to me in January......didn't really expect the e-mail address to still be valid but it was and today I got a reply.

We were together at University and I met him in one of our English Literature Tutorials.  He intrigued me.  He was American - doing his full 4 years in Scotland - not just the year abroad like other Americans.  He spoke very little but was always,always making notes.  We would sometimes speak after the tutorials.. mainly about how little we liked the tutor and speculating about her lack of social skills/ sexual orientation (I know, I know - we were young).

His mum had died when he was younger.  He wasn't that close to his father or his brothers.  To me he seemed terribly rich-- he would fly down to London for a haircut. 

But we always had time for each other.  He once came to dinner in my halls of residence when I cremated a pizza and we had to grab take out.  He once stayed so late the outer doors were locked and he had to climb out of a window...It was never a sexual thing but I suppose we flirted a little.  I dropped that English class after the 1st year so I didn't see him as often but we still kept in touch.

After University he moved back to USA and then I moved here and he laughed at me a lot on the phone with my suburban life.....then he was falsely accused of something and was dragged in by the Police- he ended up successfully suing them and did well out of his lawsuit but he lost any desire to live in a place where you can be so falsely accused and badly treated.  He always said he only got out of the system as he was white, rich and had a good lawyer. 

He moved to Scandanavia..... it was still in an industry he knew well from USA, but he rarely came back over here.  Just to visit his family occasionally.  We would joke on the phone that I have the fully fledged American lifestyle whilst he is quite the multi-lingual European.

He was all set to stay there - had a Swedish girlfriend but then she found she had cancer and all their long term plans were put in hold.... and it didn't look good.  We then lost touch a tad. 

I haven't seen him in the flesh in ....16 years?  Wow.  And it's been probably 3 years since we spoke so I am delighted to hear from him again.  He has changed again - now living on a farm in Southern Sweden with a new woman.. have yet to find out his details.

He admitted that all those dull English tutorials... he was scribbling away to mainly stay awake - and there was me being all impressed with his diligent efforts!  He assures me he still has said note books and one day he'll share them with me.

 We'll see!

But a delightful jolt in hearing from him again......nonetheless.