chums

Poor Mr McMuffin has had a bad day today on his first day back and I was knackered. We didn't join Gypsy Tart and Rock Cake for Monday Night Club for very long, but they had company so didn't miss us too much. Gypsy Tart had three friends from her student nursing days round and I was amazed to see these beautiful, funny women and not the drunken party girls I used to know. Of course, they were nice back then, but it is heartening to see that maturity has not dimmed their spark or their collective love of wine.

I always feel a bit nostalgic after seeing Mrs Carrot Cake and feel very lucky to have such a lovely friend who knows me so well. So that's what this post is, a celebration of chums. We've all got them, often take them for granted, but they are always there. They know us well and they still like us. Incredible.

There are also new chums, the people we meet as fully formed adults who like the way we turned out. There are chums met through chums, partners of chums and let's not forget the 'penpal chums' we blog with.

Little Slinky's fellow housemate, Ra, is not his chum. Slink loses his purr when Ra comes round and sometimes spits and hisses at him. I have to stop myself taking Slinky's side and being nasty to Ra, but I do find myself wanting to make a big fuss of him to offset his chagrin at Ra's presence. I think that is because Slinky is my chum too.