I have this friend...

I have this friend, and I’d like to tell you a few things about her.

Since I’ve known her, she has lived in an edgy and cool city apartment, by the sea and in the countryside. She likes to get around.

She does NOT like bananas.

She is an adventurer, and fearless, and believes in giving yourself challenges and goals, and then setting out to achieve them. Before I knew her, she visited the Arctic, and then several years later, she went to the Antarctic. She just decided she wanted to go, and then she worked really hard to save up and plan the trip, and then she went. Also, she bloody loves penguins.

She is very thoughtful and considerate. When I moved to a new country, she sent me postcards and letters throughout my first weeks there until I settled in. She would never in a million years fail to send a birthday or thank you card. She once gave me a necklace as a gift which was the exact match to one of my favourite pairs of ear-rings. I have no idea how she found it. The next year, she gave me the matching ring, which come to think of it, is the ring I wear every single day.

She is surprising sometimes. You think you know her, and you’ve got her figured out, and then she’ll tell you she’s lived on a barge, or that she’s been camping in Utah. Or she’ll throw into conversation that time that she got proposed to on a boat in Africa.

She is the only person I know who makes her own baked beans.

She is independent, and very brave. She has started her own business. I’ve seen her talk to a lecture-theatre full of people (without the need of a microphone). And she can pull off orange eye-shadow.

She is open to any number of mad-sounding excursions. If you want to rope someone in to do an all-day eat-yourself-uncomfortable Food Tour, she’ll do it. If you’re wondering whether it’s possible to visit all 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester in 12 hours, AND visit something cultural in each one AND have a drink AND only use public transport, she’ll sign up immediately. When I recently wanted to spend a day in Manchester seeing how many bee-related things could be found, of course she was right there with me.

She is polite, to the point of foolishness. I once witnessed her eat a whole plate of aubergine parmigiana even though she HATES aubergine, just because our friend made it for her.

She is not afraid to be different. She will hold up a sign that reads ‘Où est le Jen?’ when she meets you at a train station. She will use flash-paper to make FIRE in a job interview.

She is an excellent excellent friend, and she will always be there for you. I’ve known her to travel to another continent to visit someone who needed her. And she once came to visit me in Paris with another friend when she was DEFINITELY TOO ILL and nearly passed out about 6 times. She should clearly have been at home in bed, but she didn’t want to disappoint us.

She sometimes uses words like ‘poorly’ and ‘cross’.

She believes in kindness and being nice, and helping other people. I’ve known her for almost 9 years, and she is one of the people I admire most in the world. I’m not exaggerating when I say she’s influenced the person I am, and my idea of the person I’d like to be. When I work with children, I use strategies I’ve learned from watching her. Sure, this includes understanding the value of having something you can throw at them, or doing an impression of how not to react to a fire alarm. But thanks to her, I'm better at how to talk and behave with young people (or, in fact, any people).

When she got married, she asked 7 of her friends to walk her down the aisle. I could not be prouder or more honoured to have been one of those 7. However, I'd like it to be noted that I only ever agreed to help give her away on the condition that I also got to keep her.

She is great, and I have a sneaky feeling she has no idea how great she is.

And of course, I’m writing this today for NO PARTICULAR REASON WHATSOEVER. Any significance attached to this day or date is PURELY COINCIDENTAL.