Getting Old(er)

Life is too serious. I so enjoyed being a student. I didn't realise it at the time, but those days were just the best fun. Living in halls, having no cash at all.......ever, eating nothing but pasta and rice for weeks on end, and parties - yes lots of parties. Those were the days, when I drank lager - before I discovered gin and tonic, before I became respectable.

In the early days when I arrived at University and was just getting to know my very good friend Lara, what a complete wake up call that was! She was (is) the prettiest woman I have ever met. She has enormous eyes and perfect olive skin, and the shiniest long brown hair, every man just stared at her goofily when we went to The Penthouse Bar on the top of Kings College Hospital. She is one of those physically perfect people, who just sparkles, and is completely unaware of the effect she has on the opposite sex - which is nice, I don't really like arrogant people. Lara is the complete picture of innocence. She has a 'butter would not melt in her mouth' look.

Within the first few weeks of meeting Lara, she appeared to be getting more and more exhausted, eventually, she was almost in a state of collapse, she became incredibly pale with slurred speech. It was all rather early in our careers, I began to think - ?Meningitis ?Diabetes ?plain old exhaustion from excessive study or partying...........? liver failure.

No.............., Lara one night knocked on my door and asked if she could sleep on my floor. The lamps from the hydroponic farm in her room where she was growing her marijuana plants was playing havoc with her sleep.

Lara, that's my girl. Always prepared to flout convention. She turned my world on it's head, never played by the rules, and always got away with it. I have never had the self-confidence to be as care-free as she, but she certainly made London a more interesting place for me when I left home first. I have never joined in with her hilarious/outrageous antics, but my life has been much richer for having the pleasure of observing her and having had her as my friend. Everyone should have a friend like Lara.

I have a dreadful feeling that I have a mini 'Lara' age three and a half, sleeping deeply upstairs right now.