Sitting listening to some very evocative music, Rachmaninov, my mind wandered across 4 decades of friendships and laughter in the borg, friiends now faded to memories. The time in "the ministry" just after a CO visit when he had urged us to knock more persistently at doors instead of quiet taps so we did not disturb anyone. I was with someone and showing off how loud I could knock and firmly attacked the large brass door knocker in the centre of the door. This had the effect of knocking the door over flat into the hallway, it revealed a stunned householder entering his hall with a pot of paint to see his beautiful door flat in the hall and us grovelling apologies, we left very quickly and I returned to gently tapping at doors.
Or the time at a District Convention when a mothers room was in a tent and a water supply was set up, but no drainage, well I decided a "sink hole" dug deep in the ground some yards away would do and we dug it 6 feet deep and about 3 feet square. We tried it and water from temporary sink drained in perfectly and began soaking away when the very officious District Overseer approached to ask what we were doing and we started to tell him when he peered down into our pita d losing his balance nearly slipped over and into the deep pit, he stumbled getting his footing and at that dropped his notes etc he was carrying, "get them out" he screamed at which my friend answered him with "well you dropped them you get them out" at which we ran off laughing. We did not volunteer for some time after that.
All our friends were in the truth of course and we had deliberately not built up a bank balance of worldly friend so on leaving the Borg we had no friends. We have discovered our neighbours are actually not just normal but very kind and it is a cause of bitterness to me, not that we lost "friends" in the truth but that we had never built up real friendships with people outside. Carpe Diem now as we seize every opportunity to help and be helped by wicked worldly people as we used to think. Thinking about it, if I lost some money from my wallet I might look for that which was lost but I will NEVER look for those lost "friends"
sorry for musing! Now back to music!
t