On new friendship

There is a proverb (country of origin currently escapes me) that says your new friends never match the comfort and depth of your old friendships. If I believed this, my world would be a poorer place. I couldn't bear to think that there were no new bonds to be forged in the furnaces of life and that the friendships I have sacrificed to emigration or neglect can never be replaced. I've always been stubbornly independent and selfishly insular, and these are not factors conducive to lasting friendships, which is something I deeply regret. But yesterday Amber came over to help me tame my garden, and as we raked and weeded and snipped (I don't have garden clippers, so the kitchen scissors were pressed into border clipping duty) I realised how lucky I am to have met this girl. Its wonderful to come across a kindred spirit in some unexpected corner of your life. We met when we were working in a shop in Knightsbridge, fresh from South Africa and New Zealand respectively, and found we were both dancers. Since then, we've gone on a weekend to Lille, sweated in dance class together, cycled through country lanes in Berkshire and spent hours yakking over bread and chocolate spread in our favourite coffee shop in South Kensington. But it was while we were gardening in our matching gloves yesterday that I suddenly appreciated how wonderfully lucky I am to have stumbled across her path. Its a joy to discover how a mind works, or what a certain expression means, or to be able to start an inventory of a person's many different smiles. And to realise that yes, old friends can never be replaced. But new friends can be just as wonderful. And someone who is willing to give up her Sunday to help you trim your borders with the kitchen scissors is a great friend!