Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious ©

The one thing I have always been very lucky with in my life is friends and there is not a day that passes that I am not thankful for it.
So when I found myself in London knowing only two people I was unperturbed. Surely they were somewhere in the folds of time, I just hadn't met them yet.

And lo and behold, Chloe, one of my buddies in the old country came up with two friend suggestions and sent them via Facebook. Eve and Natalie.
Two girls that were already in London a few years, who she thought I’d really click with.
The girls and I started by exchanging polite emails and arranging to meet for a “coffee – date”. As planning progressed and the masks fell coffee was quickly substituted by drinks.

There is something very refreshing about talking to brand new people that have no idea about where your life is at that moment. I didn’t have to talk about any break up, meltdown, rubbish-baggage issue and they wouldn’t ask. I could present myself as I wanted to be.
Brand new, London Venus.

First I met Eve at a Street Party in Camden town.
There were stalls selling tasty treats and revellers as far as the eye could see. The bubbles from the machines set up on the sides of the street clashed with the guitar rifts that came from the local bands playing on stage.
Eve and I drank beer mixed with the salty sweat that gathered on our upper lip.
Who knew there was so much sun and fun in London? We talked about getting used to a new city, art, our dreams, what we thought about the countries we had left behind and found we agreed a lot.
I kept taking pictures of this very very happy day. Dancing children, teenagers with massive afros, men in carnival regalia and among them all, Eve, who was so happy to join in on any dancing going on. She lit up as she danced and I had a smile on my face just by looking at her.
When we left the street party at night, she told me she was very glad our friend had connected us through Facebook and that she’d love us to do something again soon.

- You’re such a positive person, she said to me. I smiled and hugged her.

On the way home I thought to myself that sometimes life tells us exactly what we need to know about ourselves. I AM POSITIVE. People enter and exit our life story all the time.
We are not defined by it. We are defined by that which is inside our hearts.
There was happiness in mine, there for all to see. Eve had given me the wonderful gift of holding up a mirror and letting me have a proper look at myself.

My second WebFriendDate was a picnic in St James’ Park. Natalie was turning 30 and she had invited us all out to St James to eat, drink wine and toast her amongst the squirrels.
She had set up her own Mad-Hatters party amid the trees. There were multicoloured cupcakes to catch the eye and wine to soothe the senses.

If you’ve ever read Enid Blyton, C.S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll or sang Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious along with Burt & Mary Poppins, walking among the willows and miniature lakes with the petite old fashioned bridges curving beautifully over them, your inner child suddenly wakes up.
The British have managed to craft a special kind of magic that appeals to children and the adults they become all around the world. In St James Park you can dive right into it.

I put some of the pink cupcake in my mouth and washed it down with white wine and just like Alice in Wonderland does I got smaller and smaller and everything got curioser and curioser …… or maybe I should say juvenile.

We laughed so much that Natalie got wine coming back up through her nose. I showed everyone my party piece, which is doing three cartwheels in a row (it takes great skill when you’ve consumed half a bottle of Pinot Grigio).
Natalie and I chatted all evening. We told each other things that you usually don’t say until you’ve met someone 4 or 5 times. Maybe it was the wine or the sugar rush or maybe it was that when two women feel they can trust each other there is no need for protocol. You just know.


I knew I had made two lovely new friends and through them I had also found a little new bit of myself. A new bit of strength I didn’t know I had.
I think it’s called Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.