I received an email this morning from a boyhood friend, a guy whom, in fact, I've not seen since my mid teens. We were best friends when I was a kid, even though we could scarcely have been more different. He came from a poor family, had a lot of native wit and common sense, was scrappy and great with his hands. My most vivid memories of our friendship are the late Summer evenings spent building camps in the Back Field. He had such invention, figuring out how to make use of the scrap that had been tossed out into the field, to build for us a magical cave.

Now he's in the Royal Air Force, apparently, having just retired from the Special Boat Service (an elite part of the Special Forces). It's no surprise at all to me that he's had such a career. He wrote to me after seeing my name and contact information on a British website that aims to put old schoolfriends back in touch. On my little blurb on that website I make it clear that I'm gay, so I guess I'm surprised that didn't put him off from writing. But then, I suppose, if you've been in the Special Forces, there's nothing much takes you by surprise any more. He must be a very different man from the rough and tumble boy I knew in working class North East England, where calling somone a "poofter" was the highest insult.

After I'd written back to him, I went to the website where he'd found me to see if I recognized any of the other names. Quite a few of them sounded familiar, but I could no longer connect names and personalities to most of them. I searched by name for two or three guys whose names I remembered largely because I'd had enormous crushes on them, but, unfortunately, didn't find them. Not quite sure what I'd have done if I'd found them anyway. It would have been neat to find out they were gay, though. I used to think I was the only homosexual in South Shields, when I was a kid. In fact I only recently heard from somebody else, a complete stranger, who'd found my website by searching for his old secondary school, which I'd mentioned in a journal entry. It was nice to find that I hadn't really been the only homo in my hood :)

I was on call for jury duty all week, which left me in daily suspense. Would I be called in or not? I'd taken a risk in postponing my jury duty to this week, knowing that if I did get called in, it would be during my vacation. On the other hand, I figured that there wouldn't be many cases going to trial in Christmas week so I stood a good chance of getting out without serving. The gamble paid off, and I made it through the week without being called in. Pheww.

I don't know what this week would have been like without Brett. I think it would have been very lonely. It's not that we saw a great deal of each other, but without somebody special with whom to spend meaningful moments, life would be very isolated. As it was, Brett took me out for a wonderful meal on my birthday, in an Italian/California restaurant in Berkeley. Beforehand, I opened my birthday presents from him. As usual, he used the excuse of my birthday to try to make me fat. How can I count the ways? Let's see; he baked a special desert for me; "chocolate surprise", a dessert that he knows I love, because my mother used to make it too. He gave me home-baked cookies too, as well as a box of Penguin biscuits which he'd sneakily bought for me when we were in London this Summer. To crown it all, he gave me a tub of these exquisite home-made rum balls. Hmmm, I have to say that Brett's balls were delicious. I could lick on those balls any day.

And another year comes to an end. I can't say it's been the best year of my life. I've experienced a fair bit of depression and intense fatigue this year, along with weeks of boredom and disatisfaction with my job. On the other hand, I discovered a serious new interest in film-making, an interest which has grown to preoccupy a big percentage of my leisure hours. I started the year with a boyfriend, and ended it, as usual, single. What will 2002 hold?

Thanks for reading in 2001. I wish you all a very Happy New Year!