Forever young

Today's walk was from Silvermine Reserve up to Noordhoek Peak, a fairly fatiguing climb of 500 metres. The wind was fresh northwest, clouds covered the entire area and rain was in the offing. So I took the obvious route and went to a school reunion instead.
I've always enjoyed these events - the whispering into a friend's ear (Who IS that handsome man? No! He was just a young boy when we matriculated!) and the close inspection of the girls to see who has aged best. It's agreed that the boys are the ones who have changed the most (beards, bald, grey, moustache), while some of the girls have taken good care of themselves and don't look more than thirty years older than when we saw them last. Then there are those who were the dolly birds at the beach, tanned, lissome bikini bodies in their youth, now showing the lines left by those hot summers' sunbathing. Hard to believe that baby oil was considered great for tanning - it actually fried the skin. But there's no doubt that in our minds we will always see each other as a bunch of carefree kids growing up in relative freedom in this lovely valley.
Many have now left for foreign shores for a variety of reasons, and those of us left behind through choice or necessity must make do with occasional holidays overseas at great expense as we cling fondly to our cultural roots in Europe. The fact that our friends have relocated to, mostly, Australia or New Zealand doesn't give much opportunity to use a spare room in Milan, Paris or Marbella, and somehow the long flight to a place so similar to home is unattractive when compared to the ancient architecture and cultural experiences of Europe or Britain.
Be that as it may, it was unanimously agreed that the South Peninsula, where we all went to school, remains home and two weeks away is usually enough to bring on homesickness! There is something special about remaining friends with people for more than 40 years, even if you only catch up with them every few years or, as has become the norm, on social media. It gives a sense of belonging, of shared youthful experiences in our formative years, and a base for comparison on everyone's achievements in life. We bemoaned wasted years, bad reports and, most of all, how badly we had treated certain people, as children and especially teenagers do. Some of us were at school together since Sub A, some 45 years ago. Where did the time go?
They say Cape Town is very difficult to settle in, as people are very 'cliquey', and the reason for this is simple - we all went to school together.