Days gone by

Ok, so my last entry was a tad bit dramatic... What can I say? I've got a thing for daffodils, haha.. Nah, just kidding.. Truth is, daffodils have a very special place in my heart because they hold very fond memories for me..

In my first year in the UK, I had the fortune of befriending a great group of friends in my hall at university. Regrettably, we don't really keep in touch anymore, mostly because most of them have graduated and have kinda drifted apart. Anyhow, I had a fantabulastic 1st year at university and I owe most of it to this group of friends (guys mainly, of course! ;) ). Let's see...

There was Phil, who was one of the nicest people that I've ever known.. He's nice to everybody and I have never ever heard him speak ill of anyone (or anything for that matter). He was reallly nice in my 2nd year too as he constantly invited me to his house for dinner... Bless! Next, there was my next door neighbour Tom , big, burly and from Liverpool, he always seemed to be in a jovial mood and would laugh a lot. He would just laugh constantly. And it was particularly worse when he was drunk. (Obviously!) Oh, and he has this crazy thing for 50's music. It was really weird and no one in the block liked his music! Oh yeah, and he was known to take long long baths and showers which happened to set off the fire alarm on a number of occasions. Ben was my other neighbour, who seemed to enjoy walking around the block in just his towel or boxers. Wasn't too bad for me, cos' he was a rower and had quite a smokin' body! heehee..

(DC, HP, J, DZ were the girls that I hanged out with.. we went clubbing a lot and had loads of fun but we still keep in touch so they're not part of the main story here..)

Richie, who was the second-closest friend I had in my block, and he was absolutely nuts about football and would made me sit in his room watching reruns of Nottingham Forest football matches. (I used to be so... bored!) He was also an incredibly sweet and sincere guy and a very good friend. He's not the kind of guy that could chit-chat with you or talk to you when you're down, but you could definitely be sure that he'll try to make you feel better by hanging out with you and talk about football. I do kinda miss that guy..

Last but not least, Graham.. he was definitely the closest friend I had when I came to the UK and you have no idea how much I miss him.. we really hit it off from the start, mainly because we have so many common interests! We both loved music, loved to go clubbing, loved music and just basically, we got along so well! I mean, we used to hang out all the time! He was really sweet too.. Everytime he came back from work, he'd save a Subway cookie for me cos' he knew that I loved it. :) I don't know if it was just me but I certainly felt that we had a really strong connection - the chemistry was so intense!

But more importantly, he was an incredible friend. He was always, always there for me when I was down.. (and down I was a lot, mind you!) He'd always listen to what I had to say, then say the right thing to make me feel better. He seemed to really care about me, and that was really great. He knew me so well too.. in such a short time we knew each other, he got me all figured out and was really proud of it as well! I was a good friend to him too.. well, I hope.. but we definitely got along really well - so well, that we used to fight and yell at each other (a bit too much, I have to admit). That wasn't ever nice but it did make me appreciate how close we had gotten..

Sad thing is, now, we don't talk to each other anymore, don't call nor text nor email nor anything.. Not really my choice, to be honest. Ah well.. you can only try so hard before you realise that it's just not going to change anything. Sighh.. I get sad everytime I think about this but as time goes by, I'm learning to accept it..

Anyhow,I digress. The story goes something like this: on one lovely spring night in my first year, we were walking back together (him, me, DC and HP) from clubbing at the Works when I saw my very first patch of daffodils. I was so happy and excited to see them and when he saw how delighted I was, he plucked one daffodil out of the patch and gave it to me, just to make me happy. (Ok, so it's not the most ecological-friendly thing to do, but I was completely taken by it!) I tried pressing it and keeping it, but it didn't survive.. :(

I guess that's the reason behind the intense wave of nostalgia that overcame me when I first saw the budding roots of daffodils scattered across the lands. Since I don't see my dear friend or talk to him anymore, all I can cling on to are daffodils, which are the only remnants that serve as a reminder of the many footsteps he left in my life... and heart.